Rookie to Rockstar: 9 Tips for New Real Estate Agents to Find Success

Believe it or not, my entrepreneurial journey began with a property investment business focused on flipping houses to build a portfolio of suitable properties. Over the years, I’d gotten good at my real estate business; however, managing the whole thing independently was a hassle.

After spending 10 years in the industry, I realized that my passion was to build technological solutions. In 2019, I finally decided to stop buying new properties and sell the existing ones to create SaaS software that helps businesses effectively communicate and reach their clients.

While I had my share of navigating the challenges of growing my business, I thought of penning down my learnings from my previous business. The real estate industry is great, and with advancements in technology and marketing, that are available right now, it’s bound to reach a value of $119.80 trillion in 2024 and $142.88 in 2028.

9 Tips for Beginner Real Estate Agents to Be Successful

In this article, I’ve condensed my learnings from running a real estate business and provided you with tips for success. Let’s get to know what they are:

1. Start With Research & Clear Goals

Before getting into the unknown lands, it’s better to do some research about what the industry entails. Get to know the licensing requirements, interview at different firms, create a new real estate agent checklist, and find tools that help you with your real estate buying and selling process.

Find a mentor, if possible, to get familiar with the local market and better understand the real estate industry. Once you have the insights needed to become an agent, create clear goals and develop a business plan.

What do you plan to achieve in the first 30 days as a new real estate agent? What about the first year? What actions will you take to reach there? Having clear goals and a plan to monetize your business will increase the likelihood of success and grow your real estate business.

2. Obtain Your Agent License

Now that you have a basic understanding of the market obtain your real estate agent license. Here are a few steps you can take to get your license:

• Meet the basic requirements of your state: Ensure that you meet the basic requirements set by the state in which you plan to build your real estate business. This can include legal residents of the US, being of 18+ age, having a high school diploma or equivalent, etc.

• Complete the pre-license education: Finish certain hours of pre-licensing education from an approved real estate school before taking a licensing exam. Most states require you to complete around 60 to 120 hours of education.

• Clear your real estate license exam: After completing your education, you’ll need to pass a licensing exam of the state that consists of national and state-specific real estate principles, practices, and laws.

• Get and maintain your license: Once you’ve cleared the exam, you can get your real estate agent license from the state’s licensing authorities. To maintain your license, you may require further education or renew the license periodically.

3. Consider Working at a Real Estate Firm (optional)

Most agents starting something of their own have previously worked with a real estate firm or have a family business they want to expand. Working in a real estate firm will give you the necessary skills and adorn you with the knowledge and experience to learn the ins and outs of the industry.

Rather than flying solo, a team will provide you with the opportunity to learn the practices other agents implement and master the same while building your real estate agency. Additionally, you’ll develop skills in generating leads faster and converting them into a customer.

4. Do Something of Your Own

Working with a real estate firm is optional if you want to get right into doing something of your own. Start by first familiarizing yourself with the area where you plan to start your real estate agency. Engage with the property owners and find potential clients who want to sell or buy properties.

Allocate a budget for the marketing activities to promote your real estate agency and generate leads. Start by creating a Google Business Profile, and list your agency on places like Yelp, Yellowpages, Bing Places, Facebook, Apple Maps, etc.

In addition to the flyers and postcards, increase your visibility through social media, website, and local business listings to generate leads. Doing so helps your real estate agency to stand out from the rest and grow your client base quickly.

5. Build Your Business Toolbox

Running a real estate business in 2024, without effective tools in place to automate processes and communicate with clients, is going to be hard. Time is of the essence and you don’t want to waste it by taking care of everything, from handling customer data to sending instant alerts, reminders, and promotions.

Specialized CRM (customer relationship management) tools, like Close, Liondesk, Wise Agent, and others, can help you prospect, store information, send relevant content, and do much more. While email is a professional way to communicate with your prospects, SMS for real estate marketing helps send relevant and targeted messages instantly.

With SMS, you can send quick alerts, share reminders, book home visits, and use several other real estate message templates to keep customers in the loop. Additionally, Textdrip helps you automate your SMS marketing hustle and even provides you with features like paraphraser/spintext and AI message generator.

6. Grow Your Network

Building a network of your real estate buyers, sellers, and other agents is an important asset for the success of your solo real estate journey. Participate in networking events, attend broker open houses, and find relevant community events to be part of.

Since most real estate agents receive new leads through their close network, word of mouth, or referrals, focus on growing your network for success as a real estate agent. Also, ensure that your friends and family are aware of your ventures in real estate and ask them to refer anyone who wants to buy or sell a property.

7. Improve Your Communication Skills

While email and SMS can help nurture your prospects, verbal communication is essential when interacting in person. You have to frequently use your communication skills even while negotiating an offer or selling a property to first-time buyers.

You’d often have to explain complex legal terms about buying, selling, and renting properties to guide customers through the process and make it easy to understand. Thus, honing your communication skills becomes crucial for a successful career as a real estate agent.

8. Be In It for a Long Game

One of the important tips for beginner real estate agents is that you won’t achieve overnight success. You’d have to play a long game as the market doesn’t require more half-time agents but committed ones. You have to understand that it’s not a 30-day sprint, it’s more like a three to five-year marathon, with full commitment, to provide modern customers with a seamless experience.

Don’t expect great results in the first 30 days as a new real estate agent but doing the things outlined here can accelerate your success. You need to be in it for the long run, give it some time, and take disciplined action to reach your desired success.

9. Track and Measure Your Results Month-over-Month

Tracking and measuring the results of your efforts should be part of your new real estate agent checklist. While you pour money to educate yourself, get a license, and establish your real estate agency, tracking these expenses is difficult.

You also need to track marketing expenses, which include travel costs, bookkeeping fees, marketing costs, insurance expenses, and others. Use these expense data to compare your total expenses with your earnings and cash flow. Next, track the number of leads generated in a month and how many of them have converted.

Are your marketing campaigns reaching the right people? How many of them are taking action? Keeping track of such data enables you to measure the progress of how well your marketing expenses are paying off, or you may need to refine your strategy.

Find Your Success

Finding success as a new real estate agent will not be a cakewalk. You need the right mindset, clear goals, and strong confidence in yourself before you commit to becoming a real estate agent. Once you finally decide to pursue it, the real estate agent tips for beginners provided above can be a catalyst for your success.

While sustaining your business may become hard at first, with the right strategies and the tips listed in this article, you’ll be able to accelerate your success. I’ve tried to condense my learnings and insights here as much as possible, and if I had access to the tools available right now, I might still be in the industry.

That said, check out our free trial to take your SMS for real estate communication a notch higher. Book a live demo to experience the difference.