Is It Hard To Be Successful As A Realtor?

Being a real estate agent is a tough job, that’s a fact! While it may not be easy every day, there are ways to make it through your career with a positive attitude.

As a realtor you will need to deal with lots of different people at all stages in their property ownership journey. Some buyers will feel overwhelmed by the number of properties they have to choose from while others can’t wait to start looking for theirs.

On top of this, most homeowners want to sell fast so they can find another house or move into somewhere new. This doesn’t go well if they take too long to pick up the phone to talk about their home.

Real estate agents must also be good at presenting themselves professionally so potential customers believe they are worth buying from. If they don’t, then chances are they won’t get far!

There is a way to stay motivated when working as a real estate agent though, which is to focus on what you are passionate about.

This could be marketing a specific area or type of homes, finding the perfect home for someone, negotiating, helping them to buy or sell, etc.

Organizational challenges

 

Being a real estate agent is not for the faint of heart, nor are there many professional organizations that cater to agents. There are no college courses that teach you how to be an effective realtor, only ways to be successful at it.

In fact, some would say that being a good real estate agent is more about who you know than anything else.

By this logic, if you’re not in the know of lots of people, then you shouldn’t try to become a real estate agent!

Another argument against having formal education as a prerequisite to launching into the career path of becoming a real estate agent is that anyone can pick up the phone and call themselves an agent.

But what happens once they put their name on the door and take their license? Unfortunately, very few succeed beyond the initial stages.

It takes years to learn all of the ins and outs of the profession, and even longer to establish yourself within your community.

Marketing challenges

As a real estate agent, your success depends heavily upon how well you market yourself and your property. With the ever-growing amount of listings in any given area, it is very difficult for agents that are not marketing their properties constantly to be seen by potential clients.

As a seller’s agent, you will need to make sure that your own house is marketed effectively, but even more important, you must find ways to get people who are looking for a home to come into contact with your client’s houses!

If you’re struggling to keep up with all of the tasks that go along with being a successful realtor, there are some things that you can do to save time and effort while still producing quality results. Here we’ll talk about five easy tips to improve your re-marketing efforts and launch into some cost effective strategies.

Financial challenges

Being a real estate agent is not easy, nor does it make for a stable income. There are expenses that need to be paid monthly, if not yearly, including your broker fee, advertising, website fees, professional licensing costs, mortgage or property loans, and more!

Realtors go through financial hardships every day due to the nature of their job. A lot of things have an indirect cost, like paying off debt or giving away rewards so that you can purchase a new house.

It’s important to remember that although being a realtor may seem very expensive at times, what most agents really earn per hour is in the low single digits. The rest goes towards overhead and marketing materials, etc.

Given all this, it is normal to experience a small savings account at times. I know I have been close to broke many months before my next paycheck comes around.

Social challenges

As mentioned before, being a real estate agent is not for someone who does not like socializing or has a limited range of people they feel comfortable around. You will be meeting lots of new people constantly, which can sometimes be difficult.

Having conversations with different people every day can get tiring if you are not used to it. This is especially true when some people may not agree with your decisions or strategies and could become angry or offended by them.

Realtors must be able to put up with constant criticism and arguments about properties and sellers and how to handle them. If you cannot, then this is probably not the career path for you.

On top of that, most realtors have to deal with clients all the time, so having no personal boundaries and nothing off limits makes for an uncomfortable work environment.

Creative challenges

As a real estate agent, your success depends largely upon your ability to connect with people. You will have to be able to communicate about selling houses or buying ones that others don’t seem to want to buy or sell.

You will also need to be good at talking with potential buyers and sellers who may not necessarily feel like they are connected with you.

In addition to verbal communication, creative expression is an integral part of being successful in the real estate industry. Real estate agents must be able to design homes for clients, put together effective marketing strategies, and use graphic design to convey messages.

It can get tiring trying to convince someone to make their house saleable by changing something about it- but without those changes, no one would hire you to do anything!

Real estate agents must be very organized so they can keep track of all of their projects and tasks. While some people are naturally organized, most aren’t. Becoming organized early on will help you succeed.

Reputation challenges

As mentioned before, being a real estate agent is an expensive career! There are lots of things you will need to pay for like professional licenses, insurance, marketing materials and advertising, and more. All of these costs add up quickly so it is important to know what types of agents there are in the market and if they are successful.

If you want to be a residential or commercial realtor, you must have at least one of each license (listing brokers, salespersons, and/or general agents). The number of licenses needed depends on which type of property you wish to represent and who your clients will be. For example, someone wanting to sell a home that does not require a listing broker’s license can only work for people their own licensed representative works for- otherwise, they could start working and potentially stealing business from the other agent!

Another thing most agents spend money on is advertising. Creating a website domain name, picking a social media account, buying ads, and developing strategies for getting new listings and customers are all very expensive. A lot of agents begin spending large sums of money right away, but some never find the budget to stay ahead of trends.

With technology moving faster than ever, it is easy to get overwhelmed. Starting off with no equipment or resources can hinder your success as a realtor. Many companies offer tools such as computer software, smartphone apps, and online platforms to help promote your business.

Location challenges

As mentioned earlier, being a real estate agent is not easy! Luckily, it’s also not necessary difficult unless you make it that way. You don’t have to be surrounded by people all day long, and you can always find someone else to help you close a sale.

But becoming successful takes time and effort. And there are lots of things that can get in your way along the way.

Location is one of the biggest hurdles that most agents face. Finding appropriate housing for their clients or themselves requires them to visit many houses frequently. This means they need a place to live while all this house hunting is going on!

And even after finding an apartment or home they like, they must negotiate with other sellers on price and conditions before buying or renting from them. Both of these tasks take time so those who cannot afford a full-time residence may struggle to stay afloat financially.

There is a solution to this problem, however. By investing in a mobile office or work space, you can keep yourself productive and on track towards success.

Price challenges

As mentioned earlier, pricing is one of the most important factors in determining your real estate agent’s success. Pricing can be quite difficult when you are trying to get clients or sell your own home.

As experienced sellers, they have a built-up cache of potential buyers that they draw from so it’s harder for them to lower their price. For new agents who don’t have many referrals, finding people who will pay their asking price is even more challenging!

If you are struggling to bring down your list price, there are some strategies that you can use. You can either go up on the market or try lowering your cost per square foot. The trick is knowing which ones work and which ones might backfire.

It’s always better to underprice than overprice a property so our best advice is to evaluate how much competition you have by looking at the number of listings on the MLS and whether or not those properties sold quickly. If they didn’t then chances are yours probably won’t move any faster than that!

Price isn’t the only challenge that agents face though, marketing is just as tough. Finding the right mix of methods depending on what stage of the sale process you’re at can make a big difference in how successful you become.