Hi All,

I am going to be starting as a new agent by mid-July. I have not seen a lot of posts from agents who have been in business between 4 and 18 months. I was wondering..are there ANY of you out there? Are you too busy to post to these boards?

The main reason I am looking for you is because I think you can best address what I will be in for as a new agent and what you would do differently if starting over?

So, please please please share your new agent experiences with me (us). PS If you email me at: gericsb@yahoo.com you can add me to your contact database if you like (I'm in NJ). Never know where a referal will come from!

C'mon--are you all out of business already ?

Not in the time frame you asked about, but only 5 years in and 2 members on my team are less than 18 months so I remember and and live the trials of new agents every day. The biggest thing I wish i had done was set up a website sooner. After that would be to create systems for marketing, follow up, and transactions sooner. Once you are systemized life becomes much easier.

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The Suburban House Hunters Team would like to thank REW members for past referrals! We are never to busy to handle your Chicago area referrals.

Always looking for quality unique content for our real estate agent blog, PM me if interested in writing a post.

My thoughts on the Sarasota Association of REALTORS actions.

Although I've been in the business for 23 years, I do have a regret that might help new agents. Of course, in my defense, we did not use computers when I started and didn't have the training that is available now.

I did not create a past client database until I had already been in the business for many years. When I finally created one it was on one of the first pc's out there that was in the office and when that crashed I lost most of it. I probably lost about 10 years of past clients (by waiting too long to do it in the first place & after the computer crashed).

In today's world, that should never happen to anyone. Treat those past clients like gold. It's something a newer agent might not think of. We've been reading about how some new agents have been in the business for 2 years without a deal but I know a few who have had pretty good first years which means after a year they had a past client database.

I agree with everything Ken said. Best of luck!

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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've been in this business for 13 months. The two things that I would change:
1. I'd have gotten my license much sooner in life
2. I'd have been more aggressive when I started. Both with learning and with my SOI.
Good Luck!!

Thank you all for posting.

Ken, as always, I appreciate your wisdom.

Judy, thank you for the valuable advice: My plan (already) is to maintain my database IN a computerized database AND a ROLODEX (LOL, What's a ROLODEX?). I am already trying to learn some contact mgmt software (Top Producer 7) before I begin just so I have less of a learning curve there.

Bobby, I think the thing that prevents new agents from being more agreesive is lack of confidence in 'the process'. I know, myself, I don't have any problems striking up conversations with people, making presentations etc., but I don't know the 'process' of an actual RE deal yet nor what pitfalls I am likely to encounter.

One good idea (and something I did in my 10 year career as a Software Developer). Keep a 'database' of likely problems and their solutions. In software development, we often would run into the same 'issues' with our development environment. I kept a huge list of what these were and how to resolve them. I became the guy to go to when these issues invariably arose (it's almost always the same ones) and I used this knowledge and the money and time having these solutions handy saved my company to be recognized as the expert and a bargaining chip during my annual review.

Anybody else?

I've been doing this for a about 14 months now and wish I would have started this sooner. I can't imagina doing anything else. I love the interaction witht the people, the excitment with writing up each new contract, the art of negotiation, I love everything that comes with the job.
In my first year I was able to average a closing a month, became Multi-Million dollar producer ( I know it's easier these days ), and became rookie of the year for my firm.
Even with all my success there are somthings that I would have done differently.
1. Marketing, instead of putting $ into local media I should have created my site earlier and put the money into promoting the site outside of my hometown and SEO.
2. Narrowed my field down instead of trying to do both commercial and residential.
3. Interacted more in the community.

I've been in the biz for 20 months now. In addition to the responses above, I would add being more judicious on expenses. Some are unavoidable (dues, mls, supra, desk fees, etc), and others, well, I got caught up in moment of starting a new career and spent $$ when I didn't need to.

Conversely, I had enough capital that I didn't really need to worry about generating income my first year. I think it had a psychological impact as there wasn't any urgency and I slacked off a bit. Overspending and not minding the store is not a good combination...so don't loose focus.

Do research on different marketing options. As a newbie I basically did what the "experts" told me to do and I didn't realize a good ROI. I hired a coach who helped me refine my marketing and prospecting strategies to identify ways to optimize return for time and $ investment. I since dropped my farm and am solely focusing on my SOI.

And since this is a webmaster forum, start a blog, sooner not later. I only started one a month ago, yet it showed up in the serps within a week, it's getting a lot of traffic and I've already gotten three leads from it (all of whom came from Google searches). Now, it's very specific with a single topic. If it were not for the condo boom, some 20 new, mostly high-end projects, it would have little value.

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Experience Seattle Real Estate and learn more about Seattle Condos and Lofts.

I have been in business for 6 months and am still trying to find a niche. I work in Savannah, Ga which tends to be a fairly close knit business community and difficult to break in. I would agree with other commentators that a website is a first place to start. Especially for me, I think a website will help me target a market segment that is not as tied to the old establishment. Hopefully, I will be operational within the next two weeks.

Best of luck to you and think of me if you know someone headed south. I also own an Inn in the Historic District, so if you need a place to stay check out our website at www.zeiglerhouseinn.com.

I've been in the business for one year now. Having moved to a new area I have had to really work up a farm, sphere and leads. Some have done better than me in my area. But most of the people who started around the same time as me are still struggling like me. I have been very aggressive with marketing. I have had buyers and listers (first listing took 9 months), but nothing has closed yet except for a referral.
I have learned many many things over this year and it took me about 6 months to feel confident as a REALTOR. Outside sales is completely different from inside sales.
Best advise I can give is watch and learn the good and the bad from others, but be your own person. And, be ready for a long and winding road!