How Many Sales New Real Estate Agents Make Depends on the Agent
Like most agents who enter the real estate industry, I came in thinking I was going to sell tons of properties and make tons of money right away. Except, the exact opposite happened. I didn’t sell anything for the first two years. My first sale was in my third year, a $62,500 condo that paid me about the same as I made helping tenants find a rental.
Every agent’s experience is different, so it is foolish to sit here and tell you an exact number you should expect. That being said, if you are looking for a number to reference, in my previous blog, How Much Money do First-year Real Estate Agents Make, you can read HERE, I mentioned that from my research, most new agents can expect to sell fewer than five homes. But that doesn’t mean you couldn’t sell more! For example, at my brokerage, I had close to 50 agents go through a custom mentorship program for new agents, and the number of transactions the agents did in their first year ranged from 6 to 16. The main difference between the agent who sold 16 places and the one who sold six was that their friends and family were ready to buy and were comfortable using a new agent. The other agent didn’t have these same connections and had to work extra hard for every deal they did.
But these are just two examples, so let me dive deeper into why some agents are more successful than others.
Three Things Successful New Agents Do
First of all, there are a bazillion factors that can go into why an agent sells the amount of properties they do in year one. They could be entering a hot (or cold) market, they might work on a team that provides clients for them to work with, or they might have deals fall apart. Regardless of the factors that are often out of their control, from my experience and research, the agents who sell more all do a few things.
First, these agents don’t just expect things to happen for them; they go and make them happen. They work very hard and are willing to put in the hours to reach their goals. Second, they use every dollar possible to reinvest in marketing their business. They don’t spend money on stupid things and, in turn, use it to market to heck out of their database. Third, they provide far better customer service than their peers. They always put their clients’ needs over their own.
That being said, even if you do the three things mentioned, it is not a guarantee that you will have early success. I was doing all three at the beginning of my career, but I entered the market in 2009 during the Great Recession and didn’t sell anything in my first two years. You can’t control everything, so just focus on what you can control, and the rest should take care of itself.
Numbers Don’t Always Tell The Truth
The last thing I want to mention is something way too many agents focus on, but I believe is not the correct place to put their attention. I have spoken with so many agents who base their goal-setting around how many sales they want to make. They come up with a hard number and believe achieving it will help them generate the income they want. I believe this is the wrong way to look at things, and let me tell you why.
In my market, I know a veteran agent who would consistently sell around 100 homes a year. On the surface, this sounds amazing, but when we dive deeper, we see that his average price point was around $75,000. When you do the math, this agent’s production was actually $7,500,000. On the other hand, I knew an agent whose average price point was around $350,000. This agent only had to do 21 sales to reach that same $7,500,000 number. This means that the agent selling 100 homes a year did roughly 5 times the amount of work as the other agent for the same production.
My point is, don’t concern yourself with the number of properties you sell. Focus on the total production number instead. For one, your income is based on the production, not the number of sales. And, if you look at the example above, the agent who sold 100 did 5 times the amount of work the other agent did to produce the same amount.
If you focus on production, you will have more success and create your vision for life quickly!
Also, keep in mind, numbers are just numbers. If I were entering the real estate industry today, I would ignore every statistic about new agents and create my own! I encourage you to do the same. Don’t spend time comparing yourself to agents of the past or around you. Do you! Figure your goals out and go after them with everything you have! If you do, you will be miles ahead of your peers after 12 months.
I hope this makes sense. If not, leave me a comment so I can explain it more clearly for you!
“Step out of the history that is holding you back. Step into the new story you are willing to create.” – Oprah Winfrey
P.S. IF you are serious about becoming a real estate agent and want to learn how you can avoid the mistakes 87% of new agents make, I encourage you to check out the coaching program I have developed to help agents before they enter the industry. The program is designed to help you avoid the frustrations I and so many other agents felt when entering the industry, struggling to survive while clinging to the belief we will succeed. It is completely based on proven results from my experience as a top-producing agent, owning a brokerage for almost a decade (where I helped agents average 2x4 times the amount of sales and income), and from spending over 25,000 hours learning from history’s most legendary people! If this sounds like something that would benefit you, please click HERE to set up a FREE 30 Minute Virtual Call to learn more about how I can help you.