Exciting times are right up ahead for the real estate industry. While experts predict that home prices and sales, along with mortgage rates, will all increase this year, potential buyers will still be drawn to properties with spaces that can cater to remote work.
What if you’re just starting with your career as a real estate agent? Rob Thomson of Jupiter provides these smart tips for young realtors who are embarking on their new career in 2021:
Start with the Fundamentals
As a young realtor, a thorough self-assessment is key to jumpstarting your career as an agent. In this context, you are encouraged to perform a critical review of your strengths and weaknesses, carry out an honest self-evaluation to determine the qualities and traits that set you apart from your peers, and finally, set goals and milestones for your career.
Identifying your strongest qualities and understanding your value proposition is critical at the start of your real estate career. Once you’re able to understand yourself and your specialty better, it’ll be significantly easier to accomplish things and succeed in your practice.
After these self-assessments, you may already create a business plan or strategy that you can utilize as your roadmap for success. This plan should be comprehensive enough to identify your target market and its characteristics as a young realtor, enabling you to serve that particular market at your very best.
Create a Personal Brand
Defining your brand is one of the first moves you need to make as a young realtor. This part of the process includes pinpointing the target market you want to reach and how you plan to create opportunities for them. Right at the onset, it’s already crucial for you to have a distinct voice and approach that’ll help set you apart from the competition.
You may choose a niche, from first-time homebuyers to luxury investors, and go after it by posting content that answers the questions of your target market. To find out what they want to know, you may refer to Google Trends, social media groups, and Q&A sites like Quora. Create content that provides valuable information to establish yourself as a thought leader in your chosen niche.
Nurture your Sphere of Influence (SoI)
Often, your first clients as a young realtor will come from your sphere of influence. Determine the people who are in your SoI, including friends, relatives, neighbors, and colleagues. Post on social media, send emails, make phone calls, and mail business cards to let them know about your new career. By making them aware of it, you’re also encouraging them to contact you when they’re ready to purchase or sell something. They can also put in a word on your behalf to their friends and other contacts.
You want to make sure to keep in touch regularly, but you don’t want to look desperate if you try to communicate too often. To make it appear that you’re not chasing business, touch base during special occasions, such as birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. The important thing here is to keep your contacts in the loop as your career progresses.
Work with a Mentor
As a young agent, you certainly have many questions about a broad range of topics concerning your chosen path. One way to fast-track your learning process is by working with a mentor, such as a broker in the office, who will teach you the ropes of the real estate industry.
In addition, you can also read real estate publications, become a member of professional organizations, and establish a network with successful agents to learn more about the business. It’ll be a plus if you can find a good, strong mentor who will encourage you to work, push you when necessary, and hold you accountable for your actions at all times.
Learn the In and Outs of Digital Marketing
In the current business landscape, search engine optimization is critical for In the current business landscape, search engine optimization is essential in promoting listings and acquiring new customers for you.
Several tools, such as Google Analytics and other SEO software, can help you perform keyword research. As you go along, make sure to opt for high traffic, low competition keywords in your writeups, descriptions, titles, video, images, and metadata.
It’ll also help a lot if you create a blog that contains information about property listings and local market conditions. Once your prospective clients are ready to take action, they’re more likely to recall agents who reached out to them and served as valuable resources during their search.
Work on your Social Media Profiles
Like we mentioned previously, social media plays a vital role in your young career as a realtor. It’s not uncommon for people to refer to social media if they want to know more about a company or professional before working with them.
For this reason, one of your priorities at the onset should be working on your social media profiles to make them appear more professional and attractive for clients. It’s also a great idea if you’ll have a separate profile for business to avoid confusion. Also, switch your personal social media profiles to private to prevent any form of conflict.
Once you’re able to set up your accounts, make sure to provide regular updates, including links to available properties and helpful information for buyers and sellers. Always interact with your audience to start building a network of prospective clients.
Recognize that Real Estate is a Full-time Commitment
Being a successful real estate agent with a sustainable income requires hard work and a substantial amount of your resources, effort, and most importantly, time.
In case you need to hear this, your presence in real estate isn’t optional. It’s a full-time opportunity that requires your 100% commitment. If you think you can do real estate part-time, you’re already setting yourself up for failure.
It’s imperative that you set your goals and expectations straight as you plot your schedule accordingly.
Get Ready to Hustle
Although it has its own set of challenges, real estate isn’t without benefits. Two of the most notable perks of being a realtor are flexible hours and the freedom to write your paycheck.
However, as an agent with an emerging career, you have to hustle before enjoying these advantages. Part of the process is connecting with new clients, which may require you to work on nights and weekends. You should always be prepared anytime clients become available to view or show their property.
Being accessible helps you establish the network you need to be profitable and productive for years to come.
In addition to the tips we mentioned, perhaps the most basic yet essential advice we can provide you as a young realtor in 2021 is just show up. No matter who you are and how you start, you must be willing to put in the necessary time and effort to start seeing results.
Take it from Rob Thomson of Jupiter, “it’s best to sell properties with patience, integrity, and compassion.” As we all wonder what 2021 will bring, you should learn to navigate the new normal and still choose to connect with your clients in the most meaningful way possible.