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“Messy” could be the perfect word to describe a successful real estate broker in the 1980s. And one would take pride in being messy, for brokers worked with listings cut directly out of the newspaper and had all the available listings printed out and displayed on a wall. It was a sort of art. The printed listings would be filled with Post-its and would (mostly) be removed once the apartments were gone. The landline phone (extension included) was an agent’s best friend, and walk-in clients were widespread. For the most part, real estate agents (and their clients) have since evolved.
From ‘Early Bird Gets The Worm’ To ‘Work Smart And Hard’
Being the first agent at the office is not enough. Today, agents are expected to be good at marketing, networking, real estate and technology. Not having any one of these skills means falling behind.
Having all agents work from the office is now becoming a thing of the past, as customers often prefer calling agents directly on their cellphones, and many agents prefer to work from home. To add to this, brokerages nowadays tend to operate on slim margins and have significant bills to pay, so agents are sometimes encouraged to work from home and use the tools at their disposal.
But the flexibility of working from home comes at a price. Agents now have to take care of most of their marketing expenditure to get new clients and must step up their game when it comes to technology. Advertising platforms now include social media as well, making it harder for agents to figure out a strategy that makes financial sense for them.
To be a successful agent today, you need referrals, which means that it is more important than ever to end up with a happy customer who will be willing to tell their neighbors and family all about you. So as an agent, you want to get your clients an excellent apartment and create a pleasant, more holistic experience in their search for a place in the city.
Real Estate Is A Vocation, Not A Vacation
Learning that real estate has to be done full-time for an agent to succeed can be a harsh lesson. Have you ever asked yourself why brokerages don’t invest more in their agents’ education? The harsh truth has two words: agent turnover.
As the cofounder and CEO of a listings platform in which agents advertise rental apartments in New York, I can share with you that the most frequent reason for an agent deleting their account with us is because they’re no longer doing real estate. This fact is astounding to me. Agents who leave their companies or brokerages most often do so because they’ve simply moved on from real estate. Managers may not be willing to spend much on their agents’ education because, from a statistical standpoint, their probabilities of retaining an agent long enough for the training to pay off are very slim. Even worse, there’s always the possibility of investing in an agent’s education only to see them go work for a competitor a few days later.
Moving In The Right Direction
It was not so long ago that people didn’t require a license to be compensated for acting as a real estate agent. Today, there are tens of thousands of real estate salespersons in New York City alone. Yes, we moved one step forward by requiring special education to become an agent, but there’s still more to be done.
In the future, it would be interesting to see more requirements and commitment needed to become a real estate agent, so that customers can interact with fewer, more knowledgeable agents who are committed to finding them a place to call home. We’re moving slowly, but in the right direction.
Real estate agents will continue existing for a long time; their roles, however, are rapidly evolving into ones in which they’re expected to know their market, be tech-savvy and take risks. Missing any of these skills will pose a threat to their survival. The silver lining for those active agents who can acquire a healthy dose of each skill is that the industry will naturally filter out those who don’t add consumer value, leaving fewer but more capable real estate agents.