Im young,18,and look 17. Im a little concerned with how I can get people to trust a young person like me over a more seasoned vet when I get my license. How did you make your first sale,how old were you?

In IL you have to be 21 to get your license. I was 30 when I got my license but I looked a lot younger (I was told when I was 21 I looked 12, at 30 people thought I was still a teen). It's been something I've battled with for many, many years. You'd think it's a good thing but when you want to be taken seriously it can be a hindrance.

What I did was make myself appear older by dressing very professionally. As you get more experience in the field you will promote a more professional & experienced presence.

However, it is still going to be a battle getting people to trust you at such a young age, plus being "green." I really think if I were that young & considering real estate as a career I'd probably start by becoming someone's licensed assistant, or at least get involved with some kind of mentor situation. That would be a personal choice you'd have to make depending on your comfot level of going it alone.

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Southwest Chicago Suburbs Real Estate is an affordable area with close access to downtown Chicago. Money Magazine says that Orland Park real estate is one of the best places to live in the U.S. Next door you can find Tinley Park homes for sale and get Orland Park amenities at a more affordable price.

I haven't made any sales yet. I am new at this too. However, I think it is important to consider what criteria drives purchasing decisions.

I recently spoke to Bob Parsons of GoDaddy.com during his visit to Yale. The domain name hosting and registration market is highly competitive. His company has about 30% of the market share, a recent victory due to his superbowl commericials.

The most important part of his business plan involves customer retention. He was able to acheive a high return rate due to customer service and relations. Unlike his competitors, Mr. Parsons noticed this early on and boasts one of the best customer support service centers in any industry.

I think this might be true in the real estate market. Though you are younger, this does not mean you can't compete. People will appreciate great customer/client service. This means being attentive and doing the requisite research to provide your customers/clients with solid support.

I have my first property up for sale. I examined the value of the property in terms of who this is appeals to. The next question was examining how to reach these people. I discovered print advertising in my area is useless. I wanted to utilize a more active approach rather than passive approach to selling the property. I think passive comprises traditional print advertising, open houses and relying on buyer agents.

I utilized a different web-based approach and have been following how this site is being reached, how many and how many are return visitors. This site went active on Monday - and so far - I have had 139 unique visitors to the site, 20 returning visitors and now..... 3 potential buyers coming on Friday and Saturday. This was in less than a week (3 days).

The old system - we hired a realtor to represent the property - they had it for 6 weeks and nothing. New system seems to be working.

I should mention the site is not even indexed by Google, Yahoo or MSN. I imagine that will happen next week. Which means we could potentially have a larger number of visitors to the site.

I would be glad to discuss this more in detail with you, where are you located?

Best,
Robert

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Robert Rambo, Ph.D.
Yale New Haven Condo

My first transaction was someone in my Sphere of influence (SOI). These people know, like, and trust you so it doesn't matter what your age is. By the way, it needs to be mentioned that not everyone you know will do business with you no matter how old you are. There is a myth out there that you don't do business with friends and family.

But, to jump start your business... Your goal should be at least 50% of your transactions coming from your SOI. The main reason is they Know, Trust, and Like you.

My suggestion would be to concentrate on networking with your family, friends, and their friends. Older brothers or Sisters, Aunts and Uncles, Mom and Dad's SOI. About 20% of them will be buying or selling a home in the next 5-7 years so if you are in contact with them you stand a much better chance of being the Realtor that helps them then if they don't even know you are in Real Estate.

Make sure Everyone Knows you are a Realtor and that you are their trusted Community Expert. Make sure that you have a website that is informative and professional and I would not suggest posting your picture on the home page. Also don't get a url with your name. Have something associated with the community you want to work in.

How do you contact your SOI?

The first step is to ask your mom for her Christmas card address list (if she is in the same town as you want to work). Combine it with your own list and then the next step is to write them all a letter letting them know what your new profession is. Tell them that you represent Both Buyers, Sellers, and people Buying NEW Homes anywhere in your county. (with new construction there is way less paperwork but you typically have to be with the buyer the first time they visit the development *don't tell the buyers that there is less paperwork)

Include in that letter three business card MAGNETS (you can get 100 of the magnets which stick to the back of business cards at an office supply company for $20). Also include at least five regular business cards.

In addition to updating them on your new profession; Ask them to do you a favor. Ask them to put one of the magnets on their frig and to give you a call ANY TIME they have a real estate question.

Then Also ask them to give the other TWO Magnetic Business Cards to two of their closest friends for their Refrigerators.

Then finally ask them to put your regular business cards in their purses or wallets and if anyone at work, the club, or school is thinking about buying or selling real estate please give them your card. If you have an SOI of about 100 people and you do these next two things I guarantee you will close transactions.

The next thing you will want to do is call every one of these people and "Thank them for Helping YOU launch your new Career". Call 10 per day until you actually talk to everyone of them.

The last thing you should do is Keep in contact with them monthly about your success, your teams (or Offices' new listings), or your local area's real estate news, also remember their special dates (birthdays, anniversaries, etc).

This could be a typical call: Hey Uncle Bill, I just wanted you to know that our office has a new listing a few blocks from your house, first I thought you might be interested in what's going on in your neighborhood. Also if you know of anyone you would like to have as a neighbor let me know... This is a 2-5 minute call and plants the seeds in the back of his mind.

Yes it is time consuming but once again these people Know, Like, and trust you and if you create a good quality website that also has local information like the most recent sold property prices, a good quality IDX, and good info about your area you WILL be the Top Rookie agent in your office in no time.

I hope this helps,

Bob

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If you are looking for San Diego Real Estate or you want to view San Diego MLS listings (or at least that portion of the data feed that SANDICOR allows us to display on our websites) go to a local San Diego County real estate Agent's Site.

P.S. We Love Referrals!

Rambor, I would remove the adsense from your site, it is not going to make you any real $ and you could lose a potential buyer from it to a competitors ad

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Want to save up to 50% off Real estate webmasters product websites & common upgrades? Check out my latest blog post regarding our end of the year sale.

Thanks for the advice. I was doing a little experiment to learn how fast google actually crawls the site for its advertising purposes versus general indexing purposes.

So far, google crawled the site in less than 24 hours for its advertising purposes. Crawling for general indexing hasn't happened yet. Interesting disparity?

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Robert Rambo, Ph.D.
Yale New Haven Condo

I received my License when I was 29 I believe..but trust me people though I was 18 when I first began in Real Estate. but before that I worked for First American Title as a computer master/wizard/guru/tech (ya only a few actually knew my name <sob beside my nicknames> and the VP at the corporate though I was like 19 (lol) called me a kiddo (he was like 2 years older but looks much older)

Here's a Photo of Myself when I began
http://www.johnhomesonline.com/Aboutme.php .clients/SOI,just about everyone now say I looked older (ya stressed out from them!! joking)

anyway My first client were some people my broker had a hard time dealing with, gave them to me and the first thing they asked was my aged. My only response to them was " ill work hard for you"..escrow closed 45 days later, they were happy and invited me for the house warming party.

If you want to be successful in any Business at any age, you need not be afraid of what you are doing. Trust me clients can tell if you are and clients confidence in you will drop. if you are nervous, practice the night before what you might say or potentially say to them in front of a mirror.

know what you are saying before you say it! if you dont - let them know you are unsure and you'll get back to them with the proper answer. (offcourse make sure 95% of what they asked - you know)

act like a seasoned veteran in front of clients -> be confident in yourself
confidence equals success (sort of like might makes right)

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Bay Area Real Estate | Free MLS. Coming to CA and like to know Things to do in California.

It's tangible, it's solid, it's beautiful. It's artistic, from my standpoint, and I just love real estate. Donald Trump

I am really interested in hearing some more responses to this thread. Doesn't anybody else remeber how they made their first transaction? Yeah, there is a lot of good information on this site regarding farming, building a client base etc etc, but all those practices take a lot of time and may be more effective for some people than others.

I will be entering this field this summer and I am mainly interested in what activities will give the greatest chance to make some money immediately. It seems that the most rewarding activities for new agents to pursue are:

1) Create a website to promote your business and generate leads-dont simply rely on the web psace your broker provides off their main site. I mean, definitely utilize their space but develop your own site to market yourself.

2) Attend Open Houses and use these as opportunities to make contact with potential clients (not simply to force visitors to buy THAT SPECIFIC PROPERTY)

3) Take floor time at new brokerage

4) Get a mentor

I still have yet to sell a house, but I went into Commercial at age 22. My first transaction was a tenant rep. deal for a chiropractor in a small (1200 SF) retail space. I got them on board by demostrating that I would work harder than any other agent. They knew I was new, and probably also knew I didn't have any clients yet. They called in looking for retail space another agent had listed, it wouldn't work, so I offered to do a site search for them... I immediately hopped in the car and went looking for space & called them back the next day with possibilities, and we set up a meeting. It was three months after I started when ink was on the paper. I'm now 25, and I can tell you that being (& looking) young are just another obstacle in getting the listing. First you have to prove competency, there are plenty of brokers over 50 that don't have a clue. If you have never closed on a house, then shift the focus of the conversation to what skills and experiences you do have. Since you're on this forum, you're probably more techo-savvy than most buyers and sellers, and you may want to work that into your pitch. Also, there are a great many people older than us that have been in the same position in a variety of fields. If you're meeting with someone that you know is self employed, you might ask them how they got their first client. Who knows, them reminiscing may lead them to list with you. Demonstrate to prospects that you will work you're tail off and play the numbers, somebody will give you a shot, and remember to always be honest.

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Wade Sonenberg

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