Many of our readers are just starting their journey into the world of real estate and they want to start a real estate business from scratch. Most of them want to understand the steps of the journey they Read more...
Many of our readers are just starting their journey into the world of real estate and they want to start a real estate business from scratch. Most of them want to understand the steps of the journey they are about to embark on and see a path to success laid out for them.
Step 1: Enroll in real estate classes
The first step in your real estate journey is to enroll in a California state approved real estate school and complete three required courses. The courses required to sit for the real estate exam are:
Real Estate Principles
Real Estate Practice +
Elective course
While we offer a selection of elective courses, my recommendation is to choose Legal Aspects of Real Estate because it contains the most relevant information to prepare you for your California real estate exam. Additionally, if you wish to obtain your brokers license at some point,Legal Aspects of Real Estate is a required course so completing this course will serve these two purposes.
As far as options to complete the program go, we have two packages that can get this done for you. One is a package wherein a licensed instructor will walk you through all the material and the other is a self-study option where you read the material on your own.
My recommendation would be to choose the instructor-led Zoom calls mostly because there is so much material to digest and having a professional to ask questions of will make the experience easier and provide more of a roadmap for you.
Step 2: Pass the real estate exam and obtain a real estate license
Once you have enrolled and completed the three required courses the next step is to take and pass the state licensing exam in California. The best way to get ready for this exam is with our famous crash course software. Our crash course offers hundreds of videos explaining each answer choice and why the answer is correct and the others are wrong.
The sales license exam is given over 3 hours and it consists of 150 multiple-choice questions. Passing score is a 70% or better.
Pro tip: Don’t worry about getting 100% on this exam. The state doesn’t even release your score when you pass. The exam is strictly qualifying in nature and as long as you score at least a 70% you’ll be good to go.
Obtaining a real estate license also requires that you clear a criminal background check. This is done through a process called Live Scan. This Live Scan is required even if you’ve gone through this process in the past for another license or purpose. For example, we have many students who are also notary publics or have other professional licenses and certifications that required that they be fingerprinted in the past. This doesn’t matter - you’ll have to go through the fingerprinting again.
Step 3: Choose a real estate broker to work for
If your aspiration is just to get a real estate license, you don't necessarily have to put that license with a broker. However, if you want to work and represent buyers and sellers, the real estate law requires that you find a broker to work for and hang your license with.
As you make the decision about where to work keep in mind that there are many things that determine whether you are working at the right firm.
Learn more about how to pick a broker here:
To a newer agent, the most important thing in deciding where to work should be the training program available and the culture around the office. For example, if your goal is to make a lot of money and help lots of clients, you'll want to make sure that you are in an environment where the broker encourages teamwork, camaraderie and a culture of training.
Step 4: Start working on your sales skills
One of the most underrated aspects of starting as a new real estate sales professional is the fact that people forget that the nature of this job is sales. The successful real estate agent will employ marketing strategies to get their name out there, be able to set an appointment and ultimately close for the contract.
Whether dealing with buyers or sellers there are objections that your client will inevitably throw at you. For example, buyers might want to wait until interest rates come down or prices cool off. Sellers will want to understand what your marketing plan is and may even ask you to cut your commission. Your ability to handle these objections with empathy and professionalism is key to your success.
The best real estate sales professionals continuously practice their skills, role-play, and work on their sales abilities each and every day.
Step 5: Solidify Your Marketing Plan
With over 400,000 real estate licensees in California it's important to be able to be found and recognized as an area expert. The only way to do this is through proper marketing as marketing is the lifeblood of any business. It’s no different when it comes to you as an individual real estate professional.
As a newer agent, the big question is, how are you going to be found? Joining a team can help in this effort because teams generally allocate marketing dollars to lead generation and they pass out these leads to members on their team.
It’s important to bear in mind that these leads come at a cost, however. Commission splits are often lower on a team, because not only do you have to pay the brokerage but you'll also have to pay a split to your team in return for generating those leads for you. Being able to ride the coattails of your team should mean that you don’t have to figure out your own marketing plan.
Whether or not you end up joining a team, I would still suggest doing community and sponsorship events, a lot of direct mail, and maybe even some good old fashioned doorknocking. Consider sponsoring the local chili cook off or the Little League team to get in front of residents in the community.
Remember that sales and marketing go hand-in-hand. Marketing will help you bring in the leads, while sales skills will help you close the leads that you do generate.
Don’t neglect social media. It’s important to be active on Instagram and Facebook and maybe even start your own YouTube channel. Social media is a great way for members of the community to get to know you and gives you the chance to show that you're an active local real estate professional.
Step 6: Continue to grow your career
I understand that reading that you should “grow your career” sounds cliche and I’m aware that this saying means different things to different people. In the context of being a real estate agent, growth could involve branching out into other aspects of real estate like property management or commercial real estate.
The concept of growing your career also involves attending continuous training on sales skills, marketing, social media strategies, or even technical training like new laws that affect the real estate community or updates to the purchase agreement.
Your goal should be to avoid stagnation and always continue to grow and learn. Real estate is an ever-changing industry and technological tools have changed the way the properties are purchased.
Given the fact that our clients are trusting us with what is likely their largest asset, we have a duty to make sure that we are learning all we can and that we are the best real estate agent possible.
I'm hoping the six steps I’ve outlined will help understand the arc of starting and growing a lucrative career in real estate. It can be an extremely rewarding career and I’m looking forward to helping you get started or continue to grow it.
If you are interested in learning more about starting a real estate career, call us at 888 768 5285 or send us a message on Instagram
Love,
Kartik
TLDR:
Here are the six steps to starting and growing your real estate career.
1. Enroll in real estate classes
2. Pass the real estate exam and obtain a real estate license
3. Choose a real estate broker to work for
4. Start working on your sales skills
5. Solidify your marketing plan
6. Continue to grow your career
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As a real estate professional, it’s hard to overstate the importance of having a competent loan officer on your team. Since most real estate purchases involve financing, the person quarterbacking the Read more...
As a real estate professional, it’s hard to overstate the importance of having a competent loan officer on your team. Since most real estate purchases involve financing, the person quarterbacking the buyer’s loan can make or break the purchase of the property - and ultimately affect whether or not you get your commission.
Remember - real estate agents don’t get paid for opening escrows, the only thing that matters is closing them.
As a student in our real estate license course, assembling a great team consisting of a reliable escrow officer, title representative and a mortgage professional might seem completely disconnected from your pre license studies or real estate crash course but it’s an important thing to consider nonetheless. This way, once you do obtain your real estate license you can hit the ground running.
So who do you choose as your go-to lender? I made a quick list of some of the things you’ll want to consider for as you choose a lender for your team:
Reliable Pre-approvals
In short, if a lender is going to write up a pre-approval letter for your buyer it’s important to be sure that the transaction is actually going to close. While there are no absolute guarantees, you and your buyer should at least have some confidence that the transaction is actually going to happen with no foreseeable problems regarding the loan.
Lots of lenders today will issue a “DU” approval as well. “DU” stands for
Desktop Underwriter with Fannie Mae Desktop Underwriter is an automated system for mortgage underwriting that determines if a loan meets approval requirements. Lots of listing agents will also want to see an “approved eligible” printout from DU to ensure that the buyer is well qualified.
As a real estate agent you need to have trust in your lender that their pre-approval letter carries weight. At the end of the day, if that pre-approval letter doesn’t translate into an actual funding it will leave the real estate agent and the buyer with a big problem on their hands as the buyer may end up losing their deposit and the real estate agent won’t get paid.
In the end a pre-approval that doesn’t blow up in your face is a bare minimum you should expect from a lender.
On-Time Closings
There’s nothing worse than a closing that is continuously delayed. It puts the buyer and the seller in precarious positions, forcing them to rearrange schedules, potentially delaying start dates at jobs, and generally giving all parties in the deal heartburn.
To be clear, on occasion there will be delays that are beyond the lender’s control. Perhaps the buyer’s employer is lagging on delivering a Verification of Employment. Maybe the IRS has delays related to a tax transcript. But either way, a lender that has the ability to foresee potential problems related to the loan early on and takes action based on these possible roadblocks is worth their weight in gold.
A Wide Variety of Loan Products
While it’s unfair to expect a lender to be an expert in all loan types, a lender should have the ability to do more than a home loan for a borrower with a 800 FICO score and twenty percent down.
It’s not unreasonable to expect a good lender to have a wide variety of loan offerings -- conventional loans, programs for first time home buyers, FHA loans, VA loans and more. A lender that has these basic arrows in their quiver will allow the Realtor to get more comfortable with the lender and solidify them as the go-to for new clients.
The Ability to Problem Solve
Most loans have some hair on them. Maybe a borrower has a gap in their employment history. Perhaps there is one 30 day late payment showing up on the credit report from 18 months ago that is bringing down their credit score. Either way, most real estate loans aren’t perfect and they require some level of critical thinking in order to close them on time and with minimal hassle.
Finding a loan originator that knows how to deal with small -and sometimes large - problems is helpful.
Superior Customer Service
Excellent customer service makes dealing with a lender less stressful. What defines good customer service? In the lending and real estate world, this means answering your phone and responding to email, communicating often and keeping tabs on the cadence of the loan. Whether the agent or borrower needs the answer to a simple question or requires serious assistance with a major issue, the lender should have customer service resources available. If the lender isn’t immediately available, the lender should make it clear who should be contacted in their absence.
Transparency
Above all else, borrowers today value integrity and transparency. Lenders who change terms at the last minute or mislead homebuyers are not to be trusted. Most real estate agents seek out lenders with proven histories of doing right by clients and respecting the financial burdens of those about to make the biggest purchases of their lives.
When a real estate agent recommends a lender to a buyer they are, in essence, vouching for them and there can be reputational risks to the agent if the lender doesn’t perform. Pairing motivated buyers with reliable lenders is an important job of a buyer’s agent. The right partnership will result in a smooth transaction that becomes a win for all parties.
Love,
Kartik
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Starting a career in real estate and obtaining your real estate license opens up a new world of opportunity to you.There are so many different career paths that can be taken one you get your real estate Read more...
Starting a career in real estate and obtaining your real estate license opens up a new world of opportunity to you.There are so many different career paths that can be taken one you get your real estate license.
While it’s true that most of our students start their career selling houses, commercial real estate (CRE) is also an option for you in California. There are similarities between both areas of practice as they involve helping clients buy, sell and lease property so the desired outcome is the same. The high level difference is that the clients to whom you provide services are simply looking at a different class of property.
A common misconception is that the commercial side of the business is somehow more complicated than residential but in many ways the opposite is true. Commercial files can be thinner because there are many forms and documents that are required in residential real estate that don’t exist in the commercial world.
In any case, if commercial is an area of specialization you find appealing,here are some things to consider and things you’ll need to do:
1. Obtain a real estate license
Every real estate agent, regardless of whether they plan to work in residential or commercial real estate, must meet specific criteria and pass an exam. Individual states set their own criteria, so be sure to research your state’s process. Generally speaking, you must meet eligibility requirements, take approved re-licensing real estate classes , and pass the real estate exam to obtain a license.
2. Find a firm specializing in CRE
After you choose a real estate school and receive your real estate salesperson license in California, you’ll have to place your license under a broker. Once you select a broker, the firm will dictate the type of real estate you can practice. If you want to pursue work in the CRE market you will have to find a broker that has the bandwidth and resources to conduct commercial sales and leasing. This is where it can get a little sticky because most residential firms don’t offer the tools needed to do commercial real estate and most commercial firms don’t offer the residential tools to sell a house.
3. Get trained up in commercial real estate
Finding someone to mentor and train you to practice commercial real estate is not as easy as finding a residential mentor. Part of why this is true is that there are far more residential real estate agents than there are commercial ones and residential firms are typically more eager to hire than commercial ones.
There are large commercial companies like CB Richard Ellis and Jones Lang LaSalle that might hire you with the right resume and connections, or you can explore working at a more boutique local shop in your area. The key thing here is to find solid training and a mentorship program that will allow you to start your commercial real estate career properly.
4. Identify an area of specialty
Many residential real estate agents specialize in certain types of homes,such as retirement communities, townhouses, luxury homes, or another niche. The commercial real estate industry tends to be even more specialized than this.The commercial real estate world tends to be broken down into five pillars:
Retail - Shopping centers
Industrial - Warehouse type uses
Office - Larger or single tenant office spaces
Raw land - Developer specialization
Apartments/multi family sales - 5 or more apartment units
While there can be some cross-over between these two functions there is still a high level of specialization.
4. Identify an area of specialty
Not unlike residential real estate, you need to have marketing and branding strategies in your toolbox. In addition to the types of properties you want to specialize in, your plan should include factors such as how to target clients, budgets, unique selling points, and strategies to client outreach.
These branding and marketing initiatives can include real estate postcard mailing, really cool property photos, or a social media strategy.
6. Explore other career possibilities
One of the benefits of working in the commercial real estate field is the ability to expand your practice. Besides an area of specialization, there are opportunities to participate in arranging financing for a property, performing property management, or (as mentioned above) negotiating tenant leases.
Just how wide of a net you can cast is going to be dependent on your brokerage and the services that they offer. If your brokerage doesn’t have a trust account and accounting systems created, you won’t be able to legally conduct property management so you’ll want to explain your aspirations to your broker and see if they have a system to support your endeavors.
A final thought
Because sales prices are generally higher on commercial properties than residential ones commercial agents often find they can earn larger commissions, which can equate to higher annual earnings. Many agents who specialize in this area find it to be a lucrative, exciting, and rewarding experience. It's important to know, success doesn't come overnight, it takes effort and experience. The large commercial deal sizes can have a negative impact on the commissioned real estate agent, however.If your entire earnings for the year are dependent on one large deal that ends up falling apart this can put you in a precarious position.
Nevertheless, if commercial real estate sounds appealing to you,you need to start with our real estate license course.Register today so we can help you prepare for a lucrative career in the commercial market.
Love,
Kartik
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As a current or former student in our real estate license school you might remember my lecture from Real Estate Practice on listing presentations. I’ve placed a link to the YouTube video here if you Read more...
As a current or former student in our real estate license school you might remember my lecture from Real Estate Practice on listing presentations. I’ve placed a link to the YouTube video here if you need a refresher or haven’t seen it yet.
While this video isn’t intended to be a real estate crash course it’s still helpful to watch as you strategize around building your seller-focused real estate business. While buyer clients are important, a scaleable real estate business is built around controlling listing inventory and that means working with sellers.
In order to obtain listings, you must become proficient at generating seller leads and making killer presentations. The high-level goal is to demonstrate you are the best Realtor for the job of selling their home.
Because of the competitive nature of the market you’ll need to have a solid listing presentation. Sellers have options when it comes to listing their home as the number of real estate agents in an area far exceeds the inventory at any given time.
I’ve put together some tips as you work with and negotiate with a potential seller.
1. Introduce yourself
Every meeting starts with an introduction. Keep in mind first impressions matter—so be sure to get this part right—and remember to smile. Be prepared to share your credentials, previous successes, and any other pertinent information demonstrating why you’re the right person to list their home.
2. Know the property
Before you arrive, make sure you’ve researched everything possible about the property and dig beyond surface-level information like bedroom and bathroom count. If you haven’t done your homework, it’ll be obvious to the seller. Make sure that your Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) is detailed, up- to-date and visually appealing.
3. Walk through the selling process
Share a clear timeline with the seller so they know what to expect. Much of this timeline will depend upon the current state of the market, so be prepared to explain any circumstances that will impact the time it’ll take from listing to contract and from contract to close.
It’s also important to also explain to the seller that buyers will generally have the right to conduct an inspection on the home while it’s in escrow. This could cause the buyer to ask for repairs or even ask for a monetary credit as a result of the inspection.
Going through several possible scenarios with the seller will help minimize surprises during the listing.
4. Explain pricing strategy
The main thing that prevents a listing from selling is an inappropriate price. Proper pricing can overcome nearly everything. Does the property have an inferior location? Price it properly. Is there an odd smell or is the home in desperate need of landscaping? Fix the price.
The professional real estate agent should have relevant comps pulled, bearing in mind the condition of the subject property, condition and location of comps, and have the communication skills to convey this information to the seller.
Be prepared and ready to explain the recommended price to the seller. It’s not uncommon for the owner to believe that their home is worth more money than your data suggests, especially in the world of Zillow. I recorded a YouTube video about this here if you need a refresher.
5. Explain pre-listing steps
As a sales technique, speak to the seller during the presentation as though you already have the listing. Educate them on what will be occurring after they sign. Assume that they are going to be listing with you.
It’s important that the seller know that the property won’t hit the market the instant you leave the presentation as there are many things that still have to happen. Photography must be arranged, marketing collateral needs to be created and copy must be written, as examples.
Giving the sellers a heads up about the process will go a long way in establishing rapport, trust and an understanding of the cadence of the process.
6. Explain marketing strategy
If your marketing strategy consists of placing the property on the MLS with one iPhone photo - this isn’t going to be enough.
Since real estate commissions easily run $10,000+ on most homes in California, it’s important to explain to the seller what the plan to sell their home is and why our commissions are as they are.
A well thought out marketing plan will help justify your fee and aid the seller in understanding where their money goes.
Include any syndication, local marketing, and online publicizing—share techniques you use that make their home stand out in a competitive marketplace.
7. Remember to listen
You want to build a relationship of trust with clients. Talk to them about why they’re selling their home and ask what their future plans are understanding their needs will help you better serve them.
Also remember to include all family members in the discussion. Often times a real estate professional might only speak to one spouse, falsely believing that they are the decision maker when the decision to list might be one made jointly by both owners.
God gave us two ears and one mouth-remember to use them run that ratio.
8. Dress for success
Non-verbal cues like body language, grooming and how we dress can say a lot more than verbal communication can. There is little doubt that in a post-COVID world the business climate has moved away from suits, ties and pantyhose in favor of a more relaxed attire.
Depending on your market, how you dress might vary, but generally, business casual is probably appropriate.
One last tip: While the world is a bit more casual it’s better to be overdressed than underdressed so choose your wardrobe carefully.
9. Leverage the power of reviews
If you (or your company) have testimonials or online reviews from previous clients, bring them to the listing presentation.
People are more inclined to trust others who have experienced success with their agents.
These nine tips should help you put your best foot forward when making listing presentations.
It all starts with the right real estate school so choose wisely. I’d love to help you get started in our great business. Call me at 888 768 5285 and I or a member of my team can get you started.
Love,
Kartik
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In today’s day and age if you don’t have a presence on social media you almost aren’t in business. Both current and potential customers want to feel connected to the brands and individuals they do Read more...
In today’s day and age if you don’t have a presence on social media you almost aren’t in business. Both current and potential customers want to feel connected to the brands and individuals they do business with - what better way to foster community than social media?
Promoting positive engagement is a must for a successful social media marketing strategy as a Realtor. Here are a few best practices to bear in mind:
Do’s of Social Media Posting
1. Try to combine posts and content across multiple platforms
Because of the sheer volume of social media posts, you will get lost in the noise of these platforms if you aren’t aggressive in your approach. Post often and recycle your posts across many social media platforms. You don’t need to be selective with the social media platforms you join - the goal is to be omnipresent.
Because busy real estate agents can’t always come up with content daily, consider scheduling a “content day” to write, film and edit a bunch of posts all at one time to be released over the next week or so.
A recent study done by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) found that 97% of Realtors chose Facebook as their preferred network. Facebook was followed by LinkedIn (59%), and Instagram (39%). Roughly one-third choose Twitter.
The lesson really is that content can be recycled and reposted over many platforms to get the widest reach possible.
I understand that your focus now is probably passing the real estate exam but planning out your content strategy while you are in real estate school is a good way to spend your time while also prepping for your exam.
2. Be active
There have been many studies about when and how often you should be putting content out there. Consider posting daily on at least one platform but be careful to not overly focus on self-promotion. Make sure that your content is relatable, and [as a Realtor] concentrate on being part of the online community on which you are posting.
Share posts, make comments, ask thoughtful questions, and give shoutouts to connections. Bottom line, be consistent in terms of activity and be responsive to others.
3. Use visibility strategies
When posting or sharing others' posts, be sure to use visibility strategies to gain traction. Good methods include using keywords with hashtags and tagging others in your network to give them call-outs.
Don’ts of real estate social media posting
Just one blunder can soil your professional standing, but a series of bad practices can really hurt your reputation if not careful. Here are the top don’ts when it comes to social media marketing for real estate agents.
1. Don't be overly promotional
This is #1 on the list of things NOT to do. Don’t try to oversell on your page, but use social media to share interesting news, customer interests, how-to’s, or relatable and interesting aspects of your personal life. By using your page strictly as a personal listing mechanism, people will disconnect from you or scroll through your posts without even looking. Always follow the 80/20 rule when using social media.
2. Use your own photos
Photos are a critical aspect of promoting properties. Ideally, you want to use your own photos to highlight listings you promote. (20% of your posts!) If using others' photos, be sure to first ask permission first and then publicly give credit to the photo’s owner.
3. Don’t post nonsense just to “post”
The trick to social media marketing success is balance. You need to find the “Goldilocks” level of posting. In other words, don’t post so frequently it becomes “noise”, or worse, social media’s version of unsolicited robocalls. Then again, you don’t want to post so infrequently that you become irrelevant. Focus on timely, thoughtful, and interesting posts, spread out. Determine what your audience likes and deliver it.
Savvy real estate agents know how to skillfully use social media to gain the trust of potential clients and maintain strong relationships with existing ones. Focus on good social media practices, avoid bad ones, and you’ll create a standout online presence.
Love,
Kartik
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