A reader asked about my thoughts on becoming a realtor today – my response:
I’ll start with the basics to see what you think.
Being a real estate licensee is one thing. Being a successful salesperson is something different, and what I’ll address here.
Sales has its own skill set. There are things to learn and practice to be successful at it. People tend to wander into real estate sales because it is so easy to get a license. Nobody tells them to get sales training, and as a result, most leave the business within 1-2 years.
To know if you can be a successful salesperson, consider the following:
A. Are you comfortable talking to family and friends about their housing needs?
B. Are you comfortable talking to strangers about their housing needs?
Everyone likes talking about real estate. But people are more guarded and private than ever, so approaching them and getting them to talk about THEIR real estate needs can be uncomfortable for many agents. If you are a good-looking charismatic type, then you have an advantage but it still takes guts to continuously talk to people every day about their needs, and how you can help them.
Everyone knows at least three realtors already, so you can expect rejection. Can you live with that? Do you want to be successful bad enough to power through and not let rejection bug you?
Still feeling excited about being a successful salesperson? Then consider the downfalls:
Paydays are inconsistent, and you can go months without earning a check. Having financial stability besides your real estate pay is helpful.
It is a 24/7 market, so most of the time you will be on duty seven days a week.
Failure is part of the learning curve. Being warm and cuddly with failure and rejection is a real plus.
Other agents will screw you over, and many times it’s their own blundering incompetence that causes it. Accept that tensions are elevated and quick decisions are being made by principals and agents without thinking through all the variables.
Being motivated by the money helps. If you want/need to earn a big income every year, then it’s available and you can let it drive you.
Still interested? Ok, great – I suggest that all agents do the following:
1. Get Sales Training.
I did the Dale Carnegie sales training early on, and it was the best thing I ever did. They teach you the basic skill set for sales, and also have you go practice the techniques as part of the course.
2. Work with a Mentor.
All of the big brokerages offer a mentorship program where you work with an experienced agent. Most of the mentors have given up selling themselves, so they tend to be in the background to answer questions, not to give hard-core training. If you can find one that does, then your learning curve will be expedited.
3. Identify How and Where to Get The Business.
It isn’t going to come to you – at least not until you have a lot of experience. This is an active, not passive, job and being a smart go-getter is required for maximum results.
4. Work Effectively with a CRM.
Client Relationship Management supported by a robust software system is vital. Compass is spending $100 million per year on our platform, and I think we can say that we have the best in the business.
I think the home-selling business will shrink steadily from here on out. There are at least twice as many agents as needed and many will just age out over the next 5-10 years. Those who are left will be smart to utilize all of the internet tools as our society continues to put more faith in their hand-held device than the experts in the field. Being tech-savvy will be a requirement for all agents!
As part of our succession plan, we are going to add more agents to our group. If everything above sounds fantastic, contact me today and we can discuss you joining our team!
This year, we’ve taken more time off than ever before.
All for a great reason – to see Natalie performing around the world in an experience of a lifetime for her.
It was a sampling of what retirement could be. Did I enjoy being out of the game? No – and I hated that part.
I want to compete every day, and it’s what I love about selling homes. It is very competitive, and that includes the competition between me and me. Can I do better? Can I help more people?
This blog helps to keep me going. I want to deliver the most pertinent bubbleinfo every day.
Stick around – I’m just getting started!
P.S. Tonight the blog is upgrading to its own dedicated server. Let me know if you feel anything different!
It’s going to be tough on the newer agents going forward.
The commission lawsuit stuff isn’t the big concern. Sales are likely to keep dropping, and at the same time the better agents are picking up market share. There aren’t enough sales to go around for every realtor to pick up an occasional sale, let alone make a living.
If you’re an agent and you find yourself saying to prospects, “Let me know if you have any questions”, then there are things you can do to up your game.
The best thing you can do is immerse yourself in the Dale Carnegie Sales Course. I completed it early on, and it made all the difference.
Embrace your only job, which is to say the right things, the right way, at the right time.
It never fails when I’m doing open house, and I’m talking it up with attendees.
When I ask them, “Would you like to buy it”, it gets a chuckle every time because they have never heard that before at an open house. We are supposed to be professional sales people, yet consumers have never heard an agent ask them if they want to take action.
If you catch yourself wanting to say, “Let me know if you have any questions”, just know you need to be more creative. Try out my two favorite open-house questions, and use them early on, not once they have seen the house and are heading for the door:
Have you been looking around much lately?
Have you seen anything you liked?
Their answers to those questions will send you down a natural path of other questions that reveal where they are in the process.
If they say, “Oh, we’re just neighbors”, that’s fine.
Resist the urge to hit them with, “Are you thinking of selling?”
A consultant would say, “Have you thought about moving?
Every homeowner has thought about selling, and getting their hands on the money they have tied up in the home’s equity. But when they think about moving, it thrusts them into the Big Three: Going through all the stuff, fixing up the house, and where to go.
Listen carefully to their response, and then say, “If you could get assistance with all three of those things, would it be helpful?”
I’ve been sitting on this photo for about ten years so it’s about time!
The vice president and I have things in common. We were both born in Oakland and she got her start at the same place my grandfather did. Her law career began in 1990 at the Alameda County’s District Attorney’s office – my grandfather was there from 1923-1969, including his 22 years as the district attorney.
My brother’s wife Jill worked at the DA’s office at the same time as Kamala (circled above)!
What does Kamala’s ascent to the top of the ticket mean for home sales?
Biden dropping out of the race has to provide some calming to the real estate market, especially in gloomy blue states where hope was dismissed about three weeks ago. Even though local sales have been healthy, if the hopium causes a critical 10% to 20% of extra demand then we could see a surge over the next 30+ days.
She is a fantastic speaker, and it won’t take long for the polls cast doubt on the outcome. Even if she loses, she will provide enough comfort for the rest of 2024 that our market should survive quite nicely.
As long as nothing gets too negative, home sales should be fine!
There was another factor that weighed in on the story I told last week about throwing in commission to make a deal. The buyers were pregnant, and hoping to buy a home to which they could move in and get settled before having their babies.
We closed escrow on April 30th, and yesterday they had their twins – congratulations!
Phew – that was close!
The best thing about being a realtor is being involved in life-changing events with people, and being able to have some positive influence on the outcome.
This is where we lived when I went to high school in Phoenix Arizona. My parents paid around $35,000 for it in 1972, and when they sold it in 1979 and moved back to California they got around $80,000 for it.
The owners have done the obligatory update, but the house itself hasn’t changed much since. They paid $300,000 for it in November, 2018, and it’s now listed for $699,900.
Every house had a flat roof. One day, we took our bikes up on the roof and rode them into the pool!
For the newer readers, Donna and I have two daughters.
After Kayla graduated from the University of Oregon, she worked with us for five years and then moved to Manhattan where she’s been a realtor there for the last six years.
Natalie has always been a dancer, and she graduated from UCLA with a degree in dance. Since then, she has lived in Los Angeles doing smaller gigs in hopes they would lead to a full-blown concert tour with a major artist. She got her break last year, and has been on tour with Karol G. since August.
For those who aren’t familiar with Karol G., she has been called the latin Beyonce. The tour will conclude in Madrid, a city where she is bigger than Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift:
While it has been the dream tour of a lifetime for Natalie, it will come to an end in July (not June – the wiki clip above has the wrong month), after which she will continue to pursue her dance career. Stay tuned!
At the same time, she has also been our full-time marketing director. She authors our email newsletters and handles all of our social media accounts!
Because dance careers tend to be limited to younger people, we anticipate that Natalie will take over our business at some point. She handles Kayla’s marketing too, and if it all goes right, the future of the Klinge Realty Group will be bi-coastal and continue for decades!
Attention realtors who don’t have kids taking over their business. We can help you! When the times comes for you to exit the realtor business, we will buy your database, and take care of your people! Contact me when the time is right for you.
