Tips for Succeeding in the Real Estate Market From Ed Dee

Real estate professionals can become successful by listening to veteran realtors

Real estate is one of the most profitable industries for a passive and long-term income stream. Even short-term accommodation renters and cash buyers earn passively. Property investments promise higher revenues than stocks, bonds, or other high-risk opportunities. 

Many people head into the real estate industry after hearing something along these lines. Sadly, many real estate businesses fail. For instance, a recent report shows 20% of all new businesses fail within the first two years, 45% die before the sixth year, 65% fall in their first decade, and 75% slump within the first 15 years. 

Only one in five businesses survives in the long term. While these statistics are critical to the country's real estate market, they shouldn't discourage you from pursuing your real estate dreams. 

As billionaire Andrew Carnegie famously said, 90% of millionaires got rich via real estate. Real estate grants financial freedom to many individuals today, including Ed Dee and other revered agents across the country.

To excel in this saturated and competitive industry, take a cue from the 168th episode of the stellar Icons of Real Estate Podcast titled — Tips for Succeeding as a Real Estate Professional From Ed Dee — for success tips from Ed Dee, a revered realtor in the United States and the founder of Sanctuary Real Estate. 

In the subsequent sections, we'll run through some general tips for succeeding in the real estate market. 

How to Succeed in the Real Estate Market

To excel in the competitive real estate sector, adopting these tips will see your business trump the competition:

#1 Have a Personal ‘Success’ Definition and a Business Plan

Every real estate professional needs to do this at the beginning of their career. Each agent defines success uniquely, and they could border around money, completed deals, professional connections, or brand visibility. 

Whatever your success definition is, setting a clear vision helps you form measurable and accomplishable career goals. Within a set timeline, your business plan should show how you'd like to improve your brand and measure performance.

As you create a business plan, it's critical to put certain things in order. First, you need to formulate a rock-solid strategy to guide your short and long-term objectives. After that, analyze the business's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). 

An in-depth SWOT analysis can inform the next step in your business plan – setting measurable goals. 

Expectedly, the success of every real estate business relies on marketing strategies to drive traffic and clients to itself. Here, you'll need a viable marketing and lead generation strategy to get the ball rolling.

Afterward, you need to estimate your revenue goals — how much do you see the company generating in a few months or years? Once you've mapped this out, create timelines to revisit your business plan and make crucial updates to attain newer milestones and objectives.

#2 Properly Evaluate and Monitor Your Finances

Here's another critical secret that could define your real estate career before it begins. For most agents, getting a license could take some months. During this period, it'll be best to evaluate your "financial situation" before plunging into the housing market. 

You'll also do well to set aside funds for unexpected scenarios like recessions or complex foreclosures. Additionally, consider the initial expenses involved in becoming a real estate professional. These fees include pre-license state or national education, board dues, and licensing fees. Financial planning is vital and will help you prepare for the dynamic real estate industry. 

Market selection is important to closing real estate transactions with ease

#3 Select Your Market and Investment Timing Accurately

To be successful as a real estate investor, familiarizing yourself with the local economy and acquiring local market intelligence is more critical than understanding national industry stats. 

For instance, having adequate knowledge of how to invest in real estate — within the local property market — helps you buy structures within the market price. Often, prevailing indices or factors in your niche can influence your success rate as a realtor. 

One guiding principle is to avoid trendy markets. By jumping into a niche or market because agents report astronomical home prices and increased demand, you risk purchasing for high amounts and losing money during sales.

Instead, look out for property markets in their expansion phases. These markets depict increasing home sales and housing market prices, inexpensive constructions, profitable capital investments, and cheap general rates. For instance, a house in a neighborhood with low crime rates, access to public transport, and medical care will see more demand than one without these indices.

#4 Create a Professional Image of Your Brand

Creating and maintaining a professional image of your brand is essential for your success as a real estate professional. 

Here are ways to build a professional image as a home seller, buyer, real estate investor, or broker:

• Appearance

As a realtor, maintain tidy wear, hair, accessories, and office-appropriate makeup. Also, don't wear excessive perfume, cologne, or revealing clothes. 

Although male professionals should maintain a formal outlook, it'll be best to avoid looking "too formal." Also, don't don accessories like necklaces or chains, as they might be inappropriate in your local real estate market.

• During Physical Meetings

Prospective property buyers or sellers have a positive impression of you and your realtor business when you maintain good eye contact and positive body language. Pay attention while your prospects are speaking, as it'll keep a decent and engaging conversation going.

• Phone Calls, Mails, and Others

During phone calls, realtors need to be articulate and respectable. Even if the individual on the other end of the line has received multiple offers and deals, always maintain courtesy to build a lasting reputation.

When drafting emails, text messages and blog posts (if you have a site) avoid grammatical and spelling errors. Since published online content could last forever, you want to showcase value you'll be proud of in the future.

• Marketing Contents 

Your advert content should include quality photographs and footage of sold homes, active listings, and more. Besides informing would-be buyers about national housing market prices, local home values, home sales, or discounted home prices, provide insight into relevant industry facts. 

For instance, showcase the latest figures from the National Association of Realtors  (NAR), prevailing interest rates in the metropolitan statistical area, census bureau data, mortgage rates, and more. Doing this steers them into making the right choices, thereby giving your business an air of authority.

If you're active on reputable social media channels like Facebook, ensure your posts are void of grammatical or spelling mistakes. Additionally, consider creating an intuitive website and hiring the finest real estate SEO service to improve your site's rankings on SERPs and attract traffic accordingly. 

As a realtor, putting your clients first always works the trick

Parting Shot   

Succeeding in the competitive real estate market as an agent isn't something that happens out of the blue. To excel, you must make concerted efforts to formulate a proven business strategy, analyze your finances, and adopt techniques that'll endear you and your business to prospects. 

If you want even more tips besides the iterations we've listed, listen to Ed Dee and other real estate pros issue suggestions likely to set your realtor entity on an upward trajectory in the Icons of Real Estate Podcast. 

To become a revered realtor in the real estate industry, you need to put in the work. However, you can simplify your journey to success by implementing tips issued by Ed Dee on the 168th episode of the Icons of Real Estate Podcast.

Do you have what it takes to grant real estate newbies nuggets vital to getting them started on the right path? If yes, apply to be a guest speaker on this revolutionary real estate podcast, Icons of Real Estate Podcast! See you there!