It all started last week.....

I signed with my broker about 2 weeks ago, turned in all paperwork,took a tour of the office, etc....

So here is a day by day what has happened

Thurs- 1st day of Corporate training! Yea! Corporate training goes on for 6 weeks on Thursdays and Fridays from 9:30-3:30. I was very nervous because I knew NO ONE! It only took me until the first break to start meeting people. I was actually sitting right next to a person from my branch pffice who was as clueless as me! I got my nametag there, and was told my car magnets would be in tomorrow.

Fri- Yea! Second day- Corporate training...fun fun....Magnets are in....My fiance tells me about his coworker who is renting a house and is looking to buy! MY FIRST LEAD! Im thinking..."this is awesome!" until I realize that I have no clue what to do with them!

Sat- Actually start working a little- the buyer lead does not have a computer...so I pull up some info on public MLS for him and print out some property info in his desired location and price range.....He goes looking and I check back with him to see which he liked from the info and curb view!

Sun- A day to organize my files and desk area...getting ready for the first day at my desk

Mon- I walk into the new agent area and find my desk ( there was a post it on my bulletin board on my desk with my name and phone ext.#)I meet my mentor, and begin to try and figure out how to set up internet connections....turns out my e-net cord is too short and won't reach, and I don't have an outlet under my desk...Then the Monday morning meeting begins! I introduce myself and tell my background...where you from, marital status, blah blah blah...the same crap that you dreaded being the new kid in school! Meeting goes well and we go over a listing packet checklist, all the things we MUST turn in after we obtain a listing! I go to our local board and get things set up for board associations and MLS and paid for...plan to get my supra soon! I make a list of crap I need in order to function at my desk and set out to Walmart.

Tues- We have a sales meeting...We are given tour sheets. They are listing info on coworkers listings tha we are to tour and fill out feedback forms on... :)Went on tour with a fellow newbie (carpooling)I then went to my desk to set up everything that I had bought from the previous day. I call my prospective buyer and follow up a bit. I am trying to get an appointment withthem to find out exact info. I stopped by our in house mortgage lender and picked up a general app for them to fill out to get them on the road to pre-qualification...

I am so excited for you!! I will be joining you in September after my training starts. Right now, I am getting my mls/har stuff together so I can go get that paid for. I am just taking it step by step. You will do well !! Good luck with that buyer!!

Keep us posted!

I love reading about a motivated, excited new agent.

Rparish,

New lead is exciting.Forget the meeting with the buyer and filling out app most buyers are too busy.Call buyer and ask if it's ok for your mortgage person to CALL them to pull credit information.Tell your buyer before we look at properties it is important for you to be qualified so we no the price range and interest rate you qualify for,we also need to check for inaccuracies on the credit report so you have time to fix them raise your score and get a better rate on the loan.


Have the loan officer call them and then the loan officer can call you right back.I have learned from years of doing this get the loan officer to call and pull the tri-merge credit report the same day.You will then know immediately if you have a NO WAY,POSSIBLE,or a DEFINITE buyer.You don't want to go through a bunch of steps or talking 1/2 an hour to an hour onthe phone and find out they can't buy anything.


One of my best tips is most agents/brokers just hand out there cards and say call me to potential buyers and sellers.More times than not they misplace your card and not intentionally and they mean to call you but there life is so busy so when they are ready to do something the first agent inthere face get's the business.

This is why I hand them a few cards.One for them and a few for family and friends.Then I take one of my cards while I talk to them and ask for there cell phone number and write it on the back for my records and then I CALL THEM FIRST.

I ask for the cell phone as that's the easiest to reach most people.Some do not have home phones,or if they do just use it for fax or when bills go down they let the home phone disconnect but keep the cell phone for on the go.Usually they screen the calls on a home phone.

Hope this helps:)

these leads are all through people I know personally. I do not think they are going to be shutting me out when I call, but I understand the " I will call you" over "call me later" technique. Its what I have been doing withthem.

Thanks so much....I will keep posting

Any more tips or advice as I go...I would greatly appreciate it!

Yay for you! Sounds fun! What agency did you go with again?

I got my car magnets today too, from Weichert. My son calls them big car stickers. LOL

I went with Prudential Gary Greene Realtors! I am absolutely LOVING it and everything the company has to offer new agents and all of the resources available to make my career start of booming! I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone in the Houston Area! In training right now so don't have time to recap the events I have done lately...been really really busy...but its a very good thing

This is great, love hearing other ideas and being part of this...keep your head up, always believe you will do extremely well. Its amazing what can happen when you believe in yourself...nevermind that you don;t have tones of experience right now, keep it fun and you will enjoy all this career has to offer.
Learn as much as you can and always believe in yourself:)

rparish,

I'm glad Prudential is working out for you. That was where I started, I moved to KW after a few bad experiences at my local office. However, the reason I joined them in the first place was because of the great things the company had to offer. Be sure to check into the e-cards, and online seller. Those are great tools.

I'm waiting anxiously for the next entry in your newbie diary!!

Congratulations! I love your enthusiasm.

First lesson: Don't ever give your potential clients a list and send them out to look at homes alone.

I picked up one of my favorite buyers this way (and got 2 referrals from them). They stopped by a real estate office looking for information and the floor agent just printed them a list of homes with instructions to "call her if they saw something they really liked". Apparently she didn't want to bother previewing homes for them.

I happened to be coming locking up one of the homes after showing it and they asked if they could come in. They didn't like that home but I showed them another one I had seen earlier in the day and they bought it.

That same summer one of my clients decided to go look at an open house without me. The listing agent convinced him that if he liked it, he needed to make an offer with her immediately and he did.

Rebecca

Well Im gonna have to recap a little. For those who have been paying attention..Im very behind on my journal(or so to speak)

Wed- Was a slow day...real estate wise! I got a ton of stuff done though! Since I dont have cards or announcements I can't do much! GRRRRR! I got new tires put on my truck. I had ordered them and they came in. Figured I would get it done before I got "super involoved" I went to my local board and registered for my Supra ekey! WOOHOO...one step closer....Had my headshot taken for my marketing materials...$100 but well worth instant gratification with touch ups! Turned in my pic to office manager to get my announce ments and cards ordered...Did a little organizing of all the papers that have been thrown at me...and called it a day!

Thurs-Gave buyer client a app for loan to get prequalified-Corporate training all day! Played on Tempo MLS and made my first appointment to view a home me and my fiance liked! We went and looked at it...AWEFUL...I didnt even get to use my new supra (it was a combo box)

Fri- Corporate training all day...ran back to office to run the app with our in house LO...BAD NEWS...1st potential clients(ones I gave the list of homes) are in REALLY BAD SHAPE! Like a 480 and a 509 credit scores! OUCH!!! So they wont be buying from me any time soon, but I am going to help them get it in order and keep them on my contact roster...Went out with a neighbor and handed out some homemade cards....

Sat- Pretty much a day off!
Sun- Same...lame old Sunday
(not having cards or anything really hurts when first starting! So get them ordered ASAP!

Mon- New agent meeting in the morning.....We went out to a listing and learned how to correctly measure room dimensions and input forms for MLS when signing a listing...NO AC in the listing...Houston Heat UGH! Went to local board(HAR) orientation
Went back to office and WOOHOO cards and announcements arrived...so the fun begins...Got my open house signs and went home to organize and recap everything I learned earlier in the day...

FYI...New Agents Beware! SOOOOOO much information has been thrown at me! It is hard to get it all straight! Make sure to ask ???????. The more you know about something, the better you will ba able to utilize these things!

I have been really busy setting everything up! Surprisingly, it has taken a lot longer to get my voicemail, email, website, cards, and resources set up for functioning than I thought!

You are going to have a password for EVERYTHING! Keep them the same if you can...it HELPS...I have no one to really "hold my hand" to get everything set up....I am told I need to do it and who to talk to in the company and am expecte4d to follow through or I would never even get started....don't be afraid to bug a little when it comes to setting things up! I know I am bugging people but if I didn't I would be stuck in the dark corner all alone and no where near even prospecting. My prospecting starts next week along with Open Houses and Mall time....For now I am addressing my announcements and researching marketing materials through my company and also STILL setting up accounts and passwords(its hard and lenghty because everything goes through ONE lady,our office coordinator)
I have to quit now or I will keep going

WOW! Sounds exciting. I have yet to take the licensing exam for Georgia. Coming soon though...late Sept or early Oct. Just reading your posts makes me want to start today! Can't wait to read more of your posts. We have a Prudential here, so will definately keep them in mind when interviewing.

Jan, focus on the pre-liscense class, and then the state test it is a BEAR.What is required as an answer on the test is not real world.So I would focus on test speak and terms to not get to messed up on how to answer the questions.

Parish.......The most CRITICAL component above all else is when you get a buyer to qualify them that day.Your Buyers at 480 and 509 is really bad.You are looking at about 1 1/2 to 2 years to get them where they can purchase.Especially with the new lending criteria requiring higher scores and harsher underwriting standards.


Now if they can put 10 to 20 percent down they could possibly buy in maybe 6 to 8 months.If they want 100 percent forget it.With sellers standing inventory rising you will probably stand a better chance of getting them owner financed or on a lease option or purchase.

yep super....I found out about theur credit scores and what they are going to need to do from our in house mortgage co. I tried to get them qualified asap and I am glad I didnt waste my time or theirs showing beofre I found out...it was a bummer as it was. I can't imagine how I would have felt after wastinga weekend showing when they can't buy for a while. I have some new news though...I will post tomorrow! for now its 1230am and I have to be at corporate in the morning...yawn...gotta get some sleep..its hard to come by now!

There is another post about monthly office fees etc. How much are you looking at with Prudential?

Hey R,

It's not the end of the world to waste your time showing houses to buyers, whether or not they buy, especially when you're brand new. In fact, I can't think of a much BETTER thing for you to have done over the weekend than get out there and practice your buyer skills and learn more about your market.

And, be assured, in this career you will spend (not waste) lots and lots and lots of time with buyers and sellers for whom you won't make a dime. Don't let it stress you out.

My mantra: "I sell real estate every day. Sometimes I even get paid for it!"

Congratulations, Prudential is a great company to be affiliated with.

My Prudential has no office fees.

My office really has no fees....There is a showing fee and a technology fee of a combined $48 a month after the initial 60 days after start up.....


It has been a while since my last post...Ok not really sure where I left off, but here it goes. I called a FSBO and went to preview the property. I found out he might be interested in listing with an agent soon, but unsure. I am going to follow through...

I walked into a new townhome contsruction office just to get some info and BAM! There was an older couple in need of some info about listing their house. The man was talking about how he cannot afford the commission rates...but I got their contact info to set a time to get together and discuss the matter. Well I called him the next day...he was telling me he was busy over the weekend and would call me later next week....well I called him today and found out he listed with an agent in his neighborhood! DAMN! If I had only been able to get my foot in the door on Friday! There went my 1st listing opportunity!

So This morning I had my new agent meeting....nothing really exciting going on. I am mailing out my announcements with business cards tomorrow. I am set up for an open house this Sunday and have another in the works for next weekend too! I am very excited about my first open house. Its gonna be in the paper and online. I am going to have a ton of directional signs with balloons, so hopefully I will have a decent crowd! Would hate to have my first and have no one show...I need some buyers dang it...hopefully some people who need to list before they buy! That would be great! I like to call 'em "Double Whammies"! LOL....

So I am pretty bummed about not landing that listing with the older couple, but I guess I learned my lesson! When I KNOW someone HAS to sell....JUMP ON IT..and get my foot in the dorr ASAP>>>>>

So now my focus is going to be on the FSBO I met with. Its pretty hard because the property was a rent house for a long time and the owner does not live on site! ONly communication is by phone so its a little difficult...but follow up is important so Im gonna try.

Went and previewed 3 homes today including the one I am planning an open house for next weekend. Its always good to know the other homes on the market in the same street or subdivision as the one you are holding open...Just in case someone asks you about them...you dont want to be like 'duh..I don't know what you are talking about'

I am planning on having a guest log book for all visitors(so I can follow up with them), Flyers for the other homes on the market in the area and price range for the buyers interested. Also, plenty of cards to pass out and a local fsbo paper to make calls to incase I get really bored!

I have to say I think I am off to a decent start, especially since I have only really been going for about 2 weeks and haven't even contacted my SOI yet! Hopefully it will get better. I have mal time coming up and I hear that some really good leads have been coming to the agents that do this. Pretty much we have a BIG mall locally and my company have a Kiosk in there with a ton of information for people to browse through...Obviously if they walk up they are somewhat interested in buying or selling or just wondering some things...we have books of homes on the market through ou company(yet one more marketing tool used through my company to promote our listings!)So I am excited to get going. I cannot take floor time until I have one listing on the board so the m ain goal is to get AT LEAST 1 listing by the end of the month!

Hopefully after next week I should have at least a few really good leads to get me going...as for right now I feel stuck in limbo with nothing to do, but am keeping myself busy familiarizing myself with the area by previewing and touring properties, and playing around with the software my company provides...so by the time I do have business I will know what to do with it...

Next week the new agents are going to a title company to have a 'mock' closing so we will know what to expect! I am excited....
Ok now its break time

I also live in the houston area i interviewed with prodential I am also looking at coldwellbanker any advice

FYI I got the listing with the FSBO! WOOHOO Guess I said or did something right! Now I just need to sell it....

Remember, after you close your first deal, you have to buy the beer and chips for the whole office. Honest, ask any old pro.