A Day in the Life of a Successful Real Estate Agent

A Day in the Life of a Real Estate Agent

By Frank Reali, Real Estate Broker licensed in New York State and New Jersey

The alarm goes off at 7AM awaking me from a restful sleep.

Time to make the coffee, shower and shave but first let me check my e-mail and text messages for anything important and business related.

As I am dressing and having my morning wake up coffee, I turn on my computer and access the mls system checking especially for any expired listings in my personal marketing area. While I religiously farm an area of about 600 homes I have expanded my market area to my entire town here on Staten Island. This gives me more opportunities to find potential business.

Today I found two expired listings and both I have had the opportunity to show previously so with any luck the owners will remember me. As I print a letter and package to drop off I must also access Face book to make sure my friends know I am alive and well and ready for another day of real estate. Wow how social media has changed my schedule, this new way to reach many in my sphere of influence has actually giving me more time to hit the pavement and build contacts. As I put everything together for the day, I answer my e-mails, send out any important updates to my clients and set up a few showings for my hot prospects tonight.

Well its 9AM and I am all set to get out into the exciting world of real estate. First off I better drop off those letters so that the owners will be prepared for me when I stop by later on, then it is off to my farm area. I need to visit 30 homes to stay on schedule to see every home by month’s end. Yep, only 30 homes 5 days a week and I remind 600 homeowners that I am the neighborhood professional with the expertise to get the job done for them. As I walk the neighborhood I see clients and potential clients. I am always hoping to catch as many homeowners out and about, but understanding that many are at work already leaving them something of interest to read when they get home will be sufficient to keep me in their mind.

That was a quick hour so I now will stop by my favorite coffee shop for a light breakfast but more importantly another opportunity to talk about real estate. It is always great to see the regulars but it is the new faces that excite me. Maybe it is someone checking out the neighborhood as a potential place to move. Well I’ll hand out a few cards and I can always count on one of the regulars to ask me a real estate related question, what better way to let the new faces realize who I am. Hey I better check my e-mail again to see if there are any messages from the office, maybe a new listing that will fit one of my buyer clients. And before I leave I better contact that new lead that just came in from lead router so I don’t lose the buyer to someone who reaches them more quickly. Hey, another house to show later this afternoon great; kills two birds with one stone I get to meet a new buyer and also see another home and interact with another home seller, great!

So let me stop by the office to get some forms and update my listing presentation so I will be prepared when I visit my two potential listings later on in the day. I can’t wait for dot loop to get activated so that I can finally be paperless, definitely a more efficient way to go. Well I see someone brought in a new listing that may be perfect for my new buyer so I will add that one to the showing tonight. I find a quiet corner and make some phone calls and send out some e-mails to check on my pending transactions and stay in touch with my present listings. By spacing out my transactions and listings I never need to spend too much time any single day which allows me more flexibility and more time to drum up new business.

Well it is now almost 12:30 and time for me to meet with my business group for lunch, glad it’s not every day but today is my day to speak about what I do so I am a bit excited. Even though I have done this before, the constantly changing real estate market always gives me something to talk about and everyone wants to know what’s happening so it should be a great afternoon. I hope it ends up on time today, since I have three homes in my market area I want to preview and I still need to make a drive through the neighborhood to make sure that there are no for sale by owner signs that popped up overnight. Although I have a readymade package available, I really want to get to those two expired listings before someone else beats me to it.

Well lunch is over and I am on my way to visit one of the expired listing, sure hope they are in. They were in sure enough, but so disenchanted with real estate that they didn’t want to talk, but I will keep them in mind and stay in touch. They listed to sell for a reason I am sure they will again, I just need to be in front of them. Well I am off to preview a few homes, even though I don’t have any buyers for them right now I want to see wants on the market and also it will give me a chance to meet a few owners and leave my card it may come in handy later on. Woops, another buyer lead just came in let me reach out and see what I can do. Well this one was interesting seems they have been looking for awhile but can’t find anything. They are working with 10 realtors, but when I asked them how many realtors were working with them they became a bit confused. Seems no one ever set them up on listing book or has ever called them back, so I took the bull by the horns and told them to throw those cards away, I set them up in listing book where I will follow their activity as I try to win the home sale lottery and find them the right house. It may be a challenge but I know I am better than every other agent so I think I am in a good place. In the meantime I do have an appointment to show them a house later on in the week.

Those previews went well, a few nice homes but a bit overpriced I’ll check on mls to see their days on market maybe they will expire before they sell and I can scoop them up. I just hate it when someone lists a home in my area. Well at least there were no for sale by owner signs, but I need to keep diligent, since they are my biggest competition, but the more info I put out in my farm area the better chance I will have of keeping them at bay.

Time for dinner, so let me take a break for a bit, I still have 2 buyer appointments starting at 6PM and I definitely want to take a shot at that second expired.

Back on the road, meeting my first buyer and with 2 homes to show it should move rather quick, they have been looking for awhile but still have not narrowed down their criteria. Maybe today I will need to ask them some tougher questions, we have a good relationship, I believe, and they are qualified to buy so let’s see. Okay 2 nice shows and they haven’t said a word; I guess it is time to ask some more questions. My question, let’s see we have seen a bunch of homes have you seen anything that you like, they answer, we like them all so far. I am shocked they didn’t indicate that to me, so I continue with have you seen any house that you would consider buying and they answer, well we were waiting for you to tell us which house would be best, we figured you were showing us such nice houses that you would tell us when we were done so that we could make a decision. Well for the love of Pete, that just about knocked me over, I guess I did not do a real good job of debriefing them so we scheduled an appointment for tomorrow to discuss what they had seen and maybe then they will make an offer. Idiot, sometimes I just forget that the buyers actually are hungry for advice and here I am, superstar forgetting to give them what they need.

Well let’s see what surprise buyer number 2 has for me. They have seen a few homes but they have been more vocal, so I think they may be getting close to making an offer. Bingo, this second home fits them to a tee, so let me help them fill out a purchase agreement and then contact the listing agent and get this offer presented and accepted. A little negotiation back and forth and I got a deal; the buyers will be happy and so am I. I picked up 2 new prospects today and got an old one sold and let’s not forget tomorrow I need to do a real good debriefing job to help another buyer make a decision.

I am off to see that second expired listing and I am on a high so nothing can get me down. The sellers were home and eager to speak with me. It seems they have seen me in the neighborhood for months and recognized me from the signs on my car, my business card, as well as the various information that I have distributed. I am glad I came prepared; with my lap top presentation as well as a live cma I am sure I will knock them over. So I take a look through the home and sit down to discuss how I and my company can help them get the job done. I discover that upon selling they will be moving south; in fact they will be away for about two weeks looking at homes and taking a short vacation. I ask them if they have an agent in the area that they are planning on moving and they say no. It seems that while they have been searching on the internet they have not contacted anyone yet, so I tell them that I can refer them to one of our associate company’s in the area, in fact I will bring them an agent’s name and company information tomorrow and have the agent contact them. In the meantime we hammer out the details of the sale, come up with a price and settle upon commission. They like our marketing strategy sign the papers and I schedule an appointment for tomorrow to take photos and then I measure the rooms leave them their paperwork and take off for home. I put up the sign and since I will do an open house over the weekend, I add the open house rider letting everyone know the time and day of the open house.

Oop’s my gas tank is empty so I better stop and fill up, and as I reach into my pocket I realize I still have one business card left, and my motto is never go home with a business card, so I guess I will give one to the attendant. I am finally home when I realize I had one more thing on my schedule to do and that was a webinar that I wanted to listen in on. Now what time was that supposed to start? 6PM PST, oh that’s 9PM my time so I just have time for the 45 minute presentation. Not a bad day, now if it just went that way every day.

This fictitious day in the life of a real estate agent may not be so fictitious for some top producers. They have achieved their success through hard work and much effort and even today continue to put in the time to achieve success. It may sound silly or impossible but I assure you it is not. This is why 5% of the agents do 95% of the overall business. Someone who wants to be successful only needs to put in the time on a continual basis to build a business worth having, and a life you can truly enjoy.

I dedicate this short story to my wife Fran, a true success story.

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