I love what I do and the people I do it for. And I suppose it looks pretty glamorous, because people reach out to me quite often asking me about becoming a Realtor. The most common of questions, by far, is what do you wish you'd known, The gotcha’s so to speak.
This is always a hard question for me to answer because I never want to discourage anyone or steer them in any direction or another. I love being a Realtor but I think it has been glamorized by TV and social media. I think this is why a shocking 90% of agents don’t make it 5 years. I think people look at it as a quick and easy fun way to make lots of money.
That is the biggest gotcha.
Getting into real estate for a quick, easy, fun way to make a ton of money, is like getting into the pig pin to get a BLT. Haha, quite an analogy I know, but the point is, there is a lot to be done and it’s a long road to get to the end goal of several clients/closings/money. It is not easy, but it can be fun and it can yield money.
Being a successful Realtor is mostly like anything else, you get out what you put in. It is long hard work. There are those few transactions that go off easily and quickly, but they are rare.
I wish I had known how much grit, candor, skill, dedication, and knowledge it takes to get through several transactions. I wish I had known how stressful it can be to have your clients hopes and dreams and largest investments in your hands; juggling multiple clients, contracts, and heightened emotions at once.
I wish I had known how hard it is to get business. You may be surprised to know when you get your license, people don't come beating your door down to buy or list a house with you. Yes, maybe one or two; maybe Aunt Peggy or your neighbor Joe, but you cannot build a business off of those few transactions. To give you an example, I have sold millions of dollars in real estate and have a successful business and I have had two people that I PERSONALLY KNOW register on my website who still will not respond to my attempts at conversation. Those are people I know, imagine the ones I don’t. Most transactions I have closed, I have had to put some elbow grease in. The ones I have lost were because I was not proactive or persistent enough. They are going to use an agent. It’s your responsibility to show them why it should be you. I can’t tell you how many times people will not respond to my first call, text, email and do so the second or third time. You have to stay in it to win it.
I wish I had known how much you have to stay on top of it. I wish I had known how much you would have to juggle and stay aware of. It may not be my job to make sure the other agent is doing what needs to be done. But staying in constant communication makes things go way more smoothly and helps to facilitate a much less stressful transaction for your client. You, at times, are calling the lenders of potential buyers of your listing making sure the loan won't fall through and cost your seller. You are making sure the termite company didn’t send a bill to the title company when your buyer paid in person. You are making sure that your client has instructions on how to pay at closing so they don’t show up with zero money trying to write a personal check.
It looks like we open doors and show pretty houses and then viola we make a million dollars. What you don't see are the long hours behind the scenes. The nights I am up at midnight sending emails to the lender or negotiating offers literally by the light of my phone. You don’t see the dinners I have to get up and walk away from to do what cannot wait for my client. The average salary for a Realtor is $45,000 a year. It’s estimated that agents who earn more than this put in 60+ hours a week.
I wish I had known how much you actually need to know and how much knowledge you really need to have. When your client calls you asking how to see the seller contribution on the settlement statement you need to know how to read a settlement statement. When you get an Wood Infestation Report saying your crawl space has an infestation you need to have paid attention to the property you're selling to know that it can't be yours because your house is on a slab.(actual events) You need to be able to explain why taxes are prorated accordingly and paid in arrears and homestead exemptions. You need to know the contract on its face so you can tell your seller what happens when they start digging up the peach tree in their backyard. You can’t know it all, but you can and should know how to advise and lead your clients.
I wish I had known how rewarding it can be and the difference you can make.
People don’t generally regard Realtors as difference makers.
But you can be.
You should be.
And if you are reading this contemplating getting your license and getting into real estate, I hope that you do it and I hope that you are.