Real estate seems to be the career changer’s job of choice since 93% of real estate agents come from a previous career according to a book I read. It is easy to see why this is so since the barrier to entry is low in terms of the training required to get a real estate salesperson license. In the state of Washington, all that is required is to take one class about real estate fundamentals, pass the class exam, and then pass the state license exam which is comprised of two sections – one for federal and one for state. A high school diploma is not required. The test is not overly difficult and one can easily pass it if they prepare adequately. I found that rehearsing with practice tests helps a lot to solidify the knowledge and get higher scores in the practice tests.
If the barrier to obtaining a license is low, the barrier to success in the real estate sales profession is very high. The turn-over rate of real estate agents is high compared to other professions. According the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the turnover rate of licensees is 50%, which sounds a little low to me since I heard from an agent that only 5% of agents actually renew their license when it is due. It is a clear indication that new agents are not well prepared for a career in real estate sales as the training provided is not sufficient – in terms of sales training and real estate - and due to this reason, the expectations of newcomers are also off. This is the pitfall that I got into when I decided to get my license and joined a brokerage firm. To be honest, I didn’t realize what I was getting into and in some way I made myself blind to facts that I obtained through my own research. I know that I am interested in real estate, but I am not that much into sales per se. I read two books for new real estate agents, interviewed four agents who are active in their field, and watched training videos provided by my brokerage office. It was evident after all the research that prospecting and marketing is a predominant factor for success. I hesitated for a brief time as I had a bad feeling when I thought about meeting five new people every day and building my database of contacts as suggested by the RE/MAX training videos. :-) But I was able to swiftly push this feeling aside and look at the future hopeful and determined. As we are told to market to our sphere of influence, I ended up marketing to my friends.
Here are the things I learned:
Thick Skin
During that time, the first thing I learned was to develop a thick skin. In my situation, my rejection rate was high, perhaps around 80% at my own estimation. I reasoned that the primary reason of the high rejection was the perception people held of me. I was doing a drastic career switch from software testing to real estate sales. On top of that, I am a pretty much a shy and hesitant person with an aspiration of improving my people skills.:-) So it would be a natural consequence that my friends do not view me as a competent real estate professional that has the expertise to get them the best deal. In all honesty, the first rejections were a little hard to swallow although I was already warned about rejection through the books I read and interviews with other agents; however I adamantly chose to deny these warnings and felt confident that I could deal with it!
Perception and Image are Important
Plunging into the field of real estate and coming from a very different background where people wear jeans and t-shirts and do not worry about their image, I realized through people’s reactions and feedback how important it is in business of how you are perceived by others. I have to admit that it is difficult for me to look at myself from an objective standpoint, so I formed an idea of my external perception through two ways: people’s observation of me, and observing other sales professionals who share similar personality traits with me. My difficulty of attracting new clients is an indication of not projecting the right image. When I visualize the agents that I met who are dressed up, have a cheerful attitude, make contact with others easily, appear confident, and can do the talking, I also know that they are successful. On the other hand, visualize the agent who doesn’t talk much, doesn’t know the right things to say, doesn’t make eye contact, and is in general not easily approachable, and it is difficult to believe that they are successful.
People Skills
A salesperson with no people skills is as good as a piano with no tone. People skills are important in every field, even in non-sales professions - in jobs where people hide behind computers, we have to effectively communicate with our peers to work collaboratively, and negotiate our next promotion with our boss. But at least in these jobs, our income is not directly tied to our people skills, perhaps only the raise portion of it. But in sales jobs that are commission based, the salesperson who doesn’t sell has their survival at stake.
We Want a Sales Pitch
I worked with a close friend who was shopping for a house for several months. Towards the end of the house shopping period, we were at a condo conversion sales office and we were being shown the model condos by an attractive-looking and dressed up real estate sales professional. The real estate lady was also friendly and good at explaining the facts. After our visit ended, my close friend pointed out to me that this is the type of job that I should look for and that I should be as confident and professional as the sales lady. To be honest, I was actually surprised that this comment came out of my friend. In fact, my deer friend is a laid back person, values honesty, simplicity, and the natural things in life. She does not care much about bells and whistles. Even in her case, she was longing for a sales pitch and some degree of embellishment through external appearance and attitude.
Tough in Negotiations
A recent experience I had was with investors who are friends of mine who are looking to buy a house at bargain price to flip it. As I made the call to the listing agent in their presence, I politely asked a couple of questions and then hung up. My clients were very upset that I did not insist enough on getting more information from the agent and being tougher. We later submitted an offer and had to “play the game” as the agent was putting pressure on the premise that there is another offer that was at full price, which later he disclosed that it was not at full price. Go figure what is true and what is not. In the end, I think an agent with good negotiation skills is worth his/her commission.
Know Your Neighborhood
Last but not least, real estate agents should know the neighborhood pretty well to advise the clients on what to look out for. When I was working with my client, there were two instances when we both were faced with unanticipated facts. The first instance was when I advised her to view a rambler that was in a good location in Kirkland, but as soon as we arrived there, the traffic noise was very noticeable since the rambler was on a busy local road - I didn't live in the neighborhood in question and so I had no idea there was going to be high traffic noise. My client was disappointed that we had to drive all the way there to discover it. The second instance was a house in Canyon Park situated next to a gun range. We heard the gun shots on our second visit to the home since it was on a Sunday when the gun shots are heard. This one also could have been avoided by more familiarity with the neighborhood on my part. In general, clients do expect their agents to have neighborhood knowledge and save them the time to discover things on their own.
Conclusion
It was definitely one year of adventure for me. Because of my renegade nature I had to try real estate sales. I enjoyed the thrill of it with all the ups and downs. I have no regrets since I know a lot more about business, sales, and marketing now than I knew when I started (and by the way a lot more that what I learned in the MBA classes). And I also know a lot more about myself. I still admire the cheerful real estate agent out there who can make the connections with people! I know now that this is probably a rosy picture. What attracted me to this field was being outdoors and away from the office, :-) in addition to the ease of connecting with people. For the people skills part, I know now that I need to take baby steps towards a better version of me. For the outdoors part, I wonder if I can find a job that fulfills my desire to be outdoors!
If the barrier to obtaining a license is low, the barrier to success in the real estate sales profession is very high. The turn-over rate of real estate agents is high compared to other professions. According the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the turnover rate of licensees is 50%, which sounds a little low to me since I heard from an agent that only 5% of agents actually renew their license when it is due. It is a clear indication that new agents are not well prepared for a career in real estate sales as the training provided is not sufficient – in terms of sales training and real estate - and due to this reason, the expectations of newcomers are also off. This is the pitfall that I got into when I decided to get my license and joined a brokerage firm. To be honest, I didn’t realize what I was getting into and in some way I made myself blind to facts that I obtained through my own research. I know that I am interested in real estate, but I am not that much into sales per se. I read two books for new real estate agents, interviewed four agents who are active in their field, and watched training videos provided by my brokerage office. It was evident after all the research that prospecting and marketing is a predominant factor for success. I hesitated for a brief time as I had a bad feeling when I thought about meeting five new people every day and building my database of contacts as suggested by the RE/MAX training videos. :-) But I was able to swiftly push this feeling aside and look at the future hopeful and determined. As we are told to market to our sphere of influence, I ended up marketing to my friends.
Here are the things I learned:
Thick Skin
During that time, the first thing I learned was to develop a thick skin. In my situation, my rejection rate was high, perhaps around 80% at my own estimation. I reasoned that the primary reason of the high rejection was the perception people held of me. I was doing a drastic career switch from software testing to real estate sales. On top of that, I am a pretty much a shy and hesitant person with an aspiration of improving my people skills.:-) So it would be a natural consequence that my friends do not view me as a competent real estate professional that has the expertise to get them the best deal. In all honesty, the first rejections were a little hard to swallow although I was already warned about rejection through the books I read and interviews with other agents; however I adamantly chose to deny these warnings and felt confident that I could deal with it!
Perception and Image are Important
Plunging into the field of real estate and coming from a very different background where people wear jeans and t-shirts and do not worry about their image, I realized through people’s reactions and feedback how important it is in business of how you are perceived by others. I have to admit that it is difficult for me to look at myself from an objective standpoint, so I formed an idea of my external perception through two ways: people’s observation of me, and observing other sales professionals who share similar personality traits with me. My difficulty of attracting new clients is an indication of not projecting the right image. When I visualize the agents that I met who are dressed up, have a cheerful attitude, make contact with others easily, appear confident, and can do the talking, I also know that they are successful. On the other hand, visualize the agent who doesn’t talk much, doesn’t know the right things to say, doesn’t make eye contact, and is in general not easily approachable, and it is difficult to believe that they are successful.
People Skills
A salesperson with no people skills is as good as a piano with no tone. People skills are important in every field, even in non-sales professions - in jobs where people hide behind computers, we have to effectively communicate with our peers to work collaboratively, and negotiate our next promotion with our boss. But at least in these jobs, our income is not directly tied to our people skills, perhaps only the raise portion of it. But in sales jobs that are commission based, the salesperson who doesn’t sell has their survival at stake.
We Want a Sales Pitch
I worked with a close friend who was shopping for a house for several months. Towards the end of the house shopping period, we were at a condo conversion sales office and we were being shown the model condos by an attractive-looking and dressed up real estate sales professional. The real estate lady was also friendly and good at explaining the facts. After our visit ended, my close friend pointed out to me that this is the type of job that I should look for and that I should be as confident and professional as the sales lady. To be honest, I was actually surprised that this comment came out of my friend. In fact, my deer friend is a laid back person, values honesty, simplicity, and the natural things in life. She does not care much about bells and whistles. Even in her case, she was longing for a sales pitch and some degree of embellishment through external appearance and attitude.
Tough in Negotiations
A recent experience I had was with investors who are friends of mine who are looking to buy a house at bargain price to flip it. As I made the call to the listing agent in their presence, I politely asked a couple of questions and then hung up. My clients were very upset that I did not insist enough on getting more information from the agent and being tougher. We later submitted an offer and had to “play the game” as the agent was putting pressure on the premise that there is another offer that was at full price, which later he disclosed that it was not at full price. Go figure what is true and what is not. In the end, I think an agent with good negotiation skills is worth his/her commission.
Know Your Neighborhood
Last but not least, real estate agents should know the neighborhood pretty well to advise the clients on what to look out for. When I was working with my client, there were two instances when we both were faced with unanticipated facts. The first instance was when I advised her to view a rambler that was in a good location in Kirkland, but as soon as we arrived there, the traffic noise was very noticeable since the rambler was on a busy local road - I didn't live in the neighborhood in question and so I had no idea there was going to be high traffic noise. My client was disappointed that we had to drive all the way there to discover it. The second instance was a house in Canyon Park situated next to a gun range. We heard the gun shots on our second visit to the home since it was on a Sunday when the gun shots are heard. This one also could have been avoided by more familiarity with the neighborhood on my part. In general, clients do expect their agents to have neighborhood knowledge and save them the time to discover things on their own.
Conclusion
It was definitely one year of adventure for me. Because of my renegade nature I had to try real estate sales. I enjoyed the thrill of it with all the ups and downs. I have no regrets since I know a lot more about business, sales, and marketing now than I knew when I started (and by the way a lot more that what I learned in the MBA classes). And I also know a lot more about myself. I still admire the cheerful real estate agent out there who can make the connections with people! I know now that this is probably a rosy picture. What attracted me to this field was being outdoors and away from the office, :-) in addition to the ease of connecting with people. For the people skills part, I know now that I need to take baby steps towards a better version of me. For the outdoors part, I wonder if I can find a job that fulfills my desire to be outdoors!
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