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redwhiteblue,
this is a lousy time to be getting in...it isn't "easy" anymore.
I had a great conversation with a friend of mine the other day. We were talking about real estate agents in our community (in a general sense) and how tough it was for a few of them. This is a complex business and there is a LOT to know and understand. I'm a pretty smart guy I think (2 master's degrees)...and I can't believe how much I DON'T know after a few years in this business.
You have to know the business and finance, sales and marketing, advertising, customer relationship management, real estate law, construction, interior design, and on and on and on...
tomocox had the best advice I've heard...operate as a business. If you are jumping into real estate today (and want to make a legitimate go of it)...you have to think of it as a full time job, where you are the boss and the employee.
Here are a couple of good reads that have helped me:
21 Things I Wish My Broker Had Told Me - Frank Cook
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent - Gary Keller
Tom Hopkins (various) I actually spent almost 50 hours in the car listening to his tapes
Zig Ziglar (various - one of the greatest sales professionals you'll ever hear/read/see)
I agree with the pros who've recommended starting as a licensed assistant, however it may be harder than it used to be...for example, in our market, a few of the folks who have been big producers are letting their assistants go for the time being until the market turns.
redwhiteblue,
this is a lousy time to be getting in...it isn't "easy" anymore.
I had a great conversation with a friend of mine the other day. We were talking about real estate agents in our community (in a general sense) and how tough it was for a few of them. This is a complex business and there is a LOT to know and understand. I'm a pretty smart guy I think (2 master's degrees)...and I can't believe how much I DON'T know after a few years in this business.
You have to know the business and finance, sales and marketing, advertising, customer relationship management, real estate law, construction, interior design, and on and on and on...
tomocox had the best advice I've heard...operate as a business. If you are jumping into real estate today (and want to make a legitimate go of it)...you have to think of it as a full time job, where you are the boss and the employee.
Here are a couple of good reads that have helped me:
21 Things I Wish My Broker Had Told Me - Frank Cook
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent - Gary Keller
Tom Hopkins (various) I actually spent almost 50 hours in the car listening to his tapes
Zig Ziglar (various - one of the greatest sales professionals you'll ever hear/read/see)
And I'm sure there are many others.
good luck.
Dave
With all respect, you have two masters degrees, and you are selling RE? My God, I'm presuming they weren't in law or medicine, but how could you spend all that time and money just to get into a business you yourself say is a bad time to be in? This just goes to show how misallocated our labor resources are in this country.......I presume that at least, when RE markedly slows down, that we will reallocate our labor more properly. With all respect, I hope you are able to use those degrees to your advantage if RE slows down markedly.
With all respect, you have two masters degrees, and you are selling RE? My God, I'm presuming they weren't in law or medicine, but how could you spend all that time and money just to get into a business you yourself say is a bad time to be in? This just goes to show how misallocated our labor resources are in this country.......I presume that at least, when RE markedly slows down, that we will reallocate our labor more properly. With all respect, I hope you are able to use those degrees to your advantage if RE slows down markedly.
Soothsayer, er, I mean Socrates…
Dave has taken the time to give his sincere advice to someone that is beginning her career in real estate and you take his post as your opportunity to ridicule his career choice?
I see the words “with all respect” – you even wrote them twice – but I’m not seeing respect anywhere else in your post.
With all respect, you have two masters degrees, and you are selling RE? My God, I'm presuming they weren't in law or medicine, but how could you spend all that time and money just to get into a business you yourself say is a bad time to be in? This just goes to show how misallocated our labor resources are in this country.......I presume that at least, when RE markedly slows down, that we will reallocate our labor more properly. With all respect, I hope you are able to use those degrees to your advantage if RE slows down markedly.
How totally irrelevant to the original poster's question!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway, it is not a bad time to be in real estate.
It is just a bad time to do real estate work poorly.
OTOH, I wouldn't know a GOOD time to do real estate poorly.
What's impressive to me is that, when he was Soothsayer1234, he made 231 posts and was given 14 rep points. Now that he's Socrates1234, he's made 12 posts and already received 7 rep points.
Apparently, the change is already working wonders for him!
Dave has taken the time to give his sincere advice to someone that is beginning her career in real estate and you take his post as your opportunity to ridicule his career choice?
I see the words “with all respect” – you even wrote them twice – but I’m not seeing respect anywhere else in your post.
You know what? If we took just 1/100 the "consideration" we show in these posts, and apply it to real life situations, this world would be truly a beautiful place.......this is just a posting board here, with commentary...not a city, place, street, what have you.....have you really shown respect to your fellow human beings you encounter daily, or your family? If you have, I commend you, but thats the place to show love, peace, and respect for your fellow man. If this is the main source and sense of community for folks on here,I really feel for you. Now, back to my post......I honestly feel, with all due respect, that the RE industry is not only carrying far too many agents than the field can support, but has far too many overqualified folks that could and should be making a living in other fields. It's simply an opinion, and not a vindictive slap at anyone whatsoever. I think we so abjectly lack any true sense of a real community that we treat posts of information as a tangible reality, which it most assuredly isn't. Many of us have no social outlets, and treat this as the default way we communicate with people in society. This is truly sad. Posting on Forums are completely lacking in any vital sense of a true community. The closest analogy I can some up with on here is that this is essentially a collective exercise in narcissism. Case in point...Do we have moderators in real-life social situations? Just the mere fact that a moderator is needed on these posts says it all per the abject lack of any REAL social interaction on here. This isn't real-life, folks....just a bulletin board of posts and info.....
if this is construed by some on here as any substitute for true social interaction on here, we might as well wrap it up as a social society....I think we ALL need to spend a whole lot less time on the internet, and a whole lot more time with friends and family. We waste literally hours on here, and then admonish each other as if this was a real world we spend countless wasted hours on........folks, time to get off the web and start living....NOW!
Last edited by socrates1234; 12-05-2007 at 05:31 AM..
I have found all this very interesting. I for one am very excited about staring RE. I live in an area of Texas where a lot of retiree's are flocking to. With a lot of the negitve talk I've been viewing.....I can't help but think to myself that there are still people who have to transfer....and move for all kinds of reason's. Not everyone that moves is a poor credit risk and plans to rent for the rest of their life. Just like life...it's all what you make of it. If you keep up the work and have a good attitude....things will come your way. I don't think I will make a million the first month. I hope all the people who respond on the forum so negitivly don't ever service any of my friends around the country.
I have found all this very interesting. I for one am very excited about staring RE. I live in an area of Texas where a lot of retiree's are flocking to. With a lot of the negitve talk I've been viewing.....I can't help but think to myself that there are still people who have to transfer....and move for all kinds of reason's. Not everyone that moves is a poor credit risk and plans to rent for the rest of their life. Just like life...it's all what you make of it. If you keep up the work and have a good attitude....things will come your way. I don't think I will make a million the first month. I hope all the people who respond on the forum so negitivly don't ever service any of my friends around the country.
Destin,
In our office a while back, in a sales meeting, a couple of people worried about sales across the country being soft and across the Triangle being down 8% or so.
I said, " Yep. Sales are down. The US had 6.5 million sales last year. Projected at 5.95 million sales this year. I want thirty of them. Y'all can split the rest of them any way you want to. It's going to be a great year in real estate."
socrates, you make an interesting point and if I may take just a few lines here to tell you why I made the choice I made, you might understand it better.
My first master's degree isn't very relevant to earning a living (National Security and Strategic Studies - it's a military degree that was very relevant to what I did when I was in the military - 23 years, but not much earning potential in it). My second degree is an MBA which I earned just before I retired from the Navy while I was teaching at the NROTC program at Oregon State (Go Beavs).
I got the MBA with the intention of increasing my earning potential but the over riding factor became my family and staying in our local area where my children had friends and were thriving in the schools. That said, I was given the opportunity to get into real estate here with a local independent real estate company owned by family friends. Three brothers, one a builder, one a developer, and one a real estate broker...close knit group (only 7 in our office), and the opportunity to work with a builder as well as with independent clients. A unique position in our area.
It has been an amazing opportunity for me and my family and, after 23 years of always being in charge (never less than 120 people) there is something about NOT being a supervisor for the first time, but being in a career where I am able to put my skills into helping people achieve their goals.
I got into this career when the market here was still in a boom...was able to put together an excellent first year and 1/2 before things started slowing. I do not believe that it is a bad time to be IN real estate, I just think it is going to be difficult for many people STARTING a career right now. Even the experienced agents (more experience than I) are struggling a little.
I've found a career where my business degree IS at work every day, where my leadership skills are useful in helping my clients, and where there is no limit to the upside potential. I think I've made the right choice for me and my family.
This is a great market for buyers now and we, as real estate professionals, need to be singing from the mountaintops rather than moping. I spend my Saturdays (and the occasional Thursday) on the radio doing just that.
thanks for letting me put some clarity into this tangent. I hope there was something in there that redwhiteblue can use as they begin their career.
Dave
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