Advice for the Rookie Realtor

Dear Rookie,

Just wanted to say that I have been doing real estate for a little under a year now and I really felt like you were talking to me in your first editorial. I can say though thankfully that I have not had a bad experience with the other brokers and agents that I have worked with. Just wanted to say to keep up the hard work and it will all come along in some time. Keep posting so we can all keep up to date on how everything is going.

Sal Messina
BP Vance Real Estate Inc.

Dear Rookie,

First of all, I agree with the advice your broker gave you about it being time to cut loose the time-waster buyers you wrote about. You’ve got to “know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em.” In your most recent post you also wrote about how you were treated by other agents in your office regarding floor time, advice, etc.

I didn’t get to read your first letter, but I have a question: How has it gone while you’ve been prospecting for listings? You have been doing that haven’t you? Get the listings. Then you don’t have to worry about your fellow agents, fickle buyers or anything else. When you have the listings you control the market because all the other agents are out trying to sell your listings and trying to help make you money! Let them waste their time and money on the “Lookie Loos,” while you’re out talking to more sellers!

Get the listings and forget about the buyers (although they will amazingly appear when you have the listings!). Listings have always been the name of the game and they still are. Stick to the basics. They never change!

Larry Eckstein
Albany, Ore.

Dear Rookie,

Sorry to hear about your less than helpful coworkers. I wanted to pass on to you what worked for me when I was starting out. I became involved in the new construction side of this business from day 1. I started out as a third tier, on-site salesperson for one of the area’s notable builders. What I did not realize at the time is that I picked the right price range to “sit site” for (low to moderately priced homes). What it entailed was to open up the model house on my scheduled days and wait for the buyers to stop in. One nice thing is that I had the power of the builders’ marketing working in my favor to bring in the prospects. Also, the price point we were offering was bringing in buyers that for the most part did not have an agency relationship with a Realtor yet. It also worked out well in that just two months after I started working the community, the listing agent took off for greener pastures. That meant that the second-place agent would become the listing agent and I would move into a paid, second-place position. By paid I mean that I received a small some of the listing fee even if I did not sell the house. It wasn’t much, but they sure did add up!

Then, much to my surprise, within six months of joining the community sales team, the listing agent took off again (this happens more often than you would think)! The builder then asked me to be the listing agent for the community. That meant that I received an even bigger fee per house and also laid the groundwork for me to prove myself as a community sales manager.

Anyhow, that’s my story. I’m not sure if you have the opportunity to get involved in new construction or if you are even interested in it, but it sure worked for me!

Nik Rebhuhn
John L. Scott Real Estate