Congratulations! You just passed your real estate exam and got your license…But now what?
I mean, the U.S alone has 3 million active real estate licensees. How can you penetrate THIS saturated market and make a mark?
The license ensures you know what you need to know to be a sales agent. But a real estate agent is much more than that. From marketing to networking, and from building your brand to using technology for your benefit, a successful real estate agent practically needs to do much more than anticipated.
As a real estate agent, having fought my fair share of field battles, I am here to save you the stress. Here, I have compiled the ultimate checklist that every new licensee needs to go through once to answer the ultimate question: what to do after getting a real estate license. Let’s get started:
Why Do I Need a Real Estate License to Start My Career?
Before we divulge into the topic, you may find yourself thinking about whether getting a license is even worth your time and money or not. I understand that you can start without a license, but you get to make more money and find better deals using your license.
As a licensed real estate agent, you gain access to Multiple Listing Service (MLS), which lets you get a detailed database on your computer system. Furthermore, networking becomes easier, as obtaining a license opens doors for you to align with real estate brokers and experienced agents.
Thirdly, and most importantly, you take control of all your deals, and obtaining a license allows you to work directly with closing lawyers, appraisers, and lenders. So now that we know that getting a license is super beneficial for your career, let’s get to the checklist:
Top 7 To Do AFTER You Get Your Real Estate License
Building a real estate career is no cakewalk. Real estate professionals need to go through extensive grilling before they can actually make a name for themselves. So, have you gotten your license? Get this checklist done too!
Educate Yourself
Learning must go on, even after real estate school. Once you have received your license, dive into the world of learning and try to expand your knowledge regarding the latest tools and techniques in the real estate industry. This includes signing up for online programs, attending brokerage training, finding youtube mentors, and reading relevant books. Developing this habit early on will allow you to mix with industry seniors and gain wisdom from them.
Create a Business Plan
Before diving into it all, you must create a business plan for yourself that includes a budget, strategy, and projects. As a licensed real estate agent, planning upfront is extremely important so you can have an idea of your milestones and what you can expect to achieve in the span of the first 6 months or so. It is extremely important. You also need to have metrics to track your progress and understand if you are moving in the right direction or not.
Find a Mentor
Another important thing on what to do while waiting for a real estate license is to try and find a great mentor. The problem in real estate is that you get very little guidance after receiving your license. But by working with an experienced mentor, you can get situation-specific advice and avoid potential challenges before they become more problematic.
Attend Conferences and Networking Events
Networking is crucial for the growth of your real estate career. So try and constantly stay active by attending as many conferences and networking events as possible. You get a chance to foster new relationships here and learn a lot from the seniors, contributing to expanding your knowledge base.
Foster Personal Relationships with Your Clientele
For you to build a reputable name in the real estate industry, you need to build on trust and relationships. Therefore, it is always a good idea to connect with your leads and customers regularly, check in on social media, send small gifts, and overall add a personal touch to the communication.
Not only does this build trust and make them want to work with you, but they will also refer others to you.
Develop Your Brand
In this game of buyer and sellers, brokers and realtors, residential and commercial properties – you need to start off by focusing on your brand. Consider how you want to represent yourself in the market and build from there.
To start with, you need to invest in a copywriter and logo designer who can express your brand idea in the way best understandable to your target audience. Afterward, look into setting up your online presence and creating your social media profiles. Social media is, in fact, one of your most valuable lead generation channels (with over 3.6 billion active users), so don’t miss this opportunity.
Further, look into getting your business cards made that you can exchange during in-person meetings. Lastly, and most importantly, get your website developed.
Invest in a Reliable CRM
As a real estate agent in this tech-centric era, you need to invest in a reliable CRM that can be used to help manage all communications with both potential clients and leads. With a powerful CRM, like Kazi, you can expect better segmentation, optimized customer retention, and overall streamlined communications. Not only this, a trustworthy CRM provides you with simplified collaboration, top-notch reporting, improved messaging, and efficiency.
So make sure you are creating a real estate website that is CRM-powered.
Final Words
Every new agent asks themselves, “what to do after getting a real estate license?” This article answers it! From developing a real estate website to continuing education and from getting your business cards made to joining the national association of realtors, we have talked about it all!
So as soon as you receive your license, go through this article, and let us know what you think!