Are you getting your real estate license and interested in becoming a great agent?  Our brokerage is in League City which is about 30 minutes southeast from Houston.  We are always looking to create more success for our agents and many times there are either misconceptions or a lack of knowledge on how to get the ball rolling properly to become a great agent for your clients.  Here are a few tips to ensuring success and longevity as a real estate agent that will allow you to serve your clients better:

Take the time to find the right brokerage for YOU.

A quick online search shows there are over twenty five thousand Realtors in the Houston market.  Granted, many of them are not very active but that’s still a lot of people no matter how you cut it.  In economic terms, the barrier to entry into the profession is low, meaning it’s not terribly difficult to get a license.  With that many Realtors in the market, there are so many different types of brokerages to choose from and they are not created equally.  Spend the time to make sure that the brokerage you are joining is the right fit for you in terms of personality/vibe, support, location, fees, and teams versus lone wolf agents.

a) Personality and Vibe – Do you feel comfortable with the tempo of the office and how do you feel about your coworkers? When you are not with clients, you will be spending the majority of your time around your broker and fellow agents.  There are plenty of brokerage options out where you don’t have to feel trapped in a toxic work environment.  Your broker helps to set the tone for the office vibe by bringing on agents that are a good match with work ethic, ethics, and personality matching.  If you’re surrounded by too many “Negative Nancy” types, seek greener pastures.

b) Support – Are you getting the right amount of hand-holding and coaching for your experience level?  If you are light on experience, a good mentor in the office can make or break you and you should also ensure that the leadership has a friendly and supportive attitude, i.e. they are happy to help and engaged in your success.

c) Location – When you join an office, you want to make sure that they are reasonably close to you to cut down on commute.  Houston is spread out geographically and a long commute can be a drag on both your happiness and productivity.

d) Fees – Beyond the HAR and TREC fees that all Realtors pay to keep their license active and compliant, I’m referring to the different types of fees that vary and are broker-specific like 1) Training Fees and 2) “Desk” Fees you will owe the broker for your office space.  These fees vary wildly between brokerages and you want to know what charges you’re going to get hit with before you ever earn your first dollar in commissions and there can be recurring fees that you may be responsible every single month whether you’re a producing agent or not.  You’ll want to compare those fees on every brokerage you look at joining.  If you’re being charged an arm and a leg up front for training and desk fees, how likely is it that your broker cares whether you’re successful or not when they’ve already collected a lot of money off of you?  If you’re just getting your license, that may be the most important paragraph you’ll ever read.  Take note!

e) Teams Versus the Lone Wolf Agent – Many agents enjoy the collaborative approach to working within teams.  You receive more assistance with the deals you’re working on and can also enjoy not having to feel like you’re trying to figure out everything on your own.  A real estate agent is a small business owner and responsible for accounting, compliance, fiduciary responsibility to clients, transaction coordination, supplies, marketing, lead generation, and on and on.  It is easier to be a part of a team that can assist you with the different aspects of the transactions and business instead of being overwhelmed and feeling responsible for everything.  As the old saying goes, “Many hands make light work.”  The lone wolf real estate agent will generally not be prepared for all the different types of skills required for the business that a team can fulfill much more easily and the lone wolf will usually fail and quit because of that which explains why the majority of real estate agents in any market do not last more than 3 years on average!

If you take the time to assess these items on the front-end before you join a brokerage, it can help increase your probability of success dramatically.   If I can help make an introduction for you to interview our outstanding real estate team, give us a call!

713-965-4561 Tim LaBorde

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Directed Realty

• Office: (281) 962-4082
• Call/Text: (832) 559-0527
• joe@directedrealty.com
• 2526 Harlequin Ct League City, TX 77573