Real Estate is an exciting career, but put on your seat belt. If you want to succeed in this business, you have to treat it like any other business. Much to the surprise of many, making a good living in Real Estate requires a great deal more than passing a few tests and sending out some emails. You may have been told how easy it is to succeed in Real Estate from teachers who have probably never sold a house or haven't sold more than a few houses in the last 20 years--now let me tell you some of what you are going to need to do to get started in this business.
Study the market. You passed your Real Estate exam, now it is time to study the business of Real Estate. Know the stats for your area. How fast are houses selling? What is the ppsf on a single story house in your community? Are the two story houses selling for the same ppsf? What about school? Do you know how the schools are rated? Which areas have the best schools? Major employers near by? Do you know who employs Austin? Read. Study. Read some more. When you think you know it all--keep reading, because it all changed while you were sleeping. Some of what you learned may help you along the way; hopefully you studied
Study the contract documents. One of my biggest complaints with Realtors, new and old, is that many Realtors don't understand our contracts, addendum's and amendments. This seems to me to be a huge opportunity for our profession. After all, the contracts are our life blood. I take every opportunity I can to sit down with title and legal professionals to ask questions about changes in our promulgated contracts and how this affects my clients--buyers and sellers alike. 
Find a mentor. Life coach Tony Robbins is fond of telling people that there are many examples of greatness in the world around us. Look for it and when you find it--emulate it. Find someone that you believe has a good discipline or process and ask them if you can learn from them. This is more than just taking a class. This is about taking on a new life style and discipline in your life. You want success--live a life driven toward success. 
Don't believe everything you hear, read or see. Believe in some things that you have not yet seen, heard or read. It is a real simple principle. Find out if something works for you. Find out what works for you by trying it. If you don't believe something and it is not dangerous or life threatening--maybe you should give it a try and see what happens. Just because you heard it or read it does not make it so--but then again, maybe you need to try it for yourself and find out.
Get out and start looking at houses. This business is about real property. If you are not out showing houses every week, you should at least be out previewing properties. You will learn something every time you leave your house. Make it a part of your learning patterns.
Learn what your buyers want and need. This is huge. This business is not about what you like, what you don't like and what you think is "good". This business is about what your client wants, needs and is trying to achieve. Ask them what they want. Ask them what they need. Ask them what they can afford. And then help them figure out what they can afford to buy in this market today. The more you know, the better you can help your clients.
Develop a Team. Find a great lender, title company, and home inspector. You should know what is happening in the lending side of the business and you should know a GREAT mortgage banker who has a deep portfolio and knows how to execute it with phenomenal customer service--not just great rates. You should have a title company that is responsive and proactive. And you should have a couple of great inspectors who know home construction and have great communication skills; one without the other is of no value to a buyer.
Learn how a house is built before you learn "how to negotiate". My father was a Air Route Traffic Controller (among other things), but he knew how to build a house and he built several when we were children. He taught me construction from a fairly young age. This is a skill that I cherish, but even if you have never been on a construction site--you can still learn how a house is built and what a red flag looks like in the foundation, the roof, the floors, the walls, the electrical panel, etc. This is not something that you will learn over night--but take every opportunity you can to learn more about home construction. Ask questions of builders. Ask your inspector questions. Make notes. Read. 
Be prepared. This involves all kinds of things that you will learn as you go along, but let me start you out with a few things that you should never be without in your car--start out by putting a very bright flash light in your kit box in the back of your vehicle. This is the first of many things that you will wish you had with you when you are out showing or listing houses. You will need a flash light in any number of circumstances, so get a good one. You will use it almost every week--even in the light of day. Secondly, buy a digital measuring device to measure the size of a room. And you should also practice estimating how big a room is by stepping-off the room. Practice at home until you can step off 10 feet, 12 feet, 14 feet (typical bedroom dimensions) up to 20 foot rooms. If you know how long your stride is, you can measure frontage on a lot or the width of a lot without looking at a survey. Very important stuff here. And while you are out buying tools, get a financial calculator and learn how to use it. Understand how to calculate the PITI on your calculator. Practice it until you can do it in your sleep. Do calculations on $100k. $150k. $200k. Use current interest rates and tax rates and then change them and see what happens to payments. Understand what happens to payments when rates change. Be prepared to explain numbers to your clients. This is a profession about numbers. If you are not good with numbers--get good with numbers. It is the business that you have chosen. 
Practice FUNDAMENTALS. This whole article is about fundamentals. Read more. Study more. Ask more questions. Learn more than one new skill each day. Learn from the best in the business. Do what you do every day, all day and do it until it becomes real. And when you think that you are starting to understand something about the business and you know you are going to make it--start writing your business plan. Yes, I know, your MBA professor told you to start with your business plan. But I am telling you that you should start with something much more fundamental to your business--confidence. If you start doing these things, you will begin to develop confidence in your abilities to help your clients. When you are confident (not cocky) about what you know, your clients will see it and trust you and your business will begin to grow. When your business starts to happen--write a plan to give your business direction and meaning. This list is not exhaustive and may not be in the order that you will exercise, but if you are doing these things and working on the fundamentals of your business plan...working hard on your business plan...you have a very good opportunity to make money and to make a lot of buyers and sellers happy with you and your skills as a professional Realtor.
Congratulations on your new career! Now go make your business plan happen.
I am Tim Thornton. Austin area Realtor.
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