In Tough Times, Highly Motivated Realtors Survive and Thrive

When I became a Real Estate Agent almost two years ago, I was constantly being told that many real estate agents will NEVER make it thru their first two years.  As I found myself attending Real Estate University, I was wondering "how" I was going to ever retain all the information that was coming at me day in and day out.  I will never forget our Regional Director who is an amazing realtor, telling me it was like "taking small bites from an elephant"  Well, that elephant was HUDGE!!!  Lots of advice from all different directions was coming at me on a daily basis and I must admit, I felt doomed to fail.  

Every day, I got dressed and went into the office.  My Broker actually gave me an office.  The first time in my life, I ever had my own office.  I was so proud and me being me, my first job was to decorate it.  I listened to all the successful realtors in my office share their success stories and I was in AWE of everyone.  How long did it take them to learn all those contracts and do all that math in their head?  In the beginning, I was left to rely on my soft skills which included my people skills, my self-motivation as well as being a pretty good mediator and I knew how to think on my feet.  How far were those skills going to take me? 

I knew I had to market myself.  That seemed like a pretty daunting task until one rainy day while sitting in my office, I began to look at some of the qualities that I valued most in myself, and having a good heart and wanting to help others was top of the list, but how does having a good heart in this highly competitive field help sell real estate?  By the end of the day, I had decided to take my chances and become "An Agent With Heart", and that quickly took off as I began doing weekly videos and while these videos were real estate oriented, I always talked about women and heart disease as well as developing a healthy lifestyle.  I began to feel some confidence.  That first year, I only had two sales but those two sales taught me so much.  These two sales came from taking floor time, one was a single mother with four children who was tired of renting.  I immediately was taken with her and her family as that was me and my story 50 years ago.  I was able to get them into a brand new home and be present to see their new life begin.  Next was a retired gentleman and his wife who wanted to purchase a manufactured home.  I knew NOTHING about selling manufactured.  He was in another State and I visited every park that we were permitted to sell.  To clarify, as a realtor, we are not allowed to sell on rented land.  I put so many miles on my car, took pictures, sent emails, and narrowed down to about ten homes before he and his wife came for a visit in March.  Sam was my assistant then so he drove and I showed property.  To my surprise, I sold my first manufactured home and met a potential customer along the way.  I was learning a very valuable lesson that has since served me well.  RELATIONSHIPS OVER TRANSACTIONS.  So that is how this Agent With Heart spent her first year as a realtor, two sales and two failed listing appointments due to lack of experience.  I certainly didn't set the world on fire but giving up never entered my mind.  The end of the year also gave me a solid partner as Sam got his real estate license and I knew we could become a force to reckon with.

2020 started out amazing, we shared the first sale of the new year on January 1st with another realtor in our office.  Next came two listings and one more sale. COVID 19 then decided to rear its ugly head.  Thank goodness we were already used to virtual tours as the home we sold the first of the year was done virtually.  We learned to be flexible and bend with the changing times. I made daily calls to for sale by owners and expired listings.  I could see the market was changing but I was changing as well and determined to protect my business that had started to grow.  I continued to educate myself during this time on skills I lacked.  One of those skills was learning to write a good description of a listed property. I still kept hearing, "If you don't list, You won't last."  I don't believe that is necessarily true, as working with buyers was giving me confidence.  Now, I am developing diversified skill sets and am comfortable with both.  Remember one bite at a time out of the elephant.  Sam and I take floor time whenever we can, we continue to make calls and focus on our social media presence. The pandemic has not hurt us as we continue to grow with two more listings.  One sold in less than 24 hours, (good creative writing as well as beautiful pictures) and the other a little longer but just sold yesterday and we have a buyer closing on another home in two weeks, plus yesterday, a new walk-in from floor time. Sam has become the Lot King with what started as one customer, and from that one customer, he has had four referrals for a total of sixteen lots that he has sold.  Perseverance, as well as dedication, has served us well during this pandemic.  These "Agents With Heart" have mastered the 5 skills that every real estate agent needs to have to be successful.  Those skills are  Knowledge, Professionalism, Kindness, Responsiveness, and Helpfulness.  We are about to celebrate those two years that many don't make.  Need a Realtor, Call your 'AGENTS WITH HEART"