Any suggestions on what 1st year agent should focus on,I want to suceed.

so did you decide to go ahead and get started now then? i know you were considering waiting until next spring or something.

If you are just starting out the most important thing you need to focus on is Lead Generation.

If you don't have any leads coming in you won't have anyone to work with. The longer you go without focusing on lead generation, the more pressure you will have on you as your saved money runs out.

If you can get out there right away and generate some leads, you will be well on your way to getting your first deal done.

Some good techniques I would use are...
Facebook
Open Houses
Call people you know now
FSBO's

If you set aside at least 1 hour per day just concentrating on meeting new people, you will be well on your way to success.

all the best

Marty

Marty,


Good, solid advise, it's so simple at the end of the day
but often we cant even see it.

As Marty already pointed out, lead generation should be critical in your business. Which brings me to my next point, treat your real estate career as business. Track your ROI on all your endeavors (i.e. direct mailing, blogging), as you will quickly find that not every marketing activity yields a worthwhile result.

Best of luck, I understand that the Vancouver market is on doing phenomenally well, it should prove to be a great environment in which to prosper.

gather 100 people in your sphere asap..friends family, everybody
mail them, call them or both...
get a decent website with idx..
for buyers you can use it to get free leads from craigslist
for sellers
call fsbos, mail them or both
go to trulia, zillow, homegain,..
and just talk to the public or observe
last but not least invest in yourself
join masterminds, attend events, get the free materials from mentors and coaches..trust me on that

ive never gotten a return from social media or open houses
but they are free :-)

How about reading a few forums for a question that's been answered numerous times before you start a new forum?

VaBroker take a chill pill,I hope you treat your clients with more courtesy.

Before jumping all over VaBroker, it's posted all over this site to perform a search before posting a new topic, since there may already be threads going that can help you out. Just trying to keep things uncluttered.

Well I for one agree with VaBroker, it's a great habit to acquire and allows for a better question to be asked.

Now for a story, when I was a brand new agent in 1965 I was familiar with real estate having been an investor for 10 years and having a contractor/builder father, but that did not make me a real estate agent.

So I went to the real estate board library and the first thing I saw was the California Real Estate Magazines back to the first issue, so I started reading and one article written in the early 20's by a top broker said if you talked to only 8 prospects a day you would make $20k a year. In 1965 $8k was good income so I called it the rule of 8 and adopted it, and it worked if you figured out what a prospect was first.

garr isn't my client.

We are all here to question and to learn. There are 2 or 3 new posts asking this same question every day. One needs to read the book before one asks a question. It's better for garr to look around first and see if there are answers already here than to just jump in as though he's been sleeping through the whole class.

jbsnadb and Bay Area Brian - thanks for the backup.

you got to be kidding Va your logic is stupid dont do this to others ok be considerate think nice!

...hush little grasshopper.

Observe, research and learn. When your question of life is not found, then you may ask.

Aloha Garr,

Feel free to peruse through this forum, there is a wealth of information at your fingertips. If after reading through some of the posts you still have lingering questions, then feel free to ask them for other members to help you. Some of the leading experts in different realms of real estate visit this forum, use that plethora of education/experience to your advantage by asking questions that will give you the kind of insight needed to succeed. Best of luck.

thats pretty bad ganging up on the newbie,

it would be more beneficial to just give garr some solid advice

add value..guys and gals...