Getting Started in Real Estate? Here are some tips to help get you started on the right foot.

Getting Started in Real Estate Picture

by Robert Scaralia

Many people enter the real estate business because they consider themselves good with people and/or because they like houses. That’s great, but it falls short of what it really takes to be successful.

It all starts with the decision to get your license. Rhode Island law requires a 45-hour real estate pre license course, which will teach you the principles and practices of modern real estate, as well as Rhode Island license law.

Beyond making the major decision to become a real estate professional and passing the state exam, your most important decision is by far the brokerage you decide to join. This one decision can have the single greatest impact on your career. You want to find a firm that offers new agent training and support that will teach you the fundamentals of the business such as how to prepare contracts, how to determine property values, understanding the transaction process as well as how to find customers plus a long list of other things you will need to know.

In addition, you want to select a firm that provides support in the form of someone you can lean into if you need help or have questions, this typically is the managing broker.  Many firms today also offer mentorship opportunities where they pair you up with a seasoned agent who will hold your hand through your first couple of transactions.

Another great and growing model within many firms is the team concept. In this arrangement you work directly with a successful veteran for the foreseeable future that provides an additional layer of ongoing support and opportunity. Either way a good brokerage will provide you the real world training you don’t get in a pre-license class.

Even with that, the truth is most fail in the business because they have the wrong perspective about what a real estate business is and just as importantly what it is not.

We call this the fatal assumption. It is born of the belief that if you understand the technical work of a business you understand how to run a business that does that technical work.  It’s like saying just because you learn how to bake cakes you now know how to run a business that bakes cakes. They are two totally and completely different things.

To be successful in real estate requires complete knowledge of all the technical aspects of the business as well as the principles of running a business, because you are not so much in the real estate business as much as you are a businessperson who happens to be in real estate. The real estate profession can be personally and financially rewarding if you follow these simple rules. One, commit to ongoing education about everything related to your profession. It should never end for as long as you are in the business. No one would want to go to a doctor, lawyer or accountant who didn’t stay on top of his or her field.

Second, work on yourself. Personal development (self-help) should be a priority because in a business of your own you are the asset that is leading the business.

Third, learn how to run a business. Go outside of the real estate industry and learn from other businesses. If you do you will find that while their technical work may be different from yours, the challenges are fundamentally the same; how to find customers, convert customers to choose your business over anyone else and deliver on the promise of exceptional service.

Robert Scaralia

Education Director

The Real Estate Institute of Rhode Island

 

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Avatar About the Author: The Rhode Island Small Business Journal is a printed monthly magazine and an online resource for the aspiring and start-up entrepreneur and small business owner.

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