the first home you sold (agents, contract, Realtor, closing)

[twinmma]

How long did it take you to sell your first home? (Either as the seller agent or a buyer agent) How did you get your first client?

Just curious. I am close to taking my test and have been thinking about other agents successes, or lack thereof.

[DMenscha]

One month. I listed an expired listing that sat at the corner of a very busy 4 way stop intersection in Everett WA. It was located just down the road from the local cement batch plant and cement trucks were constantly starting up the slight incline loaded. It was hella noisy outside but inside you couldn't hear a thing. Both of the owners were chain smokers too! I got a $5K reduction from the original $84K price in a market not unlike this one. The buyers were also chain smokers that both wore hearing aids

Two months. The first house I sold was to a couple of televangelists with big hair and dimples (I see they're still on TV too) who called the office on a sign call before the listing agent got back from planting it. It was adjacent to their little empire and the property was owned by a Canadian company who had bought dozens of homes in the Boeing bust. The Canadians wanted a closing on a Monday and the preachers asked for two extra days to close. When asked by the Canadians lawyer, they said "The money doesn't come in until Wednesday after our Sunday sermon".

They gave me a copy of their latest LP of hymns as a closing gift

[MikiJayne]

My first was a walk-in. I had been studying my own neighborhood and farming it. I went to preview several of the homes listed in here. One day while I was on floor, this guy walked in and said his home was listed but he hated his realtor. I told him that he needed to get a release before I could talk to him much about it. He came back the next day, told me his address, and I had already been inside his home. I listed it and had it sold in 23 days.

[cynmkolohe]

My first close was for a house--somewhat unusual in our market with so much vacant land on the market.

I got the call on a floor shift, but the client had previously spoken briefly (another floor call) with a Realtor in my office about one of her advertised listings. For clarity, I asked her if she wanted to take the call from Mr. X. She was pretty busy and said that she recalled that he hadn't been pre-approved and was shopping at the low end of the spectrum for houses near Hilo...so she said "never mind...you take him"!

Ended up in a search that took a few days of my time over the next couple of months (he was also in a lease agreement, which he ended up breaking when we found the house he wanted). At one point, he put the search on hold to let some time pass in his lease agreement, but he kept watching the classifieds (no email for matches) and calling me on ones he found interesting.

We ended up finding him a place that met all his requirements--simple, right price and with carpet (for his knees and his cat). Was an excellent first sale experience--especially since the listing agent on the other side was an independent one-man operation with many, many years experience, very laid back. Best of all, it was his house he was selling!

[Brandon Hoffman]

Listed one 3 weeks after getting my license. Sold in 35 days, closed the 3rd month of having a license. I had a buyer side closing 2 weeks prior to that but I consider that my first client and sale since it happened first, closed slower.

[middle-aged mom]

I am with a large Big Box franchise and there are always tons of Open House opportunities. I analyzed other agent's listings for the greatest potential to draw a crowd, that had finanlly been repositioned to where they were going to sell. I made appointments to preview these homes and spent hours with the owners learning everything about the house, neighborhood and what made the owner's tick.

One of the first homes I sat had cars lined up before I arrived. It quickly got out of control and I had to lock the doors. There were too many people in the house and this made me very uncomfortable. The dear owner was next door and came running back and we developed a plan. I handled the inside and she handled the outside. We lost track when the number of showings exceeded 100. We sold the place that day.

I have had exceptionally good luck sitting other agent's Open Houses. I do my homework and pick and choose the best of the best and create my own luck.

[Brandon Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Brandon Hoffman

Listed one 3 weeks after getting my license. Sold in 35 days, closed the 3rd month of having a license. I had a buyer side closing 2 weeks prior to that but I consider that my first client and sale since it happened first, closed slower.

I left out part of the answer - I got my first client at an open house I hosted for another agent.

[shellytc]

I sat an open house for an agent when I was only 2 weeks in the business. Not one person showed up, except the new owner of the home. Thats right, a guy showed up with a camera and come to find out, he had ratafied a contract the day before. Oh well.. at 4pm I was closing up when a neighbor dropped by and said she wasn't interested in the house (duh!!!) but... she was moving and needed someone to list her house, would I talk to her? Yep. and got the listing!! and sold it within one month, on New Years Eve. Had 2 offers on the house and it went very well.

Been going gang busters ever since : )


Shelly

[Brandon Hoffman]

Originally Posted by twinmma

How long did it take you to sell your first home? (Either as the seller agent or a buyer agent) How did you get your first client?

Just curious. I am close to taking my test and have been thinking about other agents successes, or lack thereof.

Skills you need to work on:

FSBO and Expired scripts
Prospecting with your SoI
Objection handling

If you do those 3 things well you'll never be hurting for business. In fact, your biggest challenge will be finding time to manage your business. Very few agents ever master those 3 things and they are the core of RE business.

[twinmma]

Originally Posted by Brandon Hoffman

Listed one 3 weeks after getting my license. Sold in 35 days, closed the 3rd month of having a license. I had a buyer side closing 2 weeks prior to that but I consider that my first client and sale since it happened first, closed slower.

How did you get that client? Getting a listing so close after getting your license is rare, right? That's great!
Never mind...I see you added it later, lol!