Hello guys! I just got my real estate license here in California not to long ago. I have a few questions that I want professional people to answer like you guys. What can I do to spread my name out and attract new clients? Does it matter if I work for a well known company or a small one? Lastly is I just turned 21, is age going to affect me in this career? Would appreciate all the tips and advice from everybody thanks!

Hi Sal, congrats on License. If your like me just starting and on a budget. I've found that the cheapest means of spreading my name was to advertise on the "water cooler network." It's where you find office and manufacturing workers who have the gift of gab, and tell them something that they will spread to their friends. The story always relates to a real estate issue you were apart of and ends in some crazy or just believable manner. Nothing negative of course and preferably something that makes you stand out.

I've found that a really good story can be broadcast and hit whole buildings. And when you find the gabbers and gossipers, for goodness sake facebook friend them. Now you can broadcast from your lap top. I've been doing this awhile now and my favorite story on this is when my mom called me and yelled at me for not telling her my "good news" she had to hear from one of her friends at work. Of course I asked her which friend, because I didn't have anyone in her office building and I have no idea how it jumped.

I can't advertise on TV yet but I can dominate the water cooler.

Hi Sal! You can totally be young and successful today as a New Agent. I wished I had started out after I got out of College--I would be in a much better position today.

Get yourself out there on social media--join Linkedin, network on Facebook, get on Twitter, but the biggest thing which can help you is start doing YouTube videos.

Have you chosen your niche? Your area of specialty as a Real Estate Agent. You have to focus today to be successful. Do YouTube videos on your niche with you as the expert and you will start getting some traction this way.

Just a few thoughts.

I hope they are helpful.

Thanks--Mario

Sal, develop an online presence through your website, blog, etc. Whether you work for a large/small firm may benefit you depending on your local market and your own objectives. Best of luck.

Sal,

I'm a young Realtor as well. I started off with a smaller company that provided leads, but I realized that I didn't have much control over that.

I switched to RE/MAX, as Real Estate is my number one goal. Something I've come to realize is associating yourself with an outstanding brand like RE/MAX has significantly helped my credibility. Being young, people often dismiss us right away; however, we can fight that by aligning ourselves with a quality brand.

I definitely agree that when you're new and young, you need a recognizable name behind you that you can go out and sell. You also need to choose a broker that has training and support systems in place for new people. Thats more important than commission split right now.

Hope that helps!

Related to this...what is the best place to network (other than the water cooler!)? Is there a profession (such as carpet cleaners or painters) that identify people who are puting their home on the market before they interview agents?

Hey, another DC guy!

I've started experimenting with networking groups. I was in a BNI group for a while (VERY hard to get a spot as a Realtor) and am now in a looser smaller networking group. I've had success from that. I think as you start having business to give some of these tradespeople like you mention you can start to get leads and referrals from them...but it takes time to get to that point.

For instance we have contractors that do...$50k...$60k worth of work from us a year...we get referrals from them...

Sal,

I'm pretty young to. Started in September of last year when I was only 19. I turned 20 a couple weeks ago, and things have been great ever since I started!

Feel free to PM me if you want to stay in contact, and maybe we can bounce some ideas off each other. I've had some amazing success with Expireds.

If you want to be successful, it is possible...and CAN happen if you make it happen!