Becoming a licensed real estate agent and starting your career in the real estate industry is indeed a big start to your success. However, most real estate agents tend to make a few missteps in the initial years. This is normal and happens with all new agents and at times, even experienced real estate professionals end up making a few mistakes.
There are only two ways to prevent mistakes. If you keep learning from your mistakes and you always are aware of the possible ones, then you should be able to take steps to avoid those as well. In this article, we have gathered a few common blunders that most new real estate agents tend to make due to the lack of experience and understanding of the ground reality of the real estate business.
Common Mistakes New Real Estate Agents Make
Setting The Wrong Price
One of the common mistakes that a lot of new real estate agents tend to make is setting the wrong price for the house they are selling. Most agents tend to do thorough research and comparative analysis of the properties sold in the neighborhood. The value of the house they are selling and all other essential factors including the opinion of the sellers. Despite all this due diligence, in the initial stages of the real estate career, a new real estate agent may get swayed by the demand of the homeowner to put a higher listing price. This can prove to be a disaster as there are high chances that the house may remain unsold simply because of miss-pricing the house.
Being Inattentive Towards The Real Estate Market
Another common mistake that newer agents tend to make is not keeping a close eye on the real estate market. The real estate market does not exist in a vacuum. It is constantly being influenced by the pull and push of the external financial forces. Apart from these, any changes in the housing laws and regulations, as well as alterations to the tax structure, will also affect the final value of a house immensely. An agent should not be eager to proceed with the listing as soon as they land it. Sometimes you can help sell the house at a much higher price if the homeowners agree to wait for a few months for a more favorable market condition. Similarly, even the tax expenses can be reduced by getting the time of the sale right.
Poor Lead Management
A mistake that can happen even to experienced real estate agents and certainly happens to newer agents fairly frequently is not managing your leads properly. You might be on top of all your leads while you are starting and you have fewer clients to deal with. However, as your client volume increases, it at times becomes challenging to handle them all satisfactorily. A lot of good leads are lost due to poor customer relationship management. Remember, all clients are going to talk to multiple real estate agents. If you want to land the commission, then you must be able to focus on all equally.
Mistakes New Real Estate Agents Make While Communicating With Clients
Not Educating The Clients
As an agent, you must try and keep your client informed about all of the developments regarding their property. Most clients tend to be dissatisfied with agents because they are not providing adequate information. Other reasons are because they not being clear about the need for certain steps or feel that their concerns are not being heard.
Mistakenly Pricing A Home
Michalene Lanzito-Melges: Mis-pricing a home can end in disaster for the seller. Agents who specialize in luxury homes have to know how to price luxury homes. She advises hosting a special “brokers’ open’s open” event if forced to re-introduce a property. When listing a property, if it isn’t sold within 30 days, it’s because of the price, she says. The most common mistake I see homeowners make “is to mistrust the figures the broker or appraiser shows them, and insist on listing the property at a price they feel in their heart is right”...
Agreeing To A Price That Will Never Sell
If you find an overpriced listing, don’t take it, says real estate agent, Burgess: "Remember that 0% of $0 is still $0, and you will end up wasting time and spending marketing dollars on a property that will not sell". She says if you know a property will never sell at any price even close to the list price that the seller wants, walk away from the listing and focus on finding realistic, eager sellers who understand the value of their home.
Not Saying No To The Client When Needed
All new real estate agents need to understand the importance of learning to say no. Most newer agents are eager to land the listing or are scared not to lose the client so they tend to agree with everything that the clients say. This is certainly a big blunder as this could result in pricing the house incorrectly as the client refuses to accept your suggestion. Many times clients also refuse to remove personalized decor. Now although they may love it, it might not be to everyone's ch0ie and may impact the offers for the house as the buyers are distracted by it. There are many similar situations where it is vital to say no to clients for your own and your clients' benefit.
Losing Touch With Clients
Email, personal notes, and social media are the quickest and easiest way to stay in touch with clients. Staying in touch is a golden opportunity to make a lasting connection that will pay off over the years. Stay active on social media posts and keep yourself top of mind when clients start to plan their next move, say experts. You know intimate details of your clients' financial and family situations, like buying a first house or selling a beloved family home, they say. These connections can keep you at the forefront of your client list, even though you've lost touch with some of your first clients.
Mistakes A Real Estate Agent Should Avoid
No Clear Business Plan / Strategy
Newer agents fail to realize that this is a business. They tend to focus more on the day-to-day little picture. They are constantly handling only the clients, listings, and tend to focus on one property or transaction at a time. They fail to devote adequate time to the big picture of how they wish to position their business and what are their plans for future growth and expansion.
Inadequate Marketing And Advertising
Most newer agents tend to focus on their income and try to minimize their expenses. They fail to understand that spending money in the right place could help them earn more money. Most new agents tend to think that budget for spending on marketing and advertising is not needed, but the reality is that it is in the initial stage that you need maximum help to draw clients and expand your services. Proper marketing is a must to attract more buyers and sellers to your business.
Not Having A Real Estate Leads Pipeline
Most real estate agents tend to depend on their brokerage houses to provide them with leads. They tend to follow that habit of focusing on the selling aspect and not enough time being spent on lead generation. But as soon as you decide to be an independent real estate professional, there is a crucial need to balance lead generation along with client servicing. Agents should definitely register on an online real estate platform to counter this issue. Real estate platforms like Dorrmat tend to provide a steady supply of quality real estate leads to all their real estate agents.
Selling Homes Summary
We have tried to give you a brief overview of the few common mistakes that most real estate agents tend to make, especially when they are first starting out. It is important to understand that most agents will commit these blunders. However, what is important is to identify the mistakes that you tend to make often and take steps to minimize those.
