In some places it’s easy to obtain a real estate license, but not easy to be effective
There’s an old joke about a highway patrolman who pulls over a speeding car in Florida.
The officer walks up to the driver and asks “May I see your real estate license please?”
The driver, perplexed, replies, “Don’t you mean my driver’s license?”
The officer explains, “Well, not everybody in Florida has a driver’s license.”
Sure it’s funny. But sometimes it does seem like there are quite a few people in every market who have a real estate license.
In Florida, for example, you retire, play golf and sell real estate.
Taking a short course in real estate school and then passing the state test is no guarantee of success in this business.
That’s just a start. Barely. Savvy agents know there is much more involved, from intense networking to using the right type of technology on the right website platform.
That’s where adding a real estate search-map tool such as SpatialMatch to a website separates the players from the pretenders.
In an article in Inman News, an appraiser is amazed at the ease in which some states approve agents.
However, the real estate profession is one of those businesses where you really don’t learn much from a study guide.
For example, in Georgia, the writer states a person need only pass a background check and a 75-hour pre-license course.
That’s certainly not enough, unless you are the only real estate agent in town. Which as we know, does not happen.
It’s almost like boxing. You can learn all you want in the classroom about the art of pugilism, but you’re certainly not going to learn what is really takes until you step in the ring.
After obtaining a license, what makes a truly successful agent is hustle.
Not the negative kind.
But the get-er-done kind where an agent makes an effort to join a bunch of organizations, network with other agents, learn all they can about marketing their websites, social media, direct mail, comps, etc., etc., etc.
To go one step further, especially in this incredible age of amazing technology, the can-do agent researches the latest advances in websites such as the use of WordPress platforms or the latest apps, widgets and features they can add to their site.
Take neighborhood search. Sure, every agent has access to MLS listings online. But how many have those listings integrated with a geo-spatial search functionality that allows buyers to not only research homes, but to research the surrounding neighborhood.
The SpatialMatch tool, for example, has more than 100 layers of data embedded in its search platform.
Got a buyer who is interested in golf? SpatialMatch can show all the golf courses in the area, including a distance slider to spell out the desirable drive time to the tee time.
A home might not look that great to a buyer, but when you show them how Prestige Country Club is only a 3-iron away, well, that home just jumped in value.
Same goes with any amenity. Schools. Restaurants. Malls. Movies. Parks.
Sure, maybe licensing requirements in some states are easy to obtain.
But like anything, it’s the 80/20 rule.
The 20% of the market who are going to be successful are going to be looking for every edge they can get.
