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Real Estate Business Residential Sales In late 1978, bored with my life as a salesman, I decided it was time for a career change and began to look at the possibilities. I researched, sent letters and resumes, interviewed, worried, and whined to my family, but found myself to be either overqualified, too old, too stupid, or the opposite and just couldn't land the "right" position. Anyway, an old friend suggested I'd be perfect for the real estate business. I didn't ask why. I registered for a pre-license course and quit looking for work. Call it luck, or good advice, but I could not have chosen a better field to call my chosen profession. Licensed in late 1979, I started working with a small residential broker (though part of a National franchise). I stayed with the same broker for thirteen years until I left to open my own office. During those early years, we had some exciting times. Do you remember in the early 80's when mortgage interest rates hit 17%? We had to shift our sales from homes with mortgage financing to homes with seller financing or contract sales. My sales volume didn't suffer much (of course it wasn't too high then either), it was just a matter of adjusting to the economic conditions. Actually using the term, "sales volume," goes against what I firmly believe a successful agent does. It's not selling. Ask any top producing agent in the country what they do and you will get the same answer, "I prospect." A good real estate agent simply looks (wherever) for people who want to buy or sell homes. Some agents consider prospecting a difficult and frightening task, but it doesn't have to be. There are many, many ways to look for potential clients: direct mail, open houses, cold calls, calling around listings or sales, farming an area, sphere of influence, open houses, floor time, networking groups, chamber of commerce, advertising, brochures, the internet, and more. Once you've found the potential client, the rest is really pretty simple. The process of "selling real estate," is really one of matching the clients needs with the needs of another person; buyer or seller. Most of the job is in finding out exactly what the client needs and then determining how to fill that need. Sometimes it can't be done, but most of the time it can. As an agent is successful in filling a client's needs, those clients can hopefully be added to a database for mining. This pool of past clients, when sufficiently large, will provide a steady stream of business. Anyway, by 1985 when the interest rates began to normalize I had begun to work mostly from past clients referrals. Through calls and newsletters to my database, I was able to generate a good number of leads and ones which came pre-disposed to doing business with me. Over the years, I've done some fee appraisal work, looked briefly at the mortgage business, sold some commercial property, and bought some rental properties through my own account, but always I'd come back to residential sales. I find it to be the most rewarding and enjoyable. In the business of earning a living, I cannot think of a career that at once offers so much freedom, income potential, and satisfaction. If you choose to enter the field, I sincerely hope you'll find success. Mike Cromie, Broker/Owner |
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