Hey you guys!! It has been hard for me to keep this under wraps for the last few months while I've been finishing up my Texas real estate license....but now things are official, and time has come for me to tell everybody!! It would also be GREAT if you could help me spread the word...

I have been truly blessed, and am starting a new chapter in my life. I was recently hired-on to join the team of Land Specialists at Whitetail Properties Real Estate. Some of you might already know about their hunting TV show on the Sportsman Channel, which has become increasingly popular in recent years.

The company has recently expanded into Texas, and I will be representing Whitetail Properties as an agent in the Southeast Texas area, north of Houston....specializing in Hunting Land, Recreational Land, Ranch Land, and Timber Land. Just starting out, I will be actively searching for property listings, but can also assist any of you as a buyers agent if you are searching for farm & ranch property.

This is something I am quite excited about, and hope I can help some of you become landowners in the near future. If you, or someone you know is looking to buy or sell rural property in Texas, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please also visit our website at www.whitetailproperties.com to learn more about us.

God Bless,

Best of Luck with your new career.

Thank you CH...

Ive always thought that this would be a very cool job for an avid outdoorsman. Congradulations and good luck.

Congratulations. Did you totally eliminate the other business?

Larry,

Yes I eliminated it. I no longer book hunts. I am with Whitetail Properties full time.

ES

One can be a squash in six weeks or a mighty oak in 100 years. Pay your dues, work hard, be respectful and gracious. Old folks like that in a young man.

The "five great rules of selling" -- show a person how to get what he wants and you can always get what you want.

Sell the sizzle not the steak.

Ever bass fished with worms.... Present the bait, let the bass take the bait, wait, then set the hook.

Don't oversell. If the deal gets sweeter and sweeter the closer you get to closing, folks can't hardly wait.

If someone knows more about your product than you do, whose fault is that?

If you know you know, and you know you know, confidence replaces fear. Prospects and clients can smell fear on a salesman.

Finally, a wise man once speculated that.........

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Timing is everything. Get out there and make the most of your time and talk to folks. Have a cup of coffee with them, within 30 minutes to an hour you'll know whether they want to buy or sell.

In the insurance business the rule was 10-3-1. You had to talk to 10 suspects to get three prospects to sell one policy. Get out there and mix it up.

Be sincere in you approbation and lavish in your praise.

Best

GWB

Great words of wisdom GW....and I thank you for it.

This is truly where my heart is, and I am excited to see what I can make of this career path.

As someone who has bought and sold a fair amount of Texas real estate over the years I'm going to offer my views of what I like to find in an agent. I am not the typical tire kicker real estate looker so my admittedly curmudgeonly manners may not be common. If I'm looking, I'm in the market and it doesn't take me long to make up my mind one way or the other. Then the only thing left is details and price. Unlike many people you will have to put up with as an agent, I don't want to waste my or the agents time if I am not really in the market, can't afford it, or am not really interested in that particular property. IMO treating the agent's time as valuable, just like mine, is simply a matter or respect. It is a rare commodity in the real estate business and you will have to put up with a bunch of lookers and keep smiling. You might as well get used to the idea, unfortunately. I don't know about others, but if we go to look at a property and half way thru, I tell you I'm not interested, take me at my word and let's go on to another or go back to the office. Don't keep trying to sell when I've said I'm not interested. Pay attention to your buyers.

I expect him/her to be optimistic but not gushingly so.

Don't come across as too slick.

Don't be condescending (even if just mentally) to smaller buyers or sellers (at least until you join the million dollar club and can afford to be more selective in your listings and, even then, you should politely introduce them to another agent who is in your position today). Treat everyone with respect, just like you would like to be treated if the roles were reversed. Any buyer is potentially money in your pocket and looks can be deceiving.

I expect him to be knowledgeable about the local market and to answer my questions regarding value with real time answers, not BS regarding this particular property. Lie to me and we're done. If the property is priced high, it needs to have some extra value points to make it worth while and the agent has to be able to explain this. If not, tell me before hand that it is too high, but it is such and such, and whether it might be subject to a reasonable offer. Don't waste my or your time showing me properties that are 50% or more above local market values unless they are really special.

I want him/her to be completely knowledgeable about the property, unless it is a new listing and then, if he/she doesn't know an answer it is understandable but the question(s) should be noted and followed up with the correct answers if at all possible. Above all, don't fake it, if you don't know, simply say you don't know (and maybe apologize if you should have known) but you will find out and get back to me soonest.

I expect him/her to point out salient and important details "That old barn would easily convert to a hunting cabin by.....", but, in general, I want him/her to be reasonably quiet unless he/she has something relevant to say. Personally, I don't enjoy being around motor mouths who are talking just to feel their lips moving. I want to look at the property, not listen to babble. Again, selling is one thing, bullshit or babble is something else, especially when I'm concentrating on looking at the real estate. If you're new to the game, over-talking is common due to nervousness, pay attention to your prospective buyer and know when to talk or when to be quiet.

I am good friends with a local agent and I can tell you from experience, and as mentioned by GW above, selling is the easiest part. Getting listings (which won't be your strong point as you're starting out) is actually more important. If you want to be successful you have to mingle with the locals, get known as a solid person who says what he'll do and does what he says, and then you hope to get their listings if they decide to sell. If they choose someone else, don't puff up or resent it, they made a decision based on their needs, whether right or wrong, so just continue treating them as before, and hope you can earn their business in the future. You might still get a piece of the deal by selling it to one of your buyers and sharing the commission.

You'll have to put up with many people who think their brass is gold and want to list/sell too high. That's a tough situation which I am not qualified to tell you how to handle, but honesty is the best policy IMO, and telling them, or better yet, showing where similar properties sold for less, will save both of your times. You want the listing, of course, but if you can't sell it because it's too high, and you didn't tell the owners that up front, then they will eventually move the listing and won't be back, even tho it is not your fault, but their's. That's human nature.

Good luck in your new career, if you prove to be good at it, you can make a lot of money in a hurry.

Which leads me to one final point, if you do make money, be frugal in your displays, in many places locals don't appreciate agents showing off their new economic status because they think (wrongly) that they don't deserve it for selling their property. Again, human nature shows its ugly side but you need to consider it since your business is directly related to how people view and interact with you both as a person and as a businessman.

BTW I am not, nor have I ever been a Rotarian but I think their code of ethics and 4 way test of business is the way things should be done. Study it and live by it in the real estate business and you will go far.

quote:

Declaration of Rotarians in Businesses and Professions

The Declaration of Rotarians in Businesses and Professions was adopted by the Rotary International Council on Legislation in 1989 to provide more specific guidelines for the high ethical standards called for in the Object of Rotary;

As a Rotarian engaged in a business or profession, I am expected to:
Consider my vocation to be another opportunity to serve;

Be faithful to the letter and to the spirit of the ethical codes of my vocation, to the laws of my country, and to the moral standards of my community;

Do all in my power to dignify my vocation and to promote the highest ethical standards in my chosen vocation;

Be fair to my employer, employees, associates, competitors, customers, the public, and all those with whom I have a business or professional relationship;

Recognize the honor and respect due to all occupations which are useful to society;

Offer my vocational talents: to provide opportunities for young people, to work for the relief of the special needs of others, and to improve the quality of life in my community;

Adhere to honesty in my advertising and in all representations to the public concerning my business or profession;

Neither seek from nor grant to a fellow Rotarian a privilege or advantage not normally accorded others in a business or professional relationship.

The Four-Way Test

From the earliest days of the organization, Rotarians were concerned with promoting high ethical standards in their professional lives. One of the world's most widely printed and quoted statements of business ethics is The Four-Way Test, which was created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor (who later served as RI president) when he was asked to take charge of a company that was facing bankruptcy.

This 24-word test for employees to follow in their business and professional lives became the guide for sales, production, advertising, and all relations with dealers and customers, and the survival of the company is credited to this simple philosophy.

Adopted by Rotary in 1943, The Four-Way Test has been translated into more than a hundred languages and published in thousands of ways. It asks the following four questions:
"Of the things we think, say or do:

1. Is it the TRUTH?

2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?

3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER
FRIENDSHIPS?

4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"

Dress the part.Get your self a Checkered Suit a Bow tie a Bowler hat and a Big Cigar!!!

As a coda to CAT's post above. I was a listing agent. It was my opinion that If I had the listings of "marketable" properties, and if I marketed the properties correctly, both agents and buyers would seek me out.

I've always tried to work both smart and hard. One of the things I did was to establish a mailing list by property type. I knew I could not be all things to all people and certain property types did not appeal to me. Remember, product knowledge and enthusiasm are your best friends (when you know you know and you know you know, confidence replaces fear).Pick out several property types and become the "guru" (Once again, you can be a squash in six weeks or a mighty oak in 100 years. I would send out letters quarterly to that property type which detailed my services and ended up with the offer of assistance. One thing. No letter went out that was not hand addressed.
The idea being to get folks to call me rather than me chasing them down. As I mentioned before, one of the five great rules of selling state "show a man how to get what he wants, and you can always get what you want. Also, "timing is everything" Take a man that has recently had a heart attack and has a "paid for" ranch or income property that he has to manage. He's seen your silly little flyer come across his desk quarterly for the last two years saying "If I can help, call me". He calls you and tells you his situation and that he believes he can do a better job of dealing with his "baby" than can his wife or kids after he's gone. You set up a meeting with him, go out have coffee and LISTEN!(you've heard the old bromide about two ears and one mouth). You might make a friend, you'll definitely learn something if your worth your salt, and you might walk away with the prospect of taking a listing. (I dealt with income properties mostly so I employed a two or three step listing process.)

A couple examples.
In addition to the properties I listed and sold, I ended up purchasing several income properties with owner financing from men such as this that had the confidence that I could take care of their baby! One of those properties I had refused to list as the first time we talked the owner wanted twice the price I told him I could sell it for. After three years of other agents taking the listing with no results, he called me, gave me the price (1/2 of his original asking price) and down payment.
You will lose some listings by being honest and holding your ground, you will sell some of those listings after other folks promise and don't deliver. Your job is not to be like a car with its engine revving and the shifter in neutral. Turning a lot of R's but going nowhere. As CAT sez "time is important" to both you and your prospective client.

On several occasions I would go have a cup of coffee with folks and we would start out with the idea of selling a property. It would turn out that they really didn't want to sell, what they really wanted was to buy another property. Sometimes I had just the listing that they were interested in. If I didn't, chances are I knew someone that did!
How hard was that. LISTEN!

Remember, sales is a numbers game, 10-3-1. Ya' gotta have both funnel vision and tunnel vision. Works in life also, especially when your "gainfully unemployed". But more on that at a later date!

Best

GWB

Great info Gato and GW....I truly appreciate it.

I am confident I have what it takes to thrive in this career....for two reasons: one being it is where my heart is, and two being I was raised to mind your manners, respect your elders, and just treat people decent (golden rule).

I have already had some good things happen in my first week, and I am looking forward to getting things off the ground over the next few months.

Also....if any of you would like, take a look at my recently added profile on the Whitetail Properties website:

http://www.whitetailproperties.com/agents/wade-abadie