7 Things New Real Estate Agents Should Focus on Right off the Bat

 Hey there, real estate agent! It's great to see you.

We've been thinking about what you should focus on right off the bat, and here are our top 7 tips:

1. Find out if your client is a buyer or a seller. If they're looking for a home to rent, then it's best to approach them as a renter rather than a buyer—they'll be more open to negotiating with you if they're not in the market for a new house yet.

2. Make sure you have enough time for your client! The average real estate transaction takes about 30 minutes, so make sure that the first meeting is at least 30 minutes long, and have another meeting in three weeks if necessary (you don't want to leave anything hanging!).

3. Be honest about the market value of their home—if it's not listed at $500K or more, then it's probably not worth trying to sell anytime soon (or ever).

4. You need to know how much money you can make as a real estate agent without having a lot of clients and without paying for advertising or other expenses that will eat into your profit margin.
 

5. You need to know if there's any way for you to get started as an independent contractor or whether you should go at it full-time with an agency or as a sole practitioner. If there is, then figure out how much money it will cost you per month, what kind of work opportunities are available, and how many hours of work would be required every week (or whatever number of days). Then decide whether that's okay with you because if it isn't then this isn't the right job for you!
 

6.  Ask lots of questions. It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of buying or selling your first home, and you might feel like you need to know everything about the process by heart. But if you're going to be an effective real estate agent, you have to remember that there's no substitute for good old-fashioned customer service—you need to listen carefully to what your clients are saying, and ask them questions about their homes and their needs.

7. Check out the competition, talk to people who've bought or sold recently, and see what they had to say about their experience.