which one would you guys reccommend? I know the high quality expensive ones would be best, but are they really needed opposed to the moderate suits?

Who are your clients? What image are you looking to project? What kind of business do you intend to run? When do you plan on wearing the suit?
--A

Nobody wears suits around here. Everything is business casual: slacks and a nice shirt.

Go to your weekly local Realtor Board meeting and see what people are wearing. If you decide a suit is appropriate, wear the best looking one you can afford. Dressing sharp makes an impression, but it has to be appropriate for the task at hand.

Moderate is fine, as long as its cleaned and pressed. Of course, if you're going Armani, everything else better match, the shoes, the car, the watch.

By the way, if business casual is the norm, looking really sharp in a suit is an excellent competitive advantage.

An established excellent agent sometimes adopts business casual because he doesn't need to impress. He comes highly recommended and the customers seek him out. So it's comfort first because he's already a star.

If you are a noobie without coattails, I'd dress way better than the norm. It does make a difference.

This is going to depend on you and who you plan on working with.

First, I have known agents that sweat non-stop when they wear a suit. If you do, don't wear one or come up with an option that does not have you looking like you just stepped out of the shower. If that means baby powder all over under the suit, fine.

I have a couple of expensive suits and a couple of middle of the road suits. For me, the real difference in the appearence is how they are tailored. Find a good tailor and your suits are going to make you look really good.

Out here in california it's a bit different. I had a client buy a 2.7 million dollar house who was always in grungy cutoff jeans and a ramones t-shirt.

For me, a good middle of the road "uniform of the day" is pressed slacks and a polo shirt. You can also get away with the "Tommy Bahama" look - particularly in my old beach town of Aptos.

Above and beyond all this tho, you also need to be able to pull off the look. If you are uncomfortable, fidgety or preoccupied with what your wearing, it's going to negatively effect your perceived professionalism in the eyes of your clients.

Good Luck,
R

SUIT!?!? It's 95 degrees out there!

I'm with you! I have two middle of the line suits, but it's way to hot to wear them. You're lucky if you see me wearing a long sleeved shirt!

Well all i can tell you is one of the most successfull brokers i know buys everything ON SALE,for the most part except for the tag alot of the designer stuff is the same you are paying for the name.When giving a gift the broker always makes sure it's the nice stuff given to the clients.People aren't going to pull the coat or shirt off your back and ask what brand it is,as long as it looks nice and you look professional they could care less.

The only exception might be some of the uber rich who have multi-million dollar homes and are very self-absorbed and put there whole worth in materialistic things.If you are targeting that crowd it might matter. good luck

Hmm. I don't think I've ever seen a man in residential real estate in a suit. Women, yes. Most of the men wear like Dockers and a polo. My broker wears shorts. Heh.

If suits are the norm by you, by all means get the best one you can afford.

Like everything else about this game, the goal is not to do what everyone else does. It is to be innovative and better than the competition. If the competition has adopted a dress-down policy, cool, I'm dressing up. What an easy edge, why not take it?

LUCKY! It's 112 in Phoenix!

Someone spoke about wearing a suit to stand out from the rest who wear business casual. Here, if you were SLEEVES, it's a step above the rest!

I generally do wear suits when high temps are below 75-80 degrees, but with high temps and high humidity, I feel miserable and look worse than usual if in more than a light-weight golf shirt and slacks.

I have ONE suit, and several shirts & ties to mix it up slightly. Although I wear suits so rarely. $300 total. I'm mostly Nice Pants and Shirt, no Tie, but then again I think an expensive suit would put my clients on edge.

Two points:

First Point:

You will need to look like everyone else, the top of the bunch but still part of the group. If your clients and competition are all wearing $5,000 suits then you should be in the same. If your clients and competition are in workboots and jeans, then your in workboots and jeans. You will probably find you will fall somewhere in the middle. If you look out of place you will feel out of place and you will be treated as if you are out of place.

Second Point:

If you spend money on things you don't need you are STEALING from your children. Use the extra money on an investment property for yourself and retire that much earlier.

First point: You could be more wrong, but I'm hard pressed to imagine how. You should look BETTER than your competition. Always. Period. Looking better never looks "out of place", whatever that means.

Second point:

Absolute poppycock. "Stealing from your children". That's about the dumbest hyperbole I've ever seen. You owe your kids an honest upbringing, nothing more. Having kids DOES NOT mean you sacrifice your own life, or your own dreams, or your own happiness. If you do that, your kids will become the horrors that are most adults these days.

What's a 'suit'?