What Americans Have Spent So Far This Year In Commissions:

Good Training and Education in Real Estate

Proper training of new agents pays off but we never really do it. When a new agent joins a company, they are thrown into the fire and expected to learn as they go. Maybe they get some help with their first few contracts or are paired with a more experienced agent on their first few transactions.

The value of a real estate agent comes through in their knowledge of the market and wider principles of real estate that normally comes with experience. A good agent cares about their clients and if they are new, they leverage their relationships in real estate to best serve their clients.

If a new agent is coming into real estate with few relationships that they can rely on to properly guide their clients, and they don’t have a background in real estate, it’s a bit of a red flag unless they’ve done a ton of research that shows through.

How I Tried to do this with My Kids

When all three of my children were young, I would force them to stop and look at properties that I was previewing for clients on the way home from school, bribe them with Wawa treats, and make them listen to real estate tapes on wide-ranging real estate topics.

My daughter is one of the hardest working new agents that I know. Laura got interested in real estate and took the classes when she turned 18. After working at the University of Pennsylvania and operating a non-profit focused on giving away fruits and vegetables from a community garden she founded, she decided to give real estate a try. She took and passed the real estate exam in 2016.

Other Characteristics to Look for in a new agent

Understanding Smart Investing

Laura and her older brother put together a family investment with everyone kicking in $5,000 plus closing costs to purchase a home in South Philly for $26,000. She was able to resell the property a few months later with no improvements for around $46,000. All five investors earned a profit of approximately $3,300 to $3,500 from the investment.

Within a few weeks of entering the real estate business Laura and her boyfriend Chris went out and purchased a well located home in a great school district in Lower Merion Township. She was a tough negotiator and did not win the home on the first go round; she was outbid by a seasoned investor. Everyone was aware the home needed major work. The investor was unable to get the price lowered enough following inspections so they withdrew their offer. The listing agent called Laura and told her the home was coming back on the market. Laura purchased the home and she and Chris got an FHA 203K rehab loan from the bank and are currently completely renovating the home.

Big Wins

Laura has since started working hard with renters, buyers and home sellers. In her third real estate sale transaction she helped a family friend purchase a lovely home in an over 55 development and saved the buyer over $100,000 from the original list price. The negotiations seemed endless but she negotiated an $85,000 price reduction and approximately $15,000 in improvements and repairs completed before settlement. Laura worked tirelessly to help her client get a wonderful move-in ready home with a two-car garage, large basement, and scenic lot for a great price. She admits that being forced to listen to marketing and negotiating information in her youth coupled with a great work ethic while working for her clients has helped Laura to become a highly desirable real estate negotiator for her buyers, sellers and renters.

Laura presently has a $350,000 condo for sale on the water near Penn’s Landing, a home priced at $1,350,000 in Gladwyne, a warehouse in Philadelphia listed for $1,450,000 and she has multiple renters looking for real estate renting from $1,800 a month to $3,500 a month. We work as a team and she has overnight become a major asset.

Attention to Detail

I sold my sister and her husband a condo on the bay in Ocean City, NJ a few weeks ago. Laura helped with all the paperwork, prepared contracts with DocuSign and helped make the process go ever so smoothly. She is a gifted marketing person, home stager, and most competent with the overwhelming paperwork required for real estate transactions. Competence, caring, and great negotiating skills, that is Laura.

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