You studied. You passed the exam. You chose a brokerage. You joined the MLS. You are officially licensed to sell real estate.
Now what?
Getting your license doesn’t mean you’re supposed to know everything about practicing real estate on Day 1. You’re also starting a business, and every business has a build-out phase.
There’s a lot to learn. You don’t have to learn it all at once. Start with these seven steps.
7 tips for building a real estate business
1. Learn your market
In a recent 45-hour post-licensing class, two agents who had already been in the business for eight or nine months didn’t know what Market Watch was.
Whatever your MLS calls it, set up a Market Watch, hot sheet or market activity report and start watching what’s happening every day. But keep your area small. Don’t try to learn the entire state or even an entire county.
Start with the city where you live or an area where you want to sell. Watch the new listings, what goes pending, price reductions, what closes and what continues to sit.
Over time, you’ll start recognizing addresses, subdivisions and price ranges. You’ll notice when something seems overpriced because you’ve been watching what similar homes are actually doing. Once you know that area, expand.
Market knowledge doesn’t mean knowing everything. It means knowing your market well.
2. Learn the product
Watching the market tells you what’s happening. Getting inside houses helps you understand why.
If you don’t have buyers yet, preview vacant listings where permitted and follow the appropriate showing instructions. Get inside the houses.
Look at the roof. Check the age of the air conditioner and water heater. Pay attention to windows, flooring, kitchens, renovations and deferred maintenance. Learn what different price points actually buy in your market. Then follow those properties. What did they eventually sell for?
Learn the lockboxes in your market. Learn how to follow showing instructions, access the property correctly and secure everything when you leave.
Those things sound small until you’re standing in a driveway with buyers behind you and you can’t get into the house. Practice the little things now before they become big things in front of a client.
3. Learn your communities
Pick the communities where you want to work and drive them. Learn the subdivisions. Know which communities are 55-plus. Learn about the HOAs, CDDs where applicable, amenities and restrictions.
Think about what a buyer is going to ask. What does the HOA include? What are the restrictions? What makes this neighborhood different from the one down the street?
You won’t know every answer. Learn where to find the answer.
4. Build your professional network before you need it
Don’t wait until you have a buyer with a financing problem to meet your first lender.
Call mortgage brokers and lenders. Meet title professionals, inspectors, insurance professionals, contractors and other people involved in a transaction. Have coffee. Ask questions.
What do they wish agents understood about their part of the transaction? What problems do they see over and over again?
You’re also learning the business from people who see a different side of it.
The more people you know, the more you grow.
5. Get to know other agents. You are your only competition
Other agents are part of your professional network, too. They’re going to bring buyers to your listings. You’re going to show theirs. You’re going to negotiate with each other, solve problems together and sometimes send each other referrals.
If your brokerage has a physical office, show up. Seriously. Go in and listen.
Listen to experienced agents talk through offers, inspections, appraisals and the crazy things that come up in transactions. Go to office meetings. Have lunch with experienced agents. Ask questions.
Pay attention to the agents whose knowledge, professionalism and way of handling problems you respect. Listen to the agent on the other side of your transactions, too. Every conversation is another opportunity to learn.
Sometimes you learn just by being in the room.
6. Practice the conversation before you need the conversation
Knowing the answer to a real estate question and being able to explain it to a consumer are two different things.
Role-play. Practice a buyer consultation. Practice a seller conversation. Practice explaining an inspection issue, an appraisal problem or a price reduction. Say the words out loud.
AI can even be a practice partner. Ask it to play the role of a skeptical buyer or seller and critique how clearly you answered. Don’t take everything AI tells you as gospel. It can be wrong. Verify information, and use your broker and other trusted resources when you need an actual answer.
The first time you say something out loud shouldn’t be when you’re sitting across the table from a client.
7. Stop waiting until you know everything
New agents are scared. They’re afraid somebody is going to ask a question they can’t answer. They’re afraid of looking new or making a mistake. So they wait.
Stop waiting.
You’re never going to know everything. Agents who have been doing this for decades are still learning. Markets change. Contracts change. Technology changes. Lending changes. Insurance changes. And just when you think you’ve seen everything, a transaction will teach you something new.
You’re going to make mistakes. Learn from them.
That doesn’t mean being careless with someone else’s money, property or transaction. When you don’t know something, ask. Talk to your broker. Find the person who does know. Verify the answer before you give it to your client.
There’s a big difference between being responsible and being afraid.
Go preview the house. Watch your market. Drive the neighborhood. Learn the lockbox. Call the lender. Sit in the office. Talk to other agents. Practice the conversation. Ask the question.
You’re building a business. Build the foundation while you have the time to build it.
Your real estate license didn’t mark the end of your education. It marked the beginning.
Patti O’Malley is a real estate broker and educator. Get connected on Facebook and LinkedIn.
