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Diane Kelly
Advice to new Realtors.
I am often asked "what does it
take to succeed as a professional real estate agent?" The short
answer is dedication and a lot of hard work.
First of all let me say
congratulations to everyone who has managed to successfully complete
and pass the Alberta real estate industry licensing and training
requirements. You have successfully taken the first step towards
your new career as a professional Realtor.
So now you have the basic
necessary training under your belt where do you go from here? My
best advice would be to find a good brokerage that provides in-house
support and mentoring program. After that try and learn as much from
the other realtors around the office as you possibly can. Most of
all, never be afraid to ask questions, it's the people who don't ask
questions that all to often end up in trouble and in the real estate
industry getting into trouble can be very expensive indeed.
So is there a "blueprint" for
becoming a successful realtor? The answer to that is
"unfortunately no". That said, I personally have four key rules that
I live by, and you may wish to adopt. These are:
Commitment -
Ability - Loyalty - Experience
COMMITMENT
Real estate is not a part time business. If you are not prepared to
work long hours including evenings, weekends and most public
holidays, then perhaps real estate is not for you. You must also be
prepared to invest time and money building your business.
ABILITY
As a Realtor you will be expected to maintain an in-depth knowledge
of the real estate industry. Such knowledge requires ongoing
training. As you will find out, some of this training is mandatorily
in order to keep your license. Other training although not
compulsory is highly recommended if you wish to stay ahead of your
competitors. In addition to this, it is critical that you
develop an effective home marketing system. You must also be
prepared to spend money on professional photography, virtual tours,
video production, color brochures and advertising etc. Such
services don't come cheap but they will pay off in the long term,
especially for your clients.
LOYALTY
Always give 100% loyalty to your clients. Remember your clients are
everything, without clients you have no business. If you are working
with home buyers your duty is helping them find their dream home.
After finding them their ideal home, it is then your duty to
negotiate the best deal possible for the purchase of that home.
If on the other hand you are
asked to sell a home then never be tempted to simply take a few
snapshots yourself and place it on the MLS. Doing so would show
little or no regard to your sellers best interests and would almost
certainly result in less interest in their home. At the very least
as a listing agent you should be prepared to have your clients home
professionally photographed! After that, you need to decide
how best to market it in order that your clients archive at or above
full market value for their home.
EXPERIENCE
Without doubt the most elusive thing to the new agent is
experience. By its very nature gaining experience takes time,
however stick at it and it will come. The best advice I could offer
new realtors here is to seek out the older and more experienced
realtors in your office and learn from them. Above all else, if you
are remotely unsure of anything ask your broker. Never ever be
tempted to answer a question of which you are not 100% certain of
the correct answer, as to do so, could well end up being the most
costly experience in your career.
View some of Diane
Kelly's client testimonials
click
here
Copyright © TALKCalgary
2000 - 2010
Photography, &
copy
writing by Steve Kelly or as credited.
Calgary Real Estate consultant Diane Kelly, Discover Real Estate Ltd,
Real Estate
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