Here’s why I think it’s better to start your career during hard times.
Is it better to start your career as a real estate agent in a hot market or a down market? Right now, the market is exceptional; deals are fast and furious, and it’s almost as if clients fall into our laps. A lot of people are getting into real estate because they think it’s easy money, but an old saying comes to mind: Even a turkey can fly in a windstorm.
This great market makes it hard for good agents to separate themselves from the pack. Any “turkey” can sell a home right now, and we seldom get the chance to show our negotiating prowess when the market demands offers over list price with no conditions. In a much more challenging market, there’s room to display your skill and attract clients.
As the saying goes: Good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times. On the other side of this boom, there are going to be hard times. We’re allowing the market to initiate contact, and our skills are drifting because deals are coming in like layups. Folks who’ve never been through a market shift are in for hard times.
I welcome the market shift; I feel like I’m built for it. We created our company during the middle of the financial crisis, and it forced us to get good at our craft. We had to learn how to handle foreclosures, know how to bargain hunt for investors, and get creative with different solutions for clients. Buyers expected a deal, so we had to become amazing negotiators. Selling a home wasn’t as simple as putting it on the MLS, so we had to become amazing marketers.
During that time, we created the procedure and digital footprint for our brokerage that has allowed us to grow exponentially once the market heated up. If you ask me, the time to start your career is when times are hard. You’ll be much better equipped to handle the good market when it comes around.
If you start as an agent today, you don’t have enough of a digital footprint to attract sellers, so you’ll probably be working with buyers. We all know how exhausting it can be to work with buyers: writing 10 offers to get one to stick, keeping up with our insane market, and having to encourage clients to spend $100,000 more than listing price.
The good news is that we are going to quickly find ourselves in a shifted market, and there are some fundamental changes you’ll need to make as an agent to succeed. Whether you’re a new agent or not, we’ve all developed bad habits over these last few years. It’s time to sharpen our saws and get back to basics so that we can continue to dominate when the market shifts.
I invite you to join us on our webinar where we’ll return to basics so you can handle this shift. You can register at this link. If you have any questions, feel free to call me. I’d love to hear from you.
