I’m beginning my 40th year in the residential real estate business. During the course of those years, I have seen thousands of real estate agents come and go. I’ve witnessed individuals from just about every walk of life enter the business: teachers, nurses, ex-military, housewives, airline pilots, mail carriers, CPAs, attorneys, social workers, construction workers and dental technicians just to name a few. I think it’s safe to say that for many, the prospect of growing a successful career in the real estate industry makes it an attractive career path.
I’ve seen some people reach incredible heights of financial success. I’ve known a few who actually had yearly incomes that exceeded a million dollars. The very idea that this kind of success is possible is one of the things that’s so enticing.
However, this is a business that is not for the faint of heart. To make it as a sales professional you need several things:
• You need a strong financial basis from which to begin. You cannot come to this industry with nothing in the bank and hope that in a few months you will be raking in the dough.
• You need to have a strong sphere of influence. The more people you know that have confidence in you, the easier the beginning of your career will be. If you do not have a strong sphere of influence, you’d better have some serious perseverance to be able go out and develop your network quickly.
• You need people skills. You can’t be a wallflower and hope to make it in this business. You need to be engaging and not afraid to interact with others. You need to be able to establish confidence in people in short order. You can’t be afraid to “ask for the order.” The people you serve want someone who leads the way and who shows great confidence in how they go about their business.
Lastly, and importantly, you need to have a servant’s heart. My experience is that those who are in this business just for the money will almost always fall short. You need a servant’s heart to want to help people acquire what they need and desire.
The real estate business can be amazingly rewarding. There are so many different avenues to explore. Be an agent. Be an assistant, work in IT, marketing, finance or development. There are so many different aspects of the real estate business other that real estate sales.
I’m a great example of this. I came into the business with no sales experience whatsoever. Today, I’m the Chairman of the Board of an exceptional, vertically integrated real estate company that has real estate sales, a property management arm, a mortgage company, a title company, a research company and a development company.
One of the things about our industry that I’ve enjoyed watching over the years, is seeing people grow and develop into strong leaders. I have had personal assistants that have become national trainers. I’ve had new recruits with no real estate experience become a division president in the company. And I have watched people with just a high school education become company partners. There are many paths to success.
You may begin your career as a real estate salesperson. Yet over time, you see that you’re more attracted to the mortgage loan business or a legal side of the industry like title insurance.
You may find that you’re drawn to new construction and become a new homes sales associate. While working there, you might become attracted to the home building side of the business, which may lead to a job on the development side where you’re involved in planning and developing communities.
Then there’s research. You can work with statistics and find it exciting to study the market and give bankers, builders, developers and brokers the critical research and guidance they need to make prudent decisions.
Many folks after a season in sales find that they’re attracted to the property management sector. They would prefer to help people enter rental properties using the skills they developed in sales. This then becomes a stepping stone to becoming a property manager.
To paraphrase a marketing line from Tidewater Community College, “You can go anywhere from here.”
I don’t know of too many businesses that have such a large range of associated career paths where people can both serve and succeed. It can be an amazingly fulfilling and wonderful life. It certainly has been for me.