How do I start a career in Real Estate?

A lot of people want to know, “How do I get into real estate?” Well, firstly, you’ve got to work out if it is for you, because it’s like any career, it’s not for everyone. Not everyone’s going to be a good tradesperson, or a ballet dancer, or a musician, or a plumber, or whatever. So, to get into real estate, it is a long-term thing. It’s not a short-term job.

Your rewards do come after time. One of the first things to determine about if this is for you is to get some sales experience, because it’s a sales career rather than a property career. So, retail sales, door-to-door sales, or even sales experience in a call centre or phone-calling people will help you get a feel for what it is that you’re looking to get in to.

To get ready for a career in real estate, the only formal qualifications you need is a certificate of registration. To get that, you can do this in training rooms with a independent company, or you can even do it online within a couple of weeks. This will put you in a good position to be attractive to a potential employer because it does say that you are putting in the time and you are showing some commitment to the career.

It also means that you are ready to start. There’s never been more information available to people in the history of humankind online, through podcasts, webcasts, webinars, books, e-books, and the like. You can look at TED Talks, anything. So I’d be looking at sales-oriented material that you can get onto. I’d be talking to agents that you see as successful, and asking what are the best resources you can look at?

Because you can learn so much just in your own home about what’s required to be successful in this career. Get experience wherever you can. This will be one of the top things that obviously will get you in, is getting in. So, even if you have to take a position for anything from reception, dropping leaflets, making callbacks, dropping flyers, property management, anything in this career pretty much is going to give you some experience, and is also going to show a perspective employer that you’re keen and you’re committing to getting into the industry.

One of the biggest parts of a real estate career, and a sales career for that matter, is empathy with your clients. So, can you walk in their shoes? Any experience you’ve had during your life will add to your skills in the real estate sales career, such as purchasing property, renting property, renovating, going through council.

Any of those things will help you along the way. Also, life experiences, travel, family experiences, family breakups, readjustments, these are all part and parcel of the industry. So those things will add to your attraction to your clients, and, therefore, empathy, and your success in the career, also. In real estate, it’s about connecting with lots of people.

You need new customers all the time. That involves talking to lots of people. It also involves now connecting with people through social media, which you get a lot of leverage in connecting with people. You also got to offer them value. So it’s not just mindless connection, it’s often giving them some value when you’re talking to them, and staying in touch.

The more people that know you well, the better you will do.