Reasons Most Real Estate Agents Fail

Real estate is a competitive industry, and being a realtor requires a lot of work to keep up and succeed. Those demands mean that a lot of real estate agents don’t find success in their new careers.

When done right, real estate can be a rewarding, lucrative career - but you must be ready to put in the work to market yourself and make a plan. Here are some of the reasons why real estate agents fail, and how to avoid these common mistakes.

They Don’t Work Hard Enough

A lot of people get into real estate thinking that they can do it part-time, or will only have to work when they want to.

The truth is, real estate agents will receive phone calls and emails at odd hours from clients or will have to work with clients who have limited availability due to their own work schedules.

Real estate can be very flexible, but it also requires agents to be willing to work based on their client's schedules. Additionally, most new real estate agents underestimate the amount of time they will spend on lead generation and business development.

Agents who aren’t prepared to put in the work won’t last very long.

They Don’t Invest Enough In Their New Career

Before getting into real estate, agents should be sure to have money saved, both so that they can invest in marketing and business development, and also pay the bills while they get their new business off the ground.

Real estate can be a “feast or famine” type of business, so agents should be careful to save during the boom times so that they can get through the less profitable periods.

A good rule of thumb is to have savings equivalent to six months’ worth of expenses before embarking on your new career in real estate.

They Don’t Have A Plan

Successful real estate agents know to set and review goals so that they can track their progress and are motivated to move towards specific milestones. Having defined goals can give you a measure of success so you know how you are performing.

Rather than setting one year-end goal and not revisiting it for 365 days, set constant objectives and have action plans for meeting those goals. Doing so will help you to keep yourself accountable and yield better results.

They Don’t Know How To Market Themselves

The key to success in real estate is being able to market your business so that when a member of your network is shopping for a home, they come to you.

To that end, agents must be willing to utilize all the tools at their disposal - and know how to do it well. Online platforms that allow agents to share their expertise can be valuable tools because they are less focused on self-promotion and more on being genuinely helpful to potential clients.

Without a marketing plan, agents will be at a loss when it comes to finding new leads.