I just started in this field in early September and have gotten 1 listing. I thought that I was on a roll for a while until a number of my clients, despite good credit histories, didn't have the funds when it came time to ante up. I have made no money at this - and am finding it more difficult to keep a positive attitude.
Can anyone offer me any advice? It's difficult seeing colleagues, who have been in this business longer, settling deals and constantly showing properties.

Perseverance. Perseverance. Perseverance.

If you can ride out the initial shock of this business, then you can make it. Just hang tough.

Thank you! I will!

Hang in there keep plugging away, the market is slow all over just keep trying to get your name out in the public, tell everyone you know your a Realtor, maybe get a part time job like driving a school bus it works out great with being a Realtor.
GOOD LUCK

I tell new agents that they need 9-12 months of reserves to start in this business plus the cost of signup fees for the realtor associations and MLS.

It is not unusual for new agents who don't have a large sphere of friends and relatives to take longer to start getting business.

The best way is to work with a team or experienced agent/mentor out how to sell real estateto learn the ropes as no licensing class teaches you squat about selling real estate.

Nigel

the market being slow has nothing to do with your business being slow. you need to hustle up the buyers and sellers. be frank, and only work with serious qualified buyers and sellers. people will eat your time as if you were paid a salary.

soi is irrelivant(they are not using you right now). learn to create business. spend the day knocking on the door of every expired that has not relisted. if no one is home leave them a packet of information or a resume. pm Borino if you need a plan of attack.

you must find business. odds are against you. what will you do?

Keep plugging along. Use your "not busy" time to be busy doing other things...like drumming up business as estatereal said, or spend the time learning, learning, learning. If you are with a franchise most likely they have offered some sort of training (I'm really enjoying Weichert University! It's sometimes a little dorky but I usually pick up some helpful stuff every lesson...)

If not, you can "borrow" e-books from the realtor.org website library!! Free! You download a digital edition and can "keep" it for 3 weeks, then it expires...

Use this time to put some systems in place, like spreadsheets to calculate your expenses, set up your database for your soon-to-be clients.

Keep your "dollar short" clients in your loop, send them auto emails and keep in touch with them occasionally; don't just write them off..you never know when they'll actually be in a position to buy and rather than let them pick another realtor, keep your relationship current. I'm not saying to spend a lot of energy on them; but just an occasional email or something.

Be a buyers agent for a top producer???

You learn the ropes and earn money.

Here's some thoughts from a former Part-Time Agent and relatively new to the field (me).

A slow market doesn't mean you personally have to be slow, although there is a learning curve.

1. Partnering with a expiranced agent is a GOOD THING! ALL new agents need to learn to do their job, and do a very good job at it too.

2. Accept no subsitutes for being THE BEST at your job, set your goal to be the best people person , the best at prospecting, the best at marketing, the best at presentations. When you set yourself to do this goal, you will see a exponential jump in how well you do.

3. Sit down ,and do the math (And let your manager/broker help you.) Figure out how much you want to make in real estate > figure the ammount of closed transactions it will take to get to that number > determine a closing rate for those transactions > figure out how many clients you'll need to get the transactions > then finally decide on how much prospecting you want to do.



REMEMBER - BE THE BEST! In october of last year, i went full time in to real estate. The first part of this year i had quite a few listings, but few of them closed. After time, i realized i needed quality listings, and i've started being the PROFESSIONAL. Being better at explaining why i don't take bad listings, yes I have fewer listings, but they will sell.

PROSPECT as much as humanly possible, but don't get so many irons in the fire you can't provide good service.


I'm following these rules, and next year will be a GREAT year for me ,regardless of how the market goes.

I'm in the same predicament you are, Brittany.

Hang in there, I guess sister Brittany.

Brittany,

You've only been doing it for 2 months... it is going to take longer than that to get rolling.

One thing that helped me a LOT was taking on a dog of a listing at 1% (my side). Stupid? Heck no! I made over 20K in commissions from buyers I found through that listing. And it did finally sell, and what a PITA THAT was. So, talk to your broker about whether he might have a "bad" listing or two he'd toss you... you never know.

Beyond that, I have had a lot of luck with FSBO's; it has basically saved my real estate bacon. (I've been licenced just over a year). I would be happy to share what is working for me with you, but it IS very personality-dependant... that said, anyone with the mettle to knock on doors could be sitting on a PILE of listings in a few months from FSBO's, I promise you that!

Realize that these are the slow months of the year, and that right now things are not good in real estate in general. There are numerous agents in a very desperate place, established agents no less, who you are competing with. It's not going to be easy. About 90% of licencees fail in this business. So.. put your combat boots on every morning, it's a war out there! You are fighting for your financial life with the other agents for the pool of commissions, basically. You are going to have to get an edge, get some desperation, get some mojo workin'. Being friendly and passive might have worked 5 years ago- it DID work for people I know well- but it won't work now.

PM me for FSBO details if you want- or call my number below. I'm not trying to sell you something, BTW.

-jeff

PM me for FSBO details if you want- or call my number below. I'm not trying to sell you something, BTW.

-jeff


sounds like you are selling a winning plan!!!! for free...

He's selling aggressive personal contact with FSBO's through good old fashioned door knocking. I do the same thing and it works well if you're humble, good looking and effervescent.

Jeff

I do not see a phone number to call so I PM'D you.

My phone number is there at the bottom of every post, including this one, right by my web site link... anyone can call me anytime. Heck, I WANT successful agents in other states who like me! We'll do referrals.

Navarac is partly right, although I would not use the word "aggressive". It may be that it IS that, but I go out of my way to keep my mindset in a different place than "aggression" as that, I think, is the wrong approach for ME.

Let's examine that last sentence for just a second before I type more. The "for ME" part. The whole key in this wack business is finding some traction, finding something that if you push hard, you have something to push against. Othewise I'm here to report first-hand, you can really feel like you are floating in zero gravity with nothing to grab or push against. And, you need to get results in the form of commission checks, which allows you to stay in the business long enough that sheer market presence and referrals start to generate business for you. Right?

So, we need to turn some deals! This means either finding some REAL buyers, and they are a red-hot commodity right now, or else listing some properties. If anyone has a prospecting method for finding buyers, please share it because I've had [censored]-poor luck with that one... EXCEPT, and this is the golden nugget, through my listings! I closed 3 deals for about $20k in comm's last year JUST from buyers I met through my listings; buyers who didn't like my listing but liked me. So THAT is how I am attempting to find real buyers- through listings.

OK, so we need to turn deals to survive, because we are after all brokers of real estate transactions. So we need to get our little fingers in some pies. The most pleasant and productive and cheapest form of prospecting I have found is FSBO's. Expireds are probably good too. What's nice about FSBO's is they are kind of... cute! Most of them are like babes in the woods, innocent, happy (at first), relatively clueless, with a big plan about how they are gonna sell that house and save all that money on commission.

Expireds tend to be grumpy, grizzled veterans of the process who ask pointed questions like "what are YOU going to do for me that the other loser didn't?!" or "what makes YOU so hot?". However, I have no doubt that expireds can be a very productive group to spend time on, too.

Anyway, that's a long preamble to a very simple "system". A member of this list, and I wish I remembered who but I don't, said it in a way that really grabbed my imagination and made the whole thing seem possible- he said to start up an "Adopt-a-FSBO" program. It was that way of looking at it that works for me. I am not selling them anything, I'm not pressuring them, I'm not doing ANYTHING other than helping them, listening to them, being consistant but not annoying with my contacts (once a week or maybe a little more, then go for the jugular at the moment of truth). I give them forms they'll need, advice that I can give within the context of NOT BEING THEIR AGENT (very important, ask your broker about this!), and just generally listen to them.

The details play out like this.

There's the initial phone call or visit. A visit is best. Yeah, this means you get out of the car and knock on the door. Scary monsters, right? Hell no. Knock on the dang door. Be straightforward. "Hi, I'm Jeff from Jaeger Real Estate and I see you have your home for sale. I have buyers looking in this area, and I like to keep my finger on the pulse of what's going on in this area. Cool house! I see here on your flyer that it's 1400 square feet?" Then shut the heck up and let them talk!!

(An aside- one of the gorgeous things about 'em is thst they give you a contact sheet (flyer) with all their info!!)

So take that flyer, make your notes on it about the home and your conversation with them, and put it in a 31-slot file you bought at staples, on a day one week ahead of where you are now. If it's the 3rd of the month, file it on the 10th. Done! When the 10th comes around, check that slot in your expanding file thingie and lo and behold, there's that contact sheet. Refresh your memory from the sheet and your notes and call 'em again. Repeat. As time goes on, some of them will gravitate towards you and I swear to you, they will ASK YOU to list their house!

Another aside- I now weed out the obvious non-listers right at the beginning. I'll ask, on that first contact, "Are you thinking of listing this if the FSBO process doesn't play out?" then listen to what they say. they might say, my mom is a Realtor and if I list I'll be using her... or, I have a Realtor I really like and i'll list with them if this doesn't work out... or, someone came by 5 minutes before you did that seemed really nice, and I'll probably list with them if I do list it. Or, I think Realtors are the biggest scum on the face of the earth and I would NEVER list this home with one! At any rate, you can save yourself some effort with that simple question up front.

And just be straightforward. They know you'd like to list it. This is not deviousness on your part. Think of it as a job interview. Hey, they are GONNA list that house with someone; over 80% of them do in the end. If they are in the group that doesn't already have someone chosen to list it, then they are essentially interviewing Realtors and guess what... you just got interviewed! AND you showed that you are a hustler, someone out there trying. You will trump someone who sends a letter EVERY TIME.

The upshot of all this is, get face time with FSBO's and your WILL list a percentage of them. I seem to be really good at it and list about 25% of the ones I go after. So then it's a numbers game- how many are you gonna go after?

I hope this helps. My little typer is about typed out and I need to go dispute some random cell phone charges now on my daughter's phone... grrr!

-jeff

talking with them will also let you perfect your sales skills and listing presentation. i love doorknocking, and have not been able to do it much latley because i have so much business from doorknocking that i have to maintain. team up with them(sell that idea)you are after all in sales... (exclusive agency)it works!!!!

Those are two things I didn't mention- first, that this is a great way to hone your person skills. The beauty of it is, there will always be more of them coming down the pike! You can screw up on your first batch, and learn from it, and go on to the next batch...

The next thing is what estatereal mentions. Exclusive Agency. Talk to your broker about this, too. The idea here is that you allow them to retain the right to sell it- you don't have an exclusive right to sell- but you are their only AGENT. That can bite you in the butt- they might sell it- but by far the most common thing is that they are sick of the whole thing by the time they list and just dump it all on you.

There is NOTHING to lose, if you are a new agent with time on your hands. And lots to gain. I have been sort of spotty in my pursuit the last month or 5 weeks due to hunting season, but I still listed almost a million and a half in about 5 weeks of putting a couple hours a day into it... and sold a couple of those.

Go fer it! Git 'er done! Now you know how.

-jeff

Thanks Jeff for the info it was helpful.
Sorry the earlier post didn't have your info on it for some reason.

THANKS AGAIN

Brittany

Other have given you good responses. You say you started in September in NJ, I'm not familiar with that market but isn't it the beginning of the slow season? I only say that to make the point it isn't helping you any and should factor into your progress at the moment.

One statement that struck me was the one about clients with good credit histories but no funds. This is the area you need to research, first get into the habit of sitting down with these people and finding out their true situation first, when they tell you they have money don't be bashful about saying "that's great, now where is it exactly and how can I confirm that?"

These people may have been true buyers but like most agents you are short in the being creative department. Investors do no money down deals all the time and agents should learn the principles involved and do the same thing.

As for the experienced agents doing deals in your office that is a good sign, I would only be frustrated if people in the same office as you with the same experience were doing deals and you weren't.

Oh, and one of the posters suggested telling fsbo's I have a lot of buyers looking in this area, never say that, the fsbo will think good there are some buyers that may see my sign or ad and I can save the commission.

What gets someone rolling would be different from another person just because of market and individual personalities.

What I woke me up was pure and simple: What I do today will make (or will need to make) a difference 30, 45 and 90days from now.

So if you dont have a business plan in place, do one. If you have one, break it in bite-sizes.... (30, 45, 90day periods) instead of looking at it on an annual plan.

Then you can use strategies such as Expireds, FBSOs, SOI, seminars, etc. to generate your plans.

Study the neighborhoods, communities, schools, etc. In the mean time, take all these researches you have done, blog about it. People will/ can find you. This will work if you are in an internet savvy consumer city.

Good luck. Your future is so bright (and yes, it can happen in this market too).

fatmaxxv,

it is funny that you say the 30,45,90day

i tell people that if you are did not sit in a settlement today then it is because you were not doing enough money producing activities 90-120days ago.

I've had some success with FSBO's. I really believe we as Realtors can offer them a service, they need our help! They just don't know that yet.