If you don’t have connections in the business, real estate can be really difficult to get into. There are so many course options and tons of brokerages to choose from. No one really tells you how real estate agents even make money, so where do you even start? Well, that’s what this video is for. I’ve got six things to cover, from getting your license all the way down to setting goals and creating a daily schedule. It’s going to keep you on track and help you create a lot of business. So let’s get into it.
If we have not met yet, my name is Vana Jarabek. I’m a real estate agent here in Seattle. I started in the business when I was 18. I grew up in real estate, so I’ve been around it for a long time. So when I turned 18, I made the hard decision to skip college, got my real estate license, and went all in into the business. I’ve seen a lot of success, and now I’m growing my team here in Seattle to help them do the same while still remaining active in the business myself.
So I’ve got six things to cover. We’re going to talk about my advice and top tips for getting started in real estate. And by the way, if you don’t mind taking a second to drop a like and subscribe, that helps me get this content out to all the people who need some help getting started on the real estate journey. Thanks a lot.
So number one, what is a real estate agent’s job? A lot of people don’t even know what these guys do. Yeah, we’ve seen Selling Sunset, we’ve seen HGTV. We know they help buy and sell houses, right? Real estate agents represent buyers and sellers of property. So you can work commercial, you can work residential, you can work luxury, you can work with investors. Most people start residential, and to earn that commission, you need to have a real estate license. Just like to practice law, you need a lawyer license. Just like when you practice law, you need to pass the bar exam. If you want to practice being a real estate agent, you need to pass the real estate exam. It’s really simple. You need to be 18 with a high school diploma to get your real estate license. I recommend doing the online course. It’s different in every state, so I can’t speak for all of them. In most states, it’s between 60 and 90 hours. You get the online course with the highest pass rate, and then you go take the test. Now, this is where a lot of people get choked up. So what I always say, and what everyone who takes that course soon finds out, is that the real estate course does not teach you how to be a real estate agent. It does not give you the skills to be a successful real estate agent. It simply educates you on necessary laws, which are pretty important, and a lot of other technical BS that shows up on the test but you never use afterwards. So the real estate course is something you have to get through. I would say don’t take it too seriously, but memorize the content and take the practice exams because they look just like the real test. That’s my number one tip that I tell everyone who asks for advice on the real estate course. Take practice exams until you’re passing them consistently. When you get an answer wrong, write it down, write the real answer, and that should prepare you to pass the first time. Pretty simple, right? You can get on your state’s department of licensing website, and if you search “real estate agent,” it’ll give you all the requirements and a list of recommended courses. Just make sure it’s approved by your state and has a high pass rate. Even if it costs a little more money, at least you pass the first time and you can get that license ASAP. That’s kind of the goal, right?
So once you get that license, number two is you’re going to need to sign up with a brokerage. You can’t practice real estate as a newbie without being licensed with a broker. So you have to choose one to hang your license with, and there are tons to choose from. There are tons of different kinds of brokerages, different brand names, different perks, different splits, different structures. Some have huge offices, some are totally in the cloud. So we’ve got big box and small blocks. Big box are like the Keller Williams, the EXP, the Compass, the Windermere, the Century 21. And then we’ve got small box, which are going to be our local independent family-owned businesses. Once you’re with a brokerage for three years, then you can open your own brokerage. And the reason people stay with the brokerage instead of opening their own is there’s a lot of liability involved, especially when you hire agents. Now remember, you’re an independent contractor, so you’re not technically employed by the brokerage, but you’re licensed with them. What I always say is brand name does not matter because they are all truly built differently. Like the Keller Williams in Seattle is going to be really different from the Keller Williams in Tacoma, from the people to the splits to the team structures, all of that. So we’ve got big box and small blocks. And when we talk about team or no team, I recommend joining a team as long as it’s not too expensive for you. Because we know that when you’re around people who are kind of doing the same thing as you, they have similar goals, you’re all on the same path on this journey, you’re going to be a lot more successful. There will be a lot of accountability, and it’s going to be more fun as opposed to just being by yourself. But hey, if you like to go solo, totally go solo. So that’s my two cents on a team. Then when we talk about splits, this is your commission split. So every time you sell a house, the commission is paid directly to the brokerage, and then the brokerage pays out to you. I would say starter splits are 60/40, 70/30, and 80/20. And this all depends on what the brokerage offers you. I always say don’t give up more than 50% of your check. That’s just kind of a scam. Like, you worked so hard, right? Unless you’re getting super heavy mentorship or partnering with someone, there are brokerages who will do 100% with some per transaction fees, like $500 a transaction, or monthly desk fees, like $400-$500 a month to have a desk in the office, and you get 100% of your commission. I really do not recommend these because they are not going to help you get started at all. Obviously, if they’re paying you 100%, there’s nothing in it for them to help you make money, right? So it’s really up to you. And the strategy here is to look up a bunch of brokerages in your area. You want them close by so you’re not going out too far, and you can participate in office events and whatnot. So you want to locate some brokerages, call them, email them, schedule some interviews. Ask them what kind of training they offer, what kind of mentorship they offer, what kind of office trainings there are, how often does the team get together, just things like that. The top three things I recommend you look out for are going to be the startup training, the ongoing mentorship, and vibes. You want to like the people that you’re working with, right? You want to be somewhere where they’re going to be motivating you, everyone’s doing a lot of business, so you’re all growing together, and that helps everyone in the end. That’s kind of how my team is set up. We have a very strong culture, we’re quite close. We all come to the office just about every day. We all set goals together on the first of the month. We go to coaching events together, we go to networking events together, we learn a lot, and it’s a lot of fun. The other thing too on brokerages is some offer leads and some don’t. So when they’re giving you leads, like a buyer’s agent type of situation, they’ll probably take more, maybe 50% or 60%, but it will be consistent business. My brokerage does not give leads. We are given the tools and the training, but we’re not given the actual leads. And so it’s really a personal choice. Yes, you can go to a brokerage that gives you leads, and you’ll learn pretty quickly because the business is pretty consistent. But at the same time, you’re giving quite a bit of your check away. So on the flip side, you learn how to generate business, deal with rejection, build the skills. So it’s going to be a lot of hard work, but it’s going to be worth it because you get paid more. So that’s the lay down on brokerages. Like I said, you have tons of options, and a lot of them are going to want you because when you make money, they make money, right? So in your interview, you are interviewing them just as much as they’re interviewing you. You want to make sure it’s a good fit for each other. It’s kind of like a first date. By the way, the average agent changes brokerages like five times before they find the one they like. So don’t sweat it, don’t feel like you’re committing to something, but definitely find somewhere where you see growth potential for yourself.
So you got your license, you joined a great brokerage, and now you’re ready to start earning some money. You’re ready to start generating business. You spent all that time and effort getting the license, interviewing brokerages, and getting signed up. And now I hope you’re super hyped to start earning business for yourself. So the next topic is education. Even when your brokerage is giving you great startup training, I’m going to recommend that you self-educate. And while you’re in the pre-licensing process, it’s pretty easy to get on YouTube, start reading some books, start to learn how to generate business, right? I totally recommend going to networking events and coaching events. I’m a big fan of the Ferries, Tom and Mike Ferry. Go to your office trainings, do those webinars, keep reading books. Make a commitment to spending X hours a day building your skills. It can be really important when you start up because it sets you up for your whole career, essentially. I read all the books while I was getting my license. I still read the books and watch the YouTube videos, and I saved up to join coaching a year in. I think a business coach is really, really important between the accountability and keeping you on track for your goals for the year, plus having someone to help you through your tough situations you might have and guiding you to keep building your business and deciding what’s next, right? Especially from someone who’s already done it. There’s a lot of value in having a business coach. So I would recommend it.
And now the fun part, the prospecting. So you’re prospecting for clients. This is the lifeblood of your business, especially if you don’t get leads from your brokerage. You’re going to need to be prospecting all the time. As a new agent, the real hustlers will prospect for eight hours a day, literally on the phone eight hours a day. Like I said, your brokerage is going to give you the tools to start prospecting, whether it’s calling tools, scripts. Your scripts are going to be really important, and role-playing scripts three to five times a week will help you memorize them and be really successful in them, even after you memorize them. So there are a bunch of different ways agents generate business. You can cold call, you can door knock, you can hold open houses, you can network, you can leverage social media, you can build a geographic farm, you can network with other agents, you can network with retiring agents, you can host events and training. There are tons of ways. And normally, the top ones for new agents are going to be the cold calling, the door knocking, and open houses. So without going into too much detail on each one, I started with cold calling. I would do circle prospecting, where I would pull numbers from a certain neighborhood of a listing that I recently listed or sold, and I would just prospect around that listing, asking if anyone else was interested in selling. And because we’re in a crazy housing crisis, a crazy seller’s market, we need more sellers. So prospecting for sellers, number one, helps our market. Number two, makes you a very, very strong agent. Have you heard it before? List to last. Being a listing agent takes significantly less time than showing buyers around. So you can really do a lot more business with substantially less effort. And being a listing agent makes you very, very strong. For example, when I take people onto my team, we only prospect for sellers. We don’t really prospect for buyers because the way I personally think about it is that buyers come pretty easily, especially if you have a social media presence or just a substantial network of people that you talk to every day. Buyers will come. But working on listings, there’s a lot more opportunities not just to generate listings, but to do some off-market deals and make some money wholesaling or doing personal investments for yourself. And that’s kind of where I am. I’ve been in real estate for a few years, so I’m diving into the world of investing now. It’s been really fun. I’ve got a lot of other videos about it. But regardless of your goal, this video is just covering how to get started in real estate because my goal when I started was to make a lot of money to buy properties, right? So I’m there, and I get to do a lot of fun stuff. Like I said, watch my other videos if that’s something that interests you.
Alright, so we’re prospecting for business, we are getting clients, our mentors at our brokerage are helping us through the deals, we’re getting the hang of it, right? So what’s next? What are my last parting tips for new real estate agents? Number one is going to be build your discipline. When you become a real estate agent, you are working for yourself. Regardless of who your broker is, you are running a business, and you have to wake up every day and generate new business in order to keep making money. No one else is really telling you what to do. Your schedule is your own, and you have total free will to do whatever you want all the time. And this is an issue for a lot of agents because maybe when they get two or three deals, they start getting complacent. “Oh, I already have some closings on the way. I don’t need to work. Where’s next month’s paycheck coming from?” Mike Ferry says, “If you don’t have 20 deals in your pipeline, you are not a real estate agent. You are a hobbyist.” Tough love, Mike, but it’s true, and it helps you keep your goals in mind and keep your sights set on what you want to accomplish. If you’re an entrepreneur, you probably have really big goals. You probably have huge dreams, and you need to write those down. That’s number two. Have your goals written down. Decide what you want in the next 12 months, in the next six months, in the next one month, and this week. And create that daily schedule that has your prospecting hours outlined every single day so that you don’t miss it. It’s very easy to get distracted and focus on things that are not income-producing. So if you can build the discipline to stick to that schedule and that business plan, that will help you reach your goals. Nothing can stop you. And then my number three piece of advice, and we’ll wrap up right here, is to start thinking about investing. So if you want to create long-term wealth, you’re going to need to own property. So if you want to build long-term wealth, and a lot of people get into real estate for this reason, is they want to eventually own property, right? Owning rental properties creates passive income. It creates equity. Your houses are appreciating every year. And I set myself to buy real estate by 20 years old by working backwards. I know I need two years of employment. I know I need a 620 credit score. I know I need high income and low debt. So I set myself up for that, and I’m working on buying my first house right now. So it’s all very exciting. Real estate is a really fun business. It can be stressful at times, and so managing that stress is important too. But all in all, what you put into it is what you get out of it. Another Mike Ferry quote, “Your income is directly proportionate to the work you put in and the value you provide to the market.” So hey, there are literally 1 million real estate agents in America. So what’s going to make you different? Find your niche, find your tribe. For me, I found a lot of success in helping the younger generation start buying houses and to use real estate as a vehicle to create wealth for their future and their family. Yeah, Tom Ferry says, “Find your tribe. Get on social media, reach out to everyone you know, let them know you’re in real estate. You never know what might come out of it.” So those are my top tips for new real estate agents. I think that was pretty exhaustive. Let me know what your questions are below. I have other videos on what to do if you can’t get your real estate license, how to do real estate as a side hustle, how to start investing, my investing plan. So check them out and let me know what I can do to help you take the next step in your real estate journey. Thanks so much for watching, and like I always say, good luck.
