Surviving And Thriving As A Real Estate Agent: Through Good Times And Bad
It is no secret that real estate agents, as well as other real estate related professions
, have had a difficult road over the last few years. The rise and fall of the national real estate market created a feast then famine scenario ...and many agents have not survived the famine. Meanwhile, over the last 5 years, I have sold over 500 single family homes, condos, or land lots...including closing on 30 properties last month alone. This volume places me in the top 5% of all Realtors in the country (in both transactions and commissions.) I would like to share with you, over my next few articles, how I have been able to achieve this success. (And you don't even have to buy a video course or purchase a web book!) My success through these difficult times has not been due to luck but rather due to a particular mindset that has worked very well for me.Thinking As An Investor
This mindset has entailed thinking as an investor instead of as a Realtor. My career in real estate began as an investor. I enjoyed great success purchasing my own investment properties, and began to help other investors find deals for themselves. Several years later, the natural progression was to get my realtor's license. As a result, I have never really considered myself a Realtor by trade, but rather an investor who helps other investors. At the moment I currently own over 20 investment properties myself. This helps me to understand what investors are looking for and the challenges they face in the current market. But owning your own investment properties is not a prerequisite to thinking like an investor. In order to position yourself as an investors' Realtor you don't have to own a lot of properties yourself, but you do have to develop a reputation with your clients for being more interested in their bottom line than you are in your commission. I have been able to do this, and in so doing grow a large investor database, by using the following strategies that I would like to share with you:
- Develop Your Niche
- Become An Expert in Your Field
- Be Mobile/Adapt
- Develop a Marketing Campaign
Over the next several articles, I will go over each of these steps in detail. Let's start with the first one:
Developing Your Niche As An Investors' Realtor The first thing I have done is to develop a niche. I don't try to know (or act like I know) everything about every area of real estate...rather I focus on a specific area. This area may, and sometimes must, change over time. In my case, I have always focused primarily on single family homes. For a while I worked on SFRs in CA, then I moved to AZ. I went through several other locales and for the last two years have focused on Las Vegas, NV. More specifically, I focus on the new Northwest area of the valley. 80% or more of my deals are located in this specific area. This is the area that I am comfortable with, knowledgeable about, and experienced in.
By becoming an expert in a particular area, I am better able to service my clients and identify for them the most profitable investments available. Reputation is everything in this business. You need to build a reputation for being well informed and very familiar with your area of expertise so that you can knowledgably and confidently advise your client whether or not a particular property will make a valuable addition to their portfolio.
In my next article, I will discuss how to become an expert in your chosen niche.
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