

And you need to know what’s hot currently (are there certain price points, neighborhoods, or home sizes that are selling like hotcakes while other homes sit for months?). You need to know the new listings and see what’s gone under contract. Here are a few areas to focus on: Inventory Buyers and sellers expect you to know your stuff, even if you’re a new agent. To gain a competitive edge, you need to know more about your local market than the other agents. Learn Everything You Can About Your Market Don’t forget to include these costs in your budget. Then you also need to plan for upfront expenses like marketing, business cards, and any brokerage fees and membership dues. So you need to either save money to support yourself for those first few months or have another stream of income that still allows you to focus on real estate. And that leaves too little time for real estate.ĭon’t let that happen to you! Create a first-year budget so you’ll know, in advance, how you’ll make ends meet during these early days.įirst, how much income do you need to live on each month? Common wisdom is that it takes new agents between 3 and 6 months to see their first paycheck. They’re forced to take on part-time jobs with a steady paycheck. Many agents fail because they can’t make enough money in that first year of real estate to pay their bills. They can offer invaluable advice, guide your early transactions, and introduce you to a greater network of industry players. You’ll first mentor will likely come from that group, so it’s important to choose a brokerage of high-quality, high-producing agents.Īnd don’t underestimate the importance of a mentor early in your real estate career. Your brokerage becomes your initial network of colleagues. Your first Broker can set the tone for your career. Your Broker is more than just someone to hang your license. Choose Your Broker and Your Mentors Carefully To survive your first year of real estate, you need to accept these realities and embrace them.Ģ. New agents often get so excited about their new career that they gloss over some of these hurdles.

Expect to invest some time and money on the front end with no pay-off for about six months. You’re basically building a new business. It will take time to see the results of your efforts. You have to sell to make any money, figure out your own benefits arrangement, and you’ll need to work evenings and weekends to accommodate your clients. You don’t have the consistent income, benefits, and comfortable hours of a 9-5 employee. It’s highly competitive and requires you to wear many different hats (often at the same time!). Real estate is substantially harder than it looks.There are a few things you need to wrap your head around before you can build a successful real estate career: Follow all ten, and you’ll do more than survive - you’ll thrive in your first year! Here are ten tips to help you make the most of that first year. So we want to help you survive your first year of real estate. If you can survive your first year, your chances of building a successful real estate career improve substantially. And everyone agrees that the first year is the hardest. Industry analysts estimate that somewhere between 75% and 90% of all real estate agents fail within the first five years of starting their real estate career.
