Is it your first year working as a real estate agent?

The real estate industry is highly competitive. The Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO) estimates there are over 3 million actively licensed real estate agents currently active. 

It stands to reason. Real estate is big business. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports that 5.38 million housing units sold in 2018. 

The average price for one of these units is $272,000. Even at a very small commission, that's a sizable paycheck. It makes sense that people are looking to break into the industry. 

Breaking into the real estate industry is trickier than it sounds. Currently, around 20% of real estate agents have had their license for less than a year. That means you've got a lot of competition as a new real estate agent. A great percentage of them are more experienced than you are, as well. 

If you're new to selling real estate, we've compiled some tips to help you flourish in your first year as a real estate agent. 

Top Tips for Selling Real Estate in Your First Year

Let it start by stating the obvious. There's no such thing as a by-the-book real estate career. Every real estate agent's journey is going to be unique. 

We've all got our own unique backgrounds. We all have our particular strengths and shortcomings we need to work on. 

Think of these tips for selling real estate less as a recipe that needs to be followed to the letter and more like an inspiration board to guide your own unique journey. 

Treat It Like a Job

Flexibility is one of the things that makes selling real estate so appealing. It's also a popular second job or side hustle for people looking to break into a new career. 

If you're hoping to be successful in your first year as a real estate agent, however, you need to treat it like a job. In a way that makes sense for your personal career trajectory. 

If selling real estate is a secondary career, think about treating it like a second job. Perhaps you might schedule a certain amount of hours a week. Or you could dedicate particular days to cultivating your real estate career. 

If you're working in a real estate office or brokerage, it's a good idea to go into the office as often as you can, even if you don't have to. It's impossible to overstate the impact of shadowing more experienced real estate agents. 

Much of the knowledge and wisdom you get from real estate certification and degree programs is highly academic and abstract. It can be hard to know how to implement those insights into actual practice. 

More established real estate agents can give you pointers on everything from how to close a deal to training with the latest real estate software. These relationships can serve as a sort of unofficial mentorship and should not be overlooked. 

Manage Your Time

Even if you're working for a real estate brokerage, you're still largely self-employed. Like a freelancer at the bare minimum. More like a small business owner, with all the perks and pitfalls that come with it. 

Not everybody is experienced with entrepreneurship, however. All of the different roles and responsibilities can take some getting used to. It can be quite stressful and headache-inducing when you're still getting the hang of it! 

To be successful in your first year selling real estate, it's highly important to get focused on what your goals are. This will help you focus on the necessary steps to implement those goals. Some of these duties and responsibilities are unavoidable, as well, and need to be worked into your daily routine. 

You're going to need to be informed on the real estate market where you're working. You'll need to spend a certain amount of time, ideally every day, to study your local market. This expertise will come across to your potential clients and customers. 

You'll probably want to spend a certain amount of time during every session following up on potential leads as well as prospecting new customers. 

You should spend some portion of each week keeping your skills up to date, as well. Consider getting some additional certifications in common real estate software. This will help show potential clients and customers you're up-to-date in your industry and particular market. 

Hone your sales and marketing skills, as well. You're going to need them all. 

Master Social Media

Establishing a reputation is the name of the game in your first year selling real estate. Of course, you're likely to be working with limited resources when you're first starting out. You might not have the funds for extensive, elaborate marketing campaigns or for building a fancy website. 

That's one of the joys of social media. It's free to use. It lets you start building a reputation in your community right away and without a major investment. 

There are a lot of different social media networks out there. They all have their own rules of engagement. A good general rule of thumb for social media marketing is decide upon which networks you want to focus on and learn how to master them. 

For real estate, you might want to focus on Twitter and Instagram. Twitter is useful as it lets you share links and have more of a discussion with people in your community, which could turn into leads and potential new customers. 

Instagram is great for sharing high-quality photos and compelling visual content, on the other hand. It also tends to have some of the highest engagement rates of any of the social media networks. 

Spend some time learning the trending hashtag in your niche, as well. Don't just focus on obvious ones like #realestate or #housesforsale, either. One of the most useful aspects of social media marketing is its ability to hyper-focus on specific demographics. Don't overlook the potential for local marketing. 

Not only will browsing hashtags from your community give you ideas for how to market yourself, it'll also open you up to finding potential new customers. Make sure to not overlook the social aspect of social media, Leave comments, like people's posts, retweet content from other people in your community. 

This will help you foster goodwill in your community as well. It's a win-win for everybody! 

Master The Tools Of Your Trade

Technology may have made the real estate industry more competitive, but it also gives us the tools we need to help us compete. There are scores of excellent real estate software and technological solutions out there to help you thrive in your first year selling real estate. You'll need to know how to use at least some of them. 

A lot of real estate software is similar to customer relationship management (CRM) software. You'll want to have some familiarity with some form of CRM software, as you'll need it to schedule messaging, monitor sales campaigns, and analyze data from multiple sources. 

Other real estate software is more specialized. Some feature accounting software that automatically keeps track of tax information or sends out invoices and payment reminders. 

You'll likely want some form of listings software, as well. You'll want to keep an eye on properties that might be available in your community. While you might not get to sell them yourself, necessarily, it'll still help you have an idea of the real estate market in your vicinity. 

Some of these technological tools can be used to power your website, as well. You could have searchable listings like you'll find on Zillow or Padmapper. This can help attract potential customers to your website, as well, which should definitely be a part of your strategy when you're first starting out. 

Maintain Your Website

The importance of maintaining a website is obvious in 2019 but it can't be overstated. Customers are far less likely to do business with you if you don't have a dedicated website. Or even if your website's just not up to snuff. 

Think of your website as your business card for the 21st Century. It allows you to post all of the relevant business data, like your hours of operation, address, or contact info. 

Even more importantly, your website offers you the opportunity to promote and market your business in a variety of ways. For starters, you'd be highly advised to get into the habit of writing a blog. 

For one thing, Google highly prioritizes websites that feature a blog, as they're updated regularly. Secondly, it'll also help you get established as  a thought leader in your industry and community. 

Finally, having  a blog gives you content to share via your social media channels. It's an important, and powerful, part of a content marketing strategy. Which you should start thinking about, even when you're just first starting out 

Following these tips and guidelines will set you up for success as a real estate agent. Get in the habit of doing all of this now and it'll become automatic later in your career. It'll also help get you established in your community, which could yield great riches later on. 

Looking to Thrive in Your Real Estate Career?

We love helping real estate professionals thrive and homeowners find their dream home. Our real estate tech lets your showcase your listings in the best possible light, to make selling real estate as easy and efficient as possible. 

If you're ready to help your listings look their absolute best, request a demo of our virtual walkthrough software today!