How to Become a Million Dollar Real Estate Agent in Your First Year: What Smart Agents Need to Know Explained Simply

How to Become a Million Dollar Real Estate Agent in Your First Year: What Smart Agents Need to Know Explained Simply REVISED 2ND EDITION

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BUS054000 BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Real Estate

BUS059000 BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Skills

BUS055000 BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Reference

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Alvis, Susan Smith, 1969- author. | Cavallaro, Michael J., author.

Title: How to become a million dollar real estate agent in your first year :

what smart agents need to know explained simply / by Susan Alvis ; revised

by Michael Cavallaro.

Description: Revised 2nd edition. | Ocala, Florida : Atlantic Publishing

Group, Inc., [2015] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015028746| ISBN 9781620230602 (alk. paper) | ISBN

1620230607 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Real estate agents. | Real estate agents--United States. |

Real estate business--United States.

Classification: LCC HD1382 .A55 2015 | DDC 333.33023/73--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2015028746

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter One. So You Want to Be a Real Estate Agent

The Real Estate Myth

What Is a Real Estate Agent?

Who Are These People Called Real Estate Agents?

What Do Real Estate Agents Earn?

A Day in the Life of a Real Estate Agent

Hours and Income — You Get to Decide

Case Study: Keys to Success

Chapter Two. Ethical Agent Practices

What Kind of Agent Do You Want to Be?

Case Study: How to Treat Your Clients

Ethical Issues

Case Study: Things to Remember Ethically and Morally

Other Tips to Remember

Chapter Three. Company Matters

Choosing a Real Estate Office

Which Office Will Be Right for You?

How to Find an Office: Matching Your Needs and Goals

Why You Do Not Want to Specialize in This Business as a New Agent

Make a Decision

Chapter Four. Setting Up Your World-Class Real Estate Business

Other Business Matters

Case Study: Setting up your advertising and marketing budget

Planning Your Continuing Education

Introducing Yourself to the Business Community

The Coming Out Party

Chapter Five. Step-By-Step Business Plan for Success

The Pre-Planning Stages

Developing Your Plan of Action

Step-By-Step

Chapter Six. Marketing Your Real Estate Business

Deciding How You Want to Market Yourself

Finding a Way to Be Remembered and Recognized

In Front of Everyone All of the Time

Marketing Your Business and Yourself

Chapter Seven. Becoming the Go-To Agent

Establishing Yourself as the Go-To Agent

Keeping Your Clients Close

Chapter Eight. Selling Is Your Business — But Can You Sell?

How to Sell Real Estate

Realize You Are Selling a Dream and an Investment

Tips for Success in Selling Real Estate

Why the Real Estate Sales Agent Must Sell Differently than Anyone Else

Case Study: Customizing a Relationship with Your Client

How to Sell Different Properties

Sales Techniques

Chapter Nine. Making Plans for Success in Real Estate

Setting Up an Economic Model

The Competition Is Fierce

How to Overcome Competition as an Obstacle

Planning for Success

How to Be a Successful Closer

Case Study: From the Client’s Perspective

Chapter Ten. Referrals, Advertising, and Nonsense

Gaining Clients

The Issue of Referrals

Advertising and Paying for Clients or Self Promotion

Nonsense

TV Infomercials

Let Us Talk About the Virtual World

Chapter Eleven. Becoming the Number One Agent in Your Area

Becoming a Top Agent

Top Agents Know How to List Real Estate

Top Agents Know How to Close the Deal With a Buyer

Top Agents Work for a Living

Top Agents Take Advantage of Every Opportunity

Become the Rookie of the Year

Chapter Twelve. The Internet Agent

Getting Started With the Whole Web Thing

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Page Rank

Online Tools and Ideas to Use

Real Estate Marketing Software Programs You Will Want to Know About

Case Study: The Tech-Savvy Agent

Chapter Thirteen. Career and Family: the Real Estate Balance

Family First

Career After Everything Else — Really!

The Balance of the Successful Agent

More Advice

Chapter Fourteen. The Million Dollar Agent

Listing Property and How to Do it

Listing Residential Properties

Working With Buyers

Case Study: Bringing Buyers and Sellers Together

Working in the Luxury Housing Market

Commercial Property

It Is Your Turn

Conclusion

Bibliography

Appendix A. Suggested Reading for Successful People

Appendix B. Websites Worth Viewing

State Associations for Realtors

Other Real Estate-Related Websites of Interest

Other Websites of Interest to Real Estate Agents

Appendix C. Phone Scripts

Calling For Sale By Owners

Cold Calling

Calling Referrals (Buyers)

Calling Referrals (Sellers)

Appendix D. Worksheet

What YOU Want in a Property

Appendix E. Final Tips, Hints and Reminders for the Million Dollar Agent

How to Find Properties to List:

How to Find Buyers:

What Not to Do Your First Year (Or Ever) in Real Estate

Appendix F. Sales Quotes for Success

Appendix G. SEO Ranking Components

Appendix H. Canvassing Letters for the Million Dollar Agent

Final Canvassing Letter Out of Rotation

Canvassing Phone Call Script

Letter for Auto-Responder

About The Author

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank all of the real estate agents who contributed to this book either directly or indirectly. Without you, this book would hold little meaning. Thank you for taking the time to contribute your knowledge and expertise on a field you know so well.

Thank you to everyone at Atlantic Publishing for making book number two a reality and for your support throughout the writing process of this book. To Angela Adams, a very special thank you for being a supportive editor and one I so much counted on for expertise and advice.

I also want to send a big thank you to my extraordinary children, Matthew and Amber, for always tolerating me when I am in front of the computer and to my husband, Brent, for being an excellent cook. Thank you for taking my place in the kitchen so I could write once more.

Preface

I used to think almost everyone in my mother’s family was destined to become a real estate agent. After all, with somewhere around 10 real estate agents in our family, what else was I to think? My mother, one brother, two great aunts, a great uncle, and numerous cousins chose careers as real estate professionals. In fact, I too, spent some time in the trenches. After all, it was our family’s legacy. What else was I to do?

Growing up in a family full of real estate agents, I knew it was a profitable business. I also knew it was a volatile business and one with a great number of advantages which in turn carried even more disadvantages when the market conditions were less than perfect. The agents I grew up watching as a child made a very good living out of being real estate agents. In fact, from a child’s view, they made it look easy and even fun.

For anyone entering into the real estate profession, the long hours and feast or famine lifestyle can be a bit overwhelming - but not in our family. They all seem to thrive best when there is some uncertainty in their income as well as their daily lives, and they are naturals in the real estate business. As cliché as it sounds, my family members who are best in the real estate business were truly put on this earth to sell real estate. In fact, I cannot imagine my mother or brother doing anything else. They are nothing short of real estate professionals who know how to put a deal together and once they put one together, it usually sticks. In fact, in our area, several of our family members are top producing agents. In this book I am going to let you in on all of their secrets - or most of them anyway. Then I am going to tell you a few secrets of my own. After I share those insights with you, we are going to look at everything I ever learned from top-producing real estate agents, and I will show you their secrets to success as well.

This book is for the aspiring real estate agent who wants to be a million dollar producer. It is for the agent who will not be content with mediocre sales while being considered or discounted as a new agent rather than a strong contender among the real estate community. It is also a book which can be used by a seasoned real estate agent who is ready to rejuvenate his or her career and restructure their business into a successful, fast-moving, world-class real estate business.

If you want to make the big bucks in real estate, How to Become a Million Dollar Real Estate Agent in Your First Year is for you. I will give you some tips I used to become a top agent during my first year and then I will show you how you can become one of the top agents in your area, too. I will show you why my brother was able to rise to the top in his real estate career after only two short years and why our mother is consistently among the top producers in our area. We will look at some of the reasons national franchise award winners are consistently recognized for high achievements and why some agents will never cinch the first certificate. We are going to look at some of the most effective ways to promote your real estate business and you will learn what to do and what not to do in a step-by-step guide written with the new agent in mind.

This book will not sugar-coat your participation in this career. If in doubt, look around at some of the largest real estate investors in the world. Do they look like they know how to play hard ball or do they look like they prefer to push pencils and leave the tough negotiations to someone else? Real estate agents who deal with these investors can be as shrewd in their business dealings as their clients, and you will need to learn how to handle these agents and their contracts. You will want to learn the art of tough negotiations while being able to seal a deal in a professional manner.

Real estate is hard work and the business will not fall in your lap. You must get out and dig for it, but it will be a career well worth the trouble if you do. You will learn a lot about people along the way and it will change you. It is a business where you can become someone you will not even recognize if you let the world of real estate consume you. It is brutal, it is tough, and only the strong survive. However, if you approach the business as a new exciting career and make a decision to keep your business professional, you will become one of a very select few who prove real estate is a very desirable career. It is more than a job and does more than pay the bills. It is a lifestyle and if you live the lifestyle well, it is one of the most rewarding ways to earn an income, and you will learn to indulge in the real estate agent’s way of life.

Real estate agents can set their own schedules and work whenever they want, a pitfall for many new agents, but if you set up office hours and follow the guidelines in this book, you will be able to work hard, play hard, and retire earlier than most of your friends. You will inevitably gain some real estate acquisitions of your own while helping clients purchase their own slice of the American Dream.

Since you bought this book, I am going to give you your money’s worth. Let me guide you into a rewarding, challenging, and successful real estate career. I am going to show you how YOU can become a top agent in your area and better yet, teach you how to become a million dollar real estate agent within your first year in your new profession.

When people think of selling or buying a home, I want them to think of you. You and I are going to work together to ensure that you become the go-to agent in your local area while paving the way to create other streams of income from all of your real estate endeavors. After all, being a real estate agent places you in a unique position. You will be able to cash in on deals you would never have known about had you not been an agent at the right place and at the right time. Investment properties will be easy for you to accumulate, and there are ways you can cash in using your career to open doors to a brighter and more secure future for yourself and your family.

You will learn what a day in the life of the active and successful real estate agent is like and discover how you can become one of the best real estate agents in your company while keeping your ethical values in check. You will gain some insight as to why it is important to keep your options open versus specializing in a field. New agents are finding more and more opportunities by familiarizing themselves with all aspects of the business. Commercial or residential, you are going to be able to do it all: you will learn why it is important to keep your options open.

My goal is to help you use your God-given talents to become the kind of sales person who succeeds, making your time count whether you are in the office or working from home.

Being a real estate agent is not as easy as it looks and becoming a million dollar producer can be grueling, but if you are ambitious, this book will provide you with plan of action. You will learn how to become a top real estate agent and with the tools we give you to succeed; you will make it look easy. So, sit back, kick up your feet, and grab a pen and notebook. You are embarking on a new career which will inevitably change your life. A world of real estate is out there just waiting for you.

Chapter One

So You Want to Be a Real Estate Agent

The Real Estate Myth

When you decided to become a real estate agent, you likely had a mental picture of what a real estate agent does, but you may have envisioned an agent who is just an agent and not necessarily a true professional in the business. Many people obtain their real estate license, hang it on the wall of a broker’s office and then just sit back and wait for clients. I call it the used-car-salesman-syndrome. They take their floor duty on occasion and they go on property tours to view the new office listings. Outside of these two great tasks, they do very little more. They seem to be perfectly content to hang out in the office of their broker while waiting for the phone to ring.

To complicate matters, the real estate crash of the late 2000s ended the careers of many agents who took this kind of approach. These agents may have put in a great number of hours sitting around their broker’s office daydreaming of the sales they were going to make, but they suffered greatly for not venturing outside in the realm of actual sales work.

The good news is that the real estate business has been making a comeback. A 2012 survey by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) revealed that, after many years of decline, median income among its 2 million member licensees rose for the first time since 2002 — which dates back even further back than the real estate crash of the late 2000s. Statistically, only forty-eight percent of NAR agents have a college degree, and agents with at least a bachelor’s degree earn higher gross personal income than those without formal college education. However, NAR reported that realtors working 60 hours a week or more earned $80,900, and 17 percent of all members earned a six-figure income, indicating that hours worked matters more than level