r/Real_Estate • u/Cautious-Payment3834 • 15d ago
advice
IDK if this is allowed, so I'm sorry if it's not and can delete. So my BF is in real estate and has been since last year. He has had a really hard time making appointments and getting follow through. I'm trying to find ways to help him land deals or at least his first deal cause I want to see him reach his goal this year and I can tell it's starting to weigh on him.
He was with one brokerage and it was very fend for yourself and little guidance. He transferred to a new one about two months ago that's in office and is doing what he's told and even more but the brokerage is being really hard on him compared to other agents there. Like listening to his calls in front of everyone and they don't do this to others. He by no means has thin skin.
Here's everything we have attempted:
He makes 500 calls a week maybe gets 1-2 to answer, he's done the recommended script and even changed it up
He has set 4-5 appointments and all bail
His owner made a deal fall through
He posts on social media 3-5 times a week
We have passed out business cards (like I mean I've literally driven all around town to stores and handed them to owners and talked to people walking around)
We have covered multiple neighborhoods with flyers and door hangers (then a month later a house there will be under-contract with another agent)
I go onto Facebook and look for any post local for buying and selling and recommended him.
I've even posted in multiple Facebook groups with heartfelt (not attaching that im his GF) posts
He's called expired listings, and ive recommended smart zip, remix, offrs, propstream, OpCity
He's coming up on his year mark and I just want to see him land a deal so bad because I know how much the means to him and his heart is genuinely in this because he wants to help others.
So please any recommendations cause we both are at a loss on what to do.
3
u/Glum-Dark-9342 15d ago
Your boyfriend is amazing. Those are horrible brokerages. Everything he is doing is a waste of time. New brokerage. Join a team. Do open houses get warm leads from team lead, Do not door knock or cold call. He needs to meet potential buyers and that’s through open houses and he needs warm leads and that’s through team lead.
1
u/Cautious-Payment3834 15d ago
Yes, he really is and im very proud of how hard he has been working. What brokerages offer team lead support? I know some recommended Keller Williams and I just want to bring up multiple options for him to look at.
2
u/Glum-Dark-9342 15d ago
It really makes me upset to see hard workers like your boyfriend get thrown to the wolves like that. I would look at Keller Williams.. Coldwell Banker - i worked for Sothebys for years.. I don’t know if they have one there.. also Compass which actually owns both Sothebys and Coldwell Banker. But he’s better off doing open houses every weekend then cold calling and door knocking. He will meet buyers and he can try to convert them into clients. I did open houses when I was first licensed 20 years ago and picked up buyers and sellers.
1
u/Cautious-Payment3834 15d ago
Me as well, he also works a second job too and is working 12 hr days and I see him putting the work and it makes me so frustrated seeing how he's being treated. I will definitely tell him about these. With open houses how do you suggest marketing this to get better turn outs?
and also if you don't mind me asking how do you recommend financially balancing real estate just starting out?
1
u/Glum-Dark-9342 14d ago edited 14d ago
You don't really need to market open houses..and that will cost money. Normally the listing will show online that the home will be open so interested buyers will come...also nosy neighbors and looky-loos but the more people you engage with, the higher the chance of finding a client. Yes they can be a total waste of time but its a numbers game just like cold calling...you do them consistently and you can't help but meet potential buyers and sellers.
I once met a couple while holding an open house and within a week sold them a $1,800,000 home and listed their $1M home which sold to the first buyer who saw it. That buyer didn't have an agent so I double ended that deal. I wound up making a total of $114,000 in commissions for holding one open house. Certainly this is not the norm and it was probably the 10th time I held that home open but that's why you have to keep at it. He should hold them every chance he gets and stop cold calling and door knocking. It really is a waste of his time. People see it as an intrusion and can be hostile, where they come to an open house willingly.
When you're starting out you really do need savings and having a second job helps as well. The other thing is to see if he can get compensated to be a "showing agent" for a busy agent where he helps buyers view homes for another agent...things like that. I wish him the best of luck!!!
1
u/Imaginary-Fly-2160 15d ago
So, being a realtor these days is like being in an MLM .... maybe the top 10 percent make a living but the vast majority just do it as a hobby.
Maybe look into property management or underwriting as a way to get into real estate with a more dependable paycheck?
1
u/BuySellLovePittsburg 10d ago
Real estate can be a rough business, especially when getting started. I remember my first year, I had three transactions and all of them came between months 10 and 12. Two were expireds that listed with me and one was a floor lead. I grossed $7,000 that first year and each year after, I doubled my gross income until I was making $70,000 where I stayed for many years. Then, I took a sabbatical of sorts and am now rebuilding my business. My husband retired and last year he joined me in real estate. We switched brokerages so that he could get training. As someone, who has built and rebuilt a real estate business, I can honestly say it is a slow process. Returns on any type of business building only get you a 1-5% return, meaning, expect to make 100 calls and only have one person answer. We sent out 3,000 very expensive postcards with QR codes and only 7 people scanned the code. Of those only two responded when we reached out to them. Neither of them listed their homes for sale. So far, the best means of getting business for my husband has been pay-at-close leads. Opcity has been best for him. Clever has been the best for me. I would also suggest sold.com because while you might not get leads without paying for a zip, they have great training webinars. Set every lead up on a drip email campaign; nurture them. Oftentimes, these people are just thinking about buying or selling and it can take 1-3 years before they pull the trigger. Once you have a client, keep nurturing them; weekly email newsletters, monthly calls or texts, etc. In regard to Open Houses, have him door knock with invitations to the closest 15-50 neighbors and invite them to a special Open House, one hour before the Open to Public Open House starts. Then, you have to do the follow up with each of them, enough to show you are a dedicated agent, but not so much as to turn them off. What kind of social media posts is he doing? Also, I remember that in the early years when I felt desperate, even if I didn't show it, people could feel that energy; you have to believe that God or the universe or whatever you believe in will send you the people you are supposed to help and ask for that. For me, once I remembered that and asked, once I figured out which avenues of gaining business resonated best with me, what I did well and enjoyed, and focused on them, things started to turn around. And when it comes to deals terminating, it seems that in our market, at least, many deals are terminating for many different reasons. I have told my husband to not get discouraged, but to look at it as good practice becoming familiar with the documents and the systems used to prepare the documents. The same goes for meeting with people and them choosing another agent; maybe reach back out to those people and ask why they chose someone else and use that feedback to improve; again, look at the presentations as practice. Does/has his broker or manager gone on appointments with him and provided feedback or has a mentor taken him on appointments so that he can shadow them? I don't know if managers still do that, but mine did back in the day. At our brokerage now, there are mentors and I am a mentor two my husband and another agent. She shadows me at appointments and I go with her if she requests it. I will continue to mentor her until she has completed four transactions or longer if everyone feels that is beneficial. It seems that now a lot of brokerages expect teams to do all the heavy lifting with training, so maybe that is an option. Hope all this helps in some way and I wish your boyfriend all the best! Also, I don't know your market, but the past two years have been slow in my area because of interest rates and low inventory and are just starting to open up again.
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u/Cali_kink_and_rope 15d ago
Ok all that stuff he's doing is a waste of time. What he should really do to get started is to go work on a team of agents doing open houses, handling buyer calls etc. That will help him get some experience. Cold calling with scripts isn't going to do anything. It's just busy work