Real Estate Mistakes: Not Working On a Schedule
Real estate is tough, and it’s easy to make mistakes when you're starting out, or even if you have years of experience. One common mistake that new agents make is not coming up with a schedule. Just because you're not required to be at your job from nine to five, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be working from nine to five. You should be going into the office every single day. And you should start researching exactly what's happening in the market. You should be learning about the different styles of homes, prices of homes, absorption rates, etc. It's important for you to be knowledgeable about that.
Understanding these things and staying updated on this information will pay off. This way, if you're somebody who moves into a new area or you don't have a big sphere of influence you can utilize what's happening in the market. You should know what's happening in specific neighborhoods and what's happening in the market. Get familiar with what interest rates are like and communicate that information to your community.
Real Estate Mistakes: Not Using Video
One of the biggest real estate mistakes that you can make is not utilizing video in your marketing efforts. When I got into real estate I did really well my first year. I sold 69 houses. It was because I had a really big reason why I wanted to sell. I wanted to keep my kids safe in their house. The passion I had allowed me to push hard and see some success.
I did really, really well for a long time. Then when the foreclosure market exploded, I started selling a lot of foreclosures. But all of a sudden, the real estate market got better and all my foreclosures dried up. No one knew who I was. I had not marketed myself whatsoever. Then I quickly realized that I needed to be known in my area.
What I did was start creating video content. Anything that was happening in the area, I would be talking about. I'd be talking about things that were prolific. If something exciting was coming up, I’d talk about it. If there was a new neighborhood being built, I would tell people. I would interview other local professionals in the area and go to restaurants. I became what I call the community market leader of my area.
Become the Local Expert
I utilized video to market myself and expose myself to my community. They started to get to know me. That's what you want to do. And then within a year I was back to selling over 100 homes a year. All by using video. I made sure that anytime they thought about real estate or the community, my community thought about me. I used video to attract business. Then people reached out to me or I reached out to them, they felt like they knew me. What happens when you utilize video is people start to get to know you,see you as the authority. It shows that you're the expert. Even if you've never sold a house before, perception is reality.
Talk about real estate, the community, marketing, and what's happening. Give seller tips, buyer tips, and interview local restaurants or other business professionals. Establish yourself as a go-to trusted resource by using video and properly distributing it. When you do all of this, the perception is that you are doing business. So the biggest mistake that I made my first year was not doing video. Don't let that be you.
You Don’t Need Experience
Another one of the big real estate mistakes many new agents make is saying that they don’t know what to talk about or they don't have any experience. They let this keep them from creating content. Just remember, be the community market leader. Be that person that talks about anything and everything community related or real estate related. Create content about that.
Remember, in order for you to be considered a solution, you must be solving a problem. Make people’s lives easier, answer their questions. Think about what big goals people have. What do people want when it comes to real estate? They want to own a home. Help them put that vision in their head. Show them how it's possible. Get them closer to their dreams. You can do that, even if you’re new. So number one, start using video, understand what's happening in your local market.
Start to pick a community in your area and learn every single thing there is about that neighborhood. Learn about the school scores, the places to eat, the things to do, the types of homes, the styles and prices of homes. You become the expert in that neighborhood. Then create videos on that and put them on your website.
The next most important thing to do is work on search engine optimization with Google. Put those videos you’ve made on Youtube, because Google owns Youtube. This will allow you to show up when people are searching about your neighborhood or anything you’ve optimized it for.
Real Estate Mistakes: Not Knowing Your Market
Probably one of the most common mistakes real estate agents make is not learning enough about the market. You need to know the most current information and have answers to questions like: What's the average days on market? What's the absorption rate? How much is the average selling price? How much is the average list price?
Not only should you know the answers to these questions, but you should be able to tell people why these answers are what they are at the time. Why is neighborhood A selling for more than neighborhood B? What makes neighborhood A so desirable? Why is it that in a certain neighborhood, some homes are going to sell for a lower price point? Maybe it's because of the location. There could be a high traffic area. Maybe they don't have good sun exposure. Figure those kinds of things out and be the go-to trusted resource, it will blow up your business.
I’ve helped brand new agents do this. They start having people tell them things like “You're blowing up” or “I see you everywhere”. This is because perception is reality. It makes it seem like they're doing a lot of business because people are seeing them everywhere. If I knew about this when I first started real estate, I can't even imagine how much easier business would be. I know you're being told to do things like cold calling, and door knocking, and open houses, but those things just don't work anymore like they used to. Yes, it can work, but it's not the most effective, efficient use of your time. I want to show you how to market one to many and not just one to one.
The second that you stop doing an open house, cold calling or door-knocking, all your business stops. However, when you market using video that lives online, people can binge watch you. And at the same time, they're developing a relationship with you. People are much more likely to want to work with someone they have a relationship with. This will allow you to convert much easier than your competitors.
Succeed in Real Estate
In order to avoid making all of these common real estate mistakes, prioritize doing the things that work. Go to work every day, stick to a schedule, show up. Master your market, understand what's happening in the market. Give people updates on what's happening in certain neighborhoods, master a certain neighborhood, learn anything and everything that you can about it. Utilize video content and properly distribute that video out there to the masses that you can get seen as the go-to expert.
