How to Build your Professional Network in Real Estate

The first step in building a professional real estate network is understanding its importance. From new friendships to potential business partnerships, networking offers an array of benefits, including generating real estate leads. Once you understand the perks of networking, you’ll see why it’s so important for your business and future success. 

Stay Engaged

To get the most out of your network, try focusing on maintaining your online presence, engaging with your local community, becoming a better listener, attending events and conferences, and following up with the contacts you meet. The more connections you make, the easier it will be to solve problems that arise in real estate transactions. You’ll also be building a network of people who can support your clients. When you can easily point your clients to local services, they’ll perceive you as an expert and recommend you to others. At the same time, you may receive reciprocal referrals from other business owners. 

Attend Events

How can you build your real estate network right away? One of the first things you can do is to attend realtor-specific event conferences and groups. Real estate networking events focus less on lead generation and more on professional development opportunities to learn from experienced real estate pros with decades of experience and insights. They are also prime chances for tracking emerging trends in the market, real estate tactics, or new technology and processes. 

Online Networking

Though personal engagements are best for establishing a real estate agent network, social media is also a powerful tool to build connections. Successful real estate agents use social apps like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to interact with other users, share content that people can engage with, and market their properties in an easily shareable format. When you’re engaging with other people’s content as well, you have the chance to get to know them and build stronger bonds for when you meet them in real life. In addition to professionals with whom you work and collaborate with, it’s smart to also build relationships and establish connections with individuals and firms in your community with whom you don’t compete. For example, add lenders, contractors, real estate attorneys, and developers to your network. 

Actively Listen

As you begin networking, make an effort to talk less and listen more. Even in business networking settings, most people are happy to share their thoughts on buying, maintaining, or selling property. If you’re able to actively listen to what someone has to say, you might be able to help them identify challenges. Adding value to any professional relationship should always be a primary goal. Whether you’re offering advice on selling a home or showing them potential real estate opportunities before they hit the market, your active listening skills can help solve problems your contact didn’t even know they had. 

Follow Up 

This leads us to the final, and probably most important, part of real estate networking and that is to follow up. Failing to follow up means your real estate agent network will not be effective or show positive results. Therefore, make sure to send an email or text message to everyone you’ve met when you get home or the next day. Make a point to be gracious and thankful to your professional network when they help you land a new client or deal. A simple “thank you” goes a long way to ensure a continued professional relationship and success in the future.

In closing, remember that real estate networking is important for your agent career. It’s an important element of your sales success and is one of the best ways to get ahead and make long-lasting relationships. It also allows you to learn from members in the industry and improve your profile and strategies to generate leads and ultimately close more deals.