How To Become a Real Estate Agent - Make a Website!

Sorry it has been so long between posts, I've been busy and actually had gotten a bit discouraged with this site, as I have not gotten many visitors. Gladly, now I'm back and will stay here for the long run.

Now, onto some new info. A good step to take when learning how to become a real estate agent is to create a personal website promoting yourself. This not only will get you more clients in the long run, but will also look very professional on a business card. People will think you are a good agent if you have your own site.

The key to a website is design. Just having a website is better than not having one, but a well designed website will get you more clients. I'm guessing most of you don't have web programming skills, but you shouldn't need them. One of the best ways to get a website made is to hire a college student majoring in graphic design. They will be able to spit you out a well designed website in no time, and for cheap. You shouldn't have to pay much, just point out that they will be able to use your site in their portfolio when they are job hunting after graduation.

Another reason to have a website: it helps with advertising. You will be able to list your web address in local newspaper advertisements. It is much more convenient for a potential client to navigate to your website than to call you up based off a small ad in the newspaper. Now you've converted someone from looking at a small ad in a newspaper to looking at a well designed promotional website. And, since you had the site designed by someone who knows what they are doing, the potential client viewing the site is now much more likely to call to set up an appointment.

Lastly, make sure you have photos online of recent houses that you have helped clients buy or sell. This will show potential clients that you have a proven track record of getting things done.

Blogrush

Hi everyone, I just wanted to let everybody know that I added a new feature to the How To Become a Real Estate Agent blog called BlogRush. It is a great add on for any blog. It is located in the right hand column of this blog, and what it does is automagically display links to other blogs with similar content to this one. Similar blogs to this one would have the theme "Jobs & Careers". They had a real estate option, but most of those blogs are about investing in real estate, so I thought Jobs and Careers was more pertinent.

If you want to add BlogRush to your own blog, simply click on the BlogRush icon in the lower right hand corner of the BlogRush box, and it will take you to the sign up page, or click here.

Three Reasons to Become a Real Estate Agent

When asking how to become a real estate agent, don't forget to ask "why do I want to become a real estate agent"? Here are a few good reasons:

1. Unlimited Income - Since you won't be working for an hourly rate, your income depends totally on how many houses you help get sold, whether representing buyers or sellers. If you are one of two agents involved in a sale, you would average about 3% commission per sale. That comes to $6,000 per $200,000 worth of house sold. If you represent both the buyer and seller of a house, that would be $12,000, or 6% per every $200,000 worth of house sold! As a real estate agent, your income is only limited by how many houses you sell in a year.
2. You Are Your Own Boss - When you become a real estate agent, you then become your own boss. You can work just as hard as you want. If you only want to work 20 hours a week, then you only work 20 hours a week. Becoming a real estate agent is a great way to get out from under the thumb of your boss.
3. Helping People Realize Their Dream - As a real estate agent, you will end up helping people get their dream homes. There is little better than seeing the look on a client's face when they buy their first house. Making other people happy is a great way to make yourself happy as well.

The reason most people choose to become a real estate agent is the money, but don't forget these other great reasons!

Want to know more about how to become a real estate agent? Click here.


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The Dreaded Part Time Job

This is something that no one wants to hear, but... you might need to have a part time job while learning how to become a real estate agent. Becoming a real estate agent takes work, and sometimes that work doesn't pay off right away. You will have no guaranteed income as a real estate agent. The only ways to make money is to either represent a buyer and help them buy a house, or represent a seller and help them sell a house. Then you make your commission and all are happy.

However, making those first few sales will be hard. The only reasons I can think of that you may not need a part time job while just starting out are the following:

• You have a spouse/significant other with guaranteed income
• You have saved enough money to support yourself for a while
• You have outstanding initial success as a real estate agent
• You are independently wealthy, and therefore wouldn't be trying to become a real estate agent! (I think)

So, unless for the reasons stated above, you are going to need a part time job while learning how to become a real estate agent. Working full time as a real estate agent and then going to work part time sounds bad, but it is a necessary sacrifice. You will be able to ditch the part time job in due time.

For more information on how to become a real estate agent, visit here.


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How To Become a Real Estate Agent - More MLS Info

I should have had this in my post yesterday, but I found a nice definition of what exactly the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) is here. Here is some great info from that wikipedia entry about who gets to use the MLS database:

Most MLS systems restrict membership and access to real estate brokers (and their agents) who are appropriately licensed by the state (or province); are members of a local Board or Association of Realtors; and are members of the trade association (e.g., NAR or CREA).

A person selling his/her own property - acting as a For Sale By Owner (or FSBO) - cannot put a listing for the home directly into the MLS. Similarly, a properly licensed broker who chooses to neither join the trade association nor operate a business within the associations's rules, cannot join the MLS.

However, there are brokers and many online services which offer FSBO sellers the option of listing their property in their local MLS database by paying a flat fee or another non-traditional compensation method. This may be the fastest growing segment of the real estate industry.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned in my previous post, joining these agencies to get access to MLS is not cheap. One of the lessons you learn pretty quickly when studying how to become a real estate agent is that sometimes you need to spend money to make money.

Click here for more tips on how to become a real estate agent.


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How To Become a Real Estate Agent - MLS Access

One of the biggest rookie mistakes people make when learning how to become a real estate agent is not getting access to the MLS database. The MLS database will have the vast majority of homes listed for sale in your area. We're talking 95%-99% of all listed homes. This is a huge asset to a real estate agent.

Why You Need It

You need MLS access so you don't have to be a salesman to buyer clients. When you have access to all the listings in your area, then you can show them pictures of all of those homes if you wanted to. That means your buyers get the home that they want. Without MLS access, you need to have a sales pitch prepared for the listings you have, which may not be very many. Convincing people to buy a house that they don't inherently like from the start is not an easy task.

Drawback - Price

The main drawback to getting MLS database access? The price. It can cost hundreds to a thousand dollars to get the listings, depending on the size of your area. Even with the expense, don't skip this step. You can start out as a real estate agent without it, but save up, because the benefit of having it immensely outweighs the cost.

Getting MLS database access is an integral step to becoming a real estate agent. For more information on how to become a real estate agent, click here.

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Become a Real Estate Agent Success - Don't Trade Hours For Dollars

I recently read a bood called The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. It was not a book about being a real estate agent at all, but it mentioned one concept that is key to becoming a real estate agent success. That concept is don't trade hours for dollars. You are limiting your income by virtue of the fact that there are a limited number of hours in a day that you can possibly work.

I know that, as real estate agents, you don't actually work hourly, because you earn commissions. However, you do spend countless hours trying to find clients. If you divide the your average weekly commission by the average number of hours per week that you are actually working, you will get an hourly wage. Chances are, if you do that, it is not nearly as high as you expect it to be.

Defining Success

For me, yearly earnings are not the only measure of success. Time off with family, or just time for yourself, is also a measure of success. How much time can you afford to take off? I asked myself, can I earn the same or better money next year while reducing my working hours at the same time? Most people work 40 hours per week, but I would bet that you, as a real estate agent, work more than 50 or even 60 hours per week if you really sat down and thought about it.

Reduce Your Hours

One of the ways to reduce your hours attracting clients is with a referral system. Let your clients work for you. Satisfy them as a client, and they will satisfy you as an agent in return. One way to get clients to refer new clients for you is to offer them a reduction of your commission. I know, I know, you work hard for your commissions and don't want to give them up. But, if they refer just one more client, that's one more full commission that you can earn that you wouldn't have been able to earn before. Try offering 1/2% off your commission to current clients and see what results you get.

Try a Referral System

Give Gavin Weber's "The Real Estate By Referral Operations Manual" a try. It is a great resource to help you setup a referral system that will work for you. If you implement even some of the methods mentioned in his manual, then you will free up time and increase commissions. Even if you have not yet become a real estate agent, this manual will give you a leg up against other agent competition once you become one.

A referral system can really free up your time to do other things that you love, and will allow you to become a great realtor.

Also, if you want to read The 4-Hour Workweek (I highly recommend it), then you can get it at Amazon.com.


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