As mentioned before, being a real estate agent is a great way to make money by helping people find their dream home or moving into a new area where they will grow as professionals. There are several ways to become an agent, but most require you to have at least a bachelor’s degree and certification.
Once you have those, applying for broker status with The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is a next step. NAR does not require its members to be certified, but it helps promote professionalism and standards in the industry.
There are also state-level associations that offer similar benefits. By becoming a member of both NAR and your specific association, you get additional perks such as more professional opportunities, discounts from vendors, and higher pay.
Whether you are looking to climb the ladder at a major brokerage firm or just start your own business, joining the real estate profession is a good choice. It can easily break down if you are willing to put in the effort needed to succeed.
Prepare a list of your qualifications
Before you can join a real estate brokerage, you need to make sure you have qualified as an individual broker. This means that you must be licensed as a real estate agent!
Most states require you to go through at least some kind of schooling before being able to work under your own license. Most agents start off in education or sales courses so that they can get their certification later!
Once you are certified, it is next to impossible to not become a professional real estate agent. You will learn everything from marketing strategies to negotiating skills during your training process.
While most people begin working for themselves once they graduate, there are ways to launch your career earlier. Starting out as an employee of a firm may offer better benefits, but joining as an independent business owner is possible too!
There are many ways to gain experience as a real estate agent without making large investments. By sharing your services or those of another broker, or by becoming involved in local communities, you’ll still earn enough income.
Create a plan for your future business
The next step in launching your real estate career is deciding how you will organize yourself into business. Will you work as an agent for one firm, or multiple firms? What areas of the market do you want to focus on? Are you willing to take on only sellers’ properties, or both buyers’ and sellers’ homes?
The way you structure your business has implications beyond just which companies hire you and give you a paycheck! For example, what kind of insurance coverage do you have?, What types of licenses do you hold?, And who does what outside of work – like accountants for payroll, lawyers for contracts, etc.
You must consider all these factors when choosing your ideal path forward.
Prepare your marketing plan
A successful real estate broker is not someone with the best-laid plans for opening their own brokerage, but who is also able to connect with other professionals around them to help them achieve that goal.
Most brokers start off as agents before making the transition into business owners. As such, they’ve already spent time working in an office setting, meeting with potential clients, answering questions about the profession, and establishing relationships with others in the field.
Now it’s time to take those skills and apply them to yourself by creating your own real estate firm!
By being aware of the different ways you can market your practice, and having a plan for how to implement these strategies, you will know what next steps to take. You may even find more experts in the industry willing to work with you or at least provide you with valuable information.
Buy or build your home
As mentioned before, being a real estate broker means having a business license that allows you to sell other people’s homes. It also implies owning a brokerage firm where you can house-shop and find homes to represent you in sales.
With the rise of the internet, there are many ways to buy a home these days. You can either do it yourself through online listing services like Zillow and Realtor.com, buying directly from the seller, or by looking at lots of pictures of houses online and then calling the sellers to see if they will show you the house.
Finding a house to represent you is an important part of being a real estate agent. You have to know what qualities are important to buyers and which properties match their lifestyle. Plus, you need to be able to talk about the property clearly and convincingly so that potential buyers believe you!
There are several courses that offer certification as a real estate agent. Some require only a few months to get certified while others may take longer depending on how much time students spend studying and practicing. But no matter how long it takes, everyone must go through some sort of formal education first.
Do not get involved with shady business practices
As mentioned before, being a real estate agent is an expensive career! Unfortunately, not every broker you meet will be your friend or trustworthy.
Some brokers are very well connected and use this connection to make money through illegal activities such as offering poor services or taking advantage of vulnerable individuals or businesses.
Real estate agents who engage in these unethical behaviors can face serious consequences including fines and suspension. If you find yourself seeking help from a particular broker, do some research first to see if there have been any complaints against them.
There are many ways to become a successful real estate professional so please don’t let anything hold you back unless you have proof that it is wrong.
Know your clients
As mentioned earlier, being a broker means that you will be representing sellers or buyers of real estate properties. Therefore, one important thing to know about as a prospective broker is how to identify if someone is looking for a seller’s agent or a buyer’s agent.
People who are looking to buy a home may ask questions related to helping them find their ideal house, what kind of houses they want to look into, and whether they are looking at buying a newly built or resale property. They may also inquire about the price range that they can spend on a new home and whether they like the area.
On the other hand, people who are trying to sell their current homes may discuss things such as the number of hours that they listed their house, the types of advertisements that they used, and whether or not they received any showings. This could include discussing with them why they decided to put their house up for sale now instead of later.
You should always try to learn as much possible about your potential client before agreeing to represent them.
Make your clients feel important
As mentioned before, being part of a real estate brokerage means that you will be representing someone’s best interest when buying or selling a house. This can make some people uncomfortable because they may not like how their home is marketed, or may want to do business with another broker instead.
It is very important that you remain professional at all times while acting as their representative. Avoid becoming too friendly with them unless it is really necessary.
Never take anything personally. If something goes wrong, this could reflect on you, so keep yourself level headed and avoid reacting negatively.
When things go wrong, there are usually negotiations involved which can get heated. Never attack someone else’s tactics or use insults, even if it feels good.
Instead, try thinking about what would be the most effective way to approach the situation and respond accordingly.
Be honest
As mentioned before, being a real estate agent is not for everyone. If you are looking to make some money fast by buying and selling houses with little responsibility, then becoming a broker may be your best bet.
However, if you want to build up a career in real estate that pays well and grows with time, then joining a brokerage firm is the right choice for you.
The biggest difference between brokers and agents is what they are paid. Agents get a per-sale commission, which is how much they earn depending on whether or not they close a sale.
As you can probably imagine, this doesn’t sit too well with some people. Because they are not getting payment for actually doing anything, it creates an incentive to do less work.
This goes both ways – good agents will take care of as many clients as possible because they know there are other people who help them bring in business, but also include lower quality services or even no services at all because they aren’t needed.
For this reason, only join a brokerage firm if you understand that things won’t always go smoothly and you will have to put in extra effort to succeed. You should only apply if you are willing to invest in yourself and learn from others so that you can keep succeeding.
