What Does Your Future Look Like?

Even though our local unemployment rate stands at least a point and a half below the national rate of 8.5 percent, you may be among those wondering if the career path you’ve chosen is the right one. Or perhaps you’re preparing to graduate soon and don’t see the prospects you’d hoped for your new career. If you’re questioning the direction you’re headed and have thoughts of a future in real estate…let’s talk.

Perhaps a career where you’re the boss, responsible only to and for yourself, making your own hours, earning an unlimited income with a modest investment and a clear absence of the petty politics of business sounds good to you. Sounds good to me, too, and if you find that, let me know. But that’s not real estate.

Real estate is a good and respectable profession, but I’m afraid that these unfounded myths lead many people to disappointment. To avoid that outcome, let’s start with the facts. First, real estate is the only profession I can think of in which the earnings potential is so great compared to the preparation time required. Six figure incomes aren’t unusual for the successful realtor, but that level of achievement is realized by only about 10 percent of those involved. Others can make a respectable living, but no level of success comes without a high degree of effort.

One of the truths about our business is that very little is required for entrance into the profession. One needs only to attend two qualified courses that have been approved by the State Real Estate Commission, and upon completion of these courses is qualified to sit for the state examination. Once successful, a person can begin a real estate career.

It does seem to counter logic that you should have such tremendous earning potential and responsibility with so little formal training; particularly as the environment in which we operate gets increasingly complex. Complications resulting from new mortgage regulations, inspection and title concerns, as well as agency obligations have made the world we work in light years away from 20 years ago. However, the requirements for entrance into the profession are exactly what they were then.

In any event, once you’ve met the requirements and passed the test, you’re in. But will you succeed? As a general rule, probably not. That seems harsh, but statistics bear me out: 50 percent of those who enter the business today will be gone before their first anniversary, and an additional 30 percent of those starting today will be gone in three years. These are discouraging numbers, sure, but are also understandable when you consider that most people get into the business expecting it to be easy.

The reality is that those who recruit you into the business often fail to give you all the material facts. There is an investment on your part and the expenses involved come regularly and continuously, and in the beginning, with greater frequency than your paychecks. Eventually it changes for the better, but you need to be prepared for it up front.

So who will make it? After 42 years, I still can’t tell you with absolute certainty. I’ve had recruits that seemed to be a sure thing come crashing down like a piece of space junk and others who I found very suspect take off like a shot. You have to want it!

I’ve seen natural-born salesmen fail, and others who were so analytical that you would think they would drive their clients crazy succeed in a large way. Why? Perhaps it’s because real estate sales is a misnomer. We don’t really sell you anything—successful real estate associates are great listeners; they hear what you say about what you want and then they go out and find it for you. Think about it—if you are about to spend $400,000 for a home, do you suppose that there are any mystical sales techniques that I can employ that would cause you to buy what you don’t want?

If sales techniques are required at all, it would be at the point of listing. Homeowners, when interviewing agents for the job of marketing their homes, have thousands of choices. So in my interview, I need to be selling myself. What is it that I will do to successfully market your home?

The question that remains, then, is how does one succeed? The answer is hard work, sacrifice, good luck (and by that I mean hard work) and the help of a serious network of friends, family and bird dogs who are all willing to remember that you are in the real estate business. It is serious; it is NOT your hobby and their help can make the difference between your failure and success. So jump in if you think you’ve got it. I’ll be glad to meet you.

Gary Straub, real estate professional for over 40 years and member of the Northwood Realty management team