I have been considering a career in RE for a good amount of time now. There are still a few things I am trying to figure out before I make the jump into the field. I understand that different brokers offer different advertising for their agents, but how much advertising is on your dollar? I know that advertising is very important to success as an agent. Also, is there a popular advertising method that works for almost any market that is cheap? Thanks again.

One word for cheap and effective advertising:

Blogging

That's what I have been doing for the past 4 months, and now I get about 1-2 leads per week which are much more solid than your average website searching lead, or farm area lead.

Make sure you KNOW how you're going to get clients, otherwise you won't make it, especially in a tough market like this.

It depends on the brokerage, but almost all advertising is on the agent's dollar. Aside from national franchise advertising or the rare brokerage advertisement, agents are generally expected to pay for any personal advertisement or advertisement of listings.

Real estate is an expensive game - some agents put 10-25% of their income back into advertising their business.

There are a few free avenues, but you need to be very savvy to make those work (see recent threads on blogging, for example).

People you know who know you sell real estate.

Not just friends and family...but that's a help.

I get most of my clients from the internet (blogging and my websites) and personal referrals. Got two clients (a listing and a buyer) from floor time. Actually got one other buyer from floor time but I just set her loose and will not work with her again.

I'll argue with the idea that advertising is a critical part of building a new agent's business. I can't imagine any traditional advertising an agent could afford that would offset the cost. Just a few minutes ago, in fact, I read a statement that's so true: "Today, people don't find advertising credible. Imagine."

However, you do need to promote yourself, obviously, and there may be cost associated with it. However, there are also plenty of no- or low-cost methods to get the word out there, and if you do those well, you could have a very affordable marketing budget. As mentioned above, blogging is free and effective, as is promoting yourself (respectfully and softly) to your Sphere of Influence. Open houses are free, as are some of the more aggressive prospecting strategies of door-knocking, cold-calling and FSBO-pursuing.

For a new agent, I'd recommend staying away from anything expensive, especially if you can't afford it! When you're new, you'll have a harder time converting leads to clients since you won't have the confidence in yourself and your abilities that you will later on. So, don't pay a bunch of money to attract business to you until you're more seasoned (if then).

Good luck!

Have we heard this story? I do love your stories!

She had explicit requirements. I sent her a house that met those requirements. I showed her several houses on short notice (it's a haul for me to get to the location of these homes).

She finally decided on the house I'd been telling her about, but by then there were two other bids on the house. She then refused to bid her highest and best (the house was already priced 15,000 below her maximum price that she wanted to pay). Not only did she refuse to place a highest and best, but she refused to acknowledge my calls and emails.

Fine.

At least give me the common courtesy of answering the phone or returning emails. If she contacts me again I will tell her to please find an agent better suited to her unique needs.

Thanks for the reply everyone. I guess my biggest fear is to final start a career as a RE, and then not be able to find people looking for my services. We are in a very bad economy right now, so i just want to get all my ducks in a line when it is my time. Its very scary starting out when you hear all this stuff of the radio about how bad the housing market is. For me i feel if i start out in a bad times, and can survive, things will only get better. Also, i will learn a lot because of it.

Great phrase to add to my bag of tricks! Thanks, Perky!!

(I'm always looking for ways to be more "diplomatic")

It's much better to be diplomatic than to say what you REALLY want to say.

I am getting the majority of my clients from the internet, but print ads and floortime still work for me.

Most of my clients come from the 24-hr hotline sign riders. Advertising in the American Classifieds is next.

The local newspaper has produced no listings or sales and it's terribly expensive so I only use it if I'm doing an open house.

Barb, would you share an example of an ad that you run in the Americana Classifieds. Please discuss the length of time too. I've tried that with my listings, but was dissappointed with the results.

This particular item depends on your location. In smaller towns, EVERYONE reads them. In larger towns, only a certain demographic will. In larger cities, most people wouldn't be caught dead picking one up. I have tried them in each location and was highly successful in the smaller market, while got no results in the larger market.

It depends on what type of market you have. The "Thrifty Nickel" as it was called before the change to American Classifieds can be a great source of leads.

The advertising in the classifieds is cheap but you have to know your target buyer and seller.It tells you on the website research who reads their publication,their median income levels,and vast other data.

If you are selling cheaper properties alot of that type of segment reads that publication. If you are selling higher or mid end priced homes most won't be interested as it is above their income levels.

We have American Classifieds in our area but our median incomes are alot higher and most read more upscale publications.

In American Classifieds you will see cheap trailers,junk sales,a few cheap foreclosures etc.

I ran foreclosure ads about 2 years ago. Alot of bad leads like "I want 100k house for 50k kind of crap"