As the state’s top-ranked real estate school by Google, Garden State Real Estate Academy’s main priority is to teach everything in our real estate classes that aspiring agents will need to pass the state real estate exam.
But one benefit of our school’s policy of only hiring expert instructors that have great and sucessful real estate careers is that we love that the licensed real estate agent shares tips and suggestions throughout every real estate class that will help you succeed once you have that new real estate license.
As we think about our resolutions for the new year, here are our 5 top tips to assure you of superstar success in the real estate industry.
#5: Send 5 personal notes 5 days each week.
We live in a depersonalized world. People communicate with texts; customer service departments use bots and autoresponders instead of real people. Even appointments now need to be made online instead of with a friendly receptionist. Half the birthday cards in America are sent using an online card service instead of hand-picked greeting cards with a well-chosen hand-written message.
Go through your phone, your contacts list, even your neighborhood association or contracts from present or past coworkers and college friends. Buy bulk generic greeting cards from somewhere such as Amazon. Each day, write a handwritten note to five people telling them you were thinking of them and include something that shows you care, such as you hope they are enjoying life with their new baby, or you hope they had a wonderful vacation in Florida.
You cannot imagine how meaningful (and memorable) it will be for your sphere of influence to open these cards and see such a thoughtful hand-crafted message. Include your business card.
#4: Call 4 people from your Sphere of Influence.
On the very first day of Garden State Real Estate Academy’s real estate courses, we advise our classroom guests to begin compiling a database of their “Sphere of Influence.” If you started at the top of the list to send out the five cards described above, start at the bottom of the list and call four people each weekday.
Ask the normal personal questions to show how you care. Then share a couple of facts with them that everybody wants to know. For example, “Pat, I know everybody wants to know how the housing market is doing. I thought you’d be interested in knowing that home prices in our town/county are up 6% so far this year. The average sales price is now $434,000, and 120 homes sold in town in the past three months, compared to 102 a year ago.” That will inevitably lead to a response from your contact, and can naturally lead to your saying, “Pat, whom do you know who I might be able to help in buying, selling, or investing in real estate in the near future?”
#3: Preview 3 properties in your marketplace.
Buyers and sellers choose real estate agents largely because of their knowledge of the local housing market. Invest in continuing education and make a point of learning as much as you can about the current inventory for sale, and how it is priced. Make appointments through your MLS to preview three properties every week. As you walk through the property, note its features. What could be improved? What are the positives and negatives? How would you market the property on the MLS or otherwise if it were your listing? How would you define—and market to—the ideal buyer?
Then prepare a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) on the property as if you were planning a listing appointment. Your expertise in pricing properties is incredibly important and this simple exercise will hone your skills in how to prepare CMAs that will help your future buyers and sellers.
#2: Dedicate 2 mornings a week solely to lead generation
Even real estate sales superstars with millions of dollars in monthly sales commit to lead generation. It is imperative that you do the same. Set aside at least two mornings every week—literally, schedule it in your calendar and do not accept any other meetings then—for lead generation. Have a plan.
Whom can you call? Expired listings. FSBOs (For Sale By Owners). Tenants in apartment buildings. You can check the MLS for properties that were once listed but where the seller withdrew the property and did not relist. Maybe they had a change of heart a year ago but would now be interested in selling the home.
#1: Do 1 Open House every week.
There is no better way for a new real estate agent to get started than by hosting open houses.
Period.
Sellers often put pressure on their listing agents to have frequent open houses. The problem is, if that successful agent has 15 listings, how often can she really hold an open house for each listing?
That’s where you come in. Offer to hold open houses for all the top agents in your brokerage. Any buyer that you meet will be your buyer—and many of them might have a house they need to sell in order to buy the new home. Even if they don’t feel your open house is right for them, by establishing rapport with them, you could pick them up as a buyer and find them a home that is perfect.
. . . and here’s the problem:
I know that every single person reading this blog agrees with what I have just written. Even experienced real estate agents and knowledgeable instructors read the blog and nodded their heads in agreement.
According to Inc. magazine, only 9% of people actually follow through to meet their New Year’s resolutions. Research firm Strava conducted a survey that showed of the millions of resolutions made on New Year’s Day, most people had abandoned them by January 19th—which it dubbed “Quitter’s Day.”
Garden State Real Estate Academy became the best real estate school by offering real estate education and pre licensing courses to teach people how to get their real estate license. But we want more! We want to train future superstars like you!
If you are thinking of getting your real estate license—be it as a salesperson or a broker, Garden State Real Estate Academy is the state’s top-rated real estate school. If you need a New Jersey real estate license, you can choose from daytime or evening classes at www.GSREA.com and click on “Salesperson” licensing classes.
For information on the real estate school’s upcoming New Jersey licensing classes, click here for the class schedule: https://www.gsreacademy.com/pre-licensing-courses/
If you need to earn a real estate license in a state other than New Jersey, Garden State Real Estate Academy also offers online classes that you can take at your own schedule in 21 states through our partnership with The CE Shop. There is also continuing education courses and course materials. And while New Jersey does NOT allow self-study pre-licensing classes, we do offer self-study pre-licensing classes in 25 other states by clicking here: https://gsreacademy.theceshop.com/pre-licensing.
Good luck for an AWESOME real estate career in 2023!
David C. Forward is a licensed real estate broker and instructor and was first licensed as a Realtor® 34 years ago. During his career, David and his business partner sold more than 500 homes in South Jersey. He is now School Director of Garden Real Estate Academy, has won numerous awards for real estate sales, is a much-requested public speaker who has addressed audiences on six continents. His 20th book Zero to Hero: Winning strategies for new real estate agents to become SuperStars in their first year was released this month.
