Ask any successful real estate agent and they’ll tell you that your attitude towards the job and their clients is a key contributor to continued positive transactions, but what do you need to do to improve your attitude – or even know what it is?
Basing yourself around be friendly and helpful with your knowledge of market insights, the right marketing tools and experience are one thing, but you should also consider presentation and a sense for the clients’ needs too – and perhaps even more so.
To expand further on this, we spoke with Stan Carling at Remax Masters, one of the premiere real estate agencies in West Vancouver. He has nearly 30 years experience as an agent and a broker, and he’s happy to share these insights as to how ‘the right mindset’ is super important for any agent, and what you can do to create it for yourself.
– Let’s start with Remax West Vancouver. we understand you’ve been with them from the beginning.
Remax Masters West Vancouver. That’s correct, I was one of the first agents to come onboard with them nearly 30 years ago, and I’m happy to say I’ve never had any reason to consider working for another agency. Ever since we started up here, our mission has always remained the same. We were going to give our clients great service, of course, but we would also be educating them about the real estate industry and the ‘inner workings’ of it, to help make selling or buying a home a more clear, transparent, and understandable process for them.
– What do you love most about your job?
That’s quite easy to answer. I love helping clients realize their goals of purchasing their first home or selling a long-time residence the most. I get a tremendous sense of fulfillment when I see the impact my service can have on people’s lives. It comes with extreme responsibility and drives me to be as accountable and ethical as I can. The satisfaction of an accomplished goal is always worth it. Especially when it benefits others.
– What would you say to beginners coming into the industry?
I would say don’t underestimate the extent to which you’ll be investing all of yourself in this business if you want to succeed. Especially in the beginning, and I’d even say it’s best to overestimate! Plan on long hours and putting in the time involved to educate and discipline yourself. It can be discouraging in the early years, but those who persevere and adapt the right ways will see their efforts pay off.
Also – and I can’t stress this strongly enough – compromising your integrity for a sale is something that’s a big no-no. It’s never worth it. Maintain the integrity of your business and it will so much better in the long term. In the short term it may sting to lose a sale or a referral, but in this business you should always be looking and thinking long term.
And last but not least, if you’re so fortunate to be a happily married man or woman, make sure your spouse is entirely onboard with your career choice and the ‘transitional’ period that comes along with it.
– What are the primary challenges facing the real estate industry at this time?
The industry’s managed to roll with the punches and stay upright pretty much right across the province – and the country really – over the years and I believe that’s a reflection of people valuing good service and an educated opinion. It also helps that most cities have a local Real Estate Board that does an effective job in monitoring realtors and making sure they conduct themselves in an ethical and responsible manner. I know I’m very thankful for the VREB here, and I commend them for the work they do
But to choose one ‘specific’ issue for you, I would say it’s that today’s real estate environment faces challenges from do-it-yourself advocates, who believe their frugal approach to marketing and selling homes saves the homeowners money, but it’s been proven a thousand times over that a knowledgeable and experienced professional realtor nearly always provides the best outcome with getting fair or beyond-fair value for your home and exposing it to the greatest number of prospective buyers. We are challenged to educate the public on the inherent value of our services, and some do it better than others.
– Is there a current listing of yours that you’re particularly excited about?
Actually, all of my listings are exciting! (chuckles) – Really I’m just thankful to have them and with them the opportunity to help nice people buy homes for their families. If you don’t feel that at any point during your career, then it’s time to do something new. Sure it’s exciting to earn money after you’ve worked hard to accomplish your goal, but often it’s intimately connected to the satisfaction I get from helping people get what they want. It’s exhausting at times and it always involves investing a lot of yourself, but the rewards are priceless.
– What’s the most important piece of advice for agents talking with first-time home-buyers?
It’s best to get them started by balancing their needs vs. what they want, to start conservatively and with research, and sometimes some deep introspection, before they start making up their mind on what kind of home they’re in the market to buy.
Next, I will recommend a trustworthy mortgage broker to help them determine much they can or should afford, and start the pre-qualification process. Getting started with researching a little bit about real estate terminology is also advisable and something that most people can be capable of. And how about asking your parents? They very likely bought their first home at some point too, right?
From there, I’ll offer to set up a market search in their determined price range, and then they really start to gain some perspective on the market and how far their budget can go. From my experience, that’s when the learning curve really turns and the buyers really feel comfortable digging into the process. And often times, if you’ve guided them in their discoveries and been friendly and available all the while, they’ll really appreciate you and a) be willing to work with you in the future too, and b) recommend you to others.
Believe me, the second part of that is HUGE!
Be patient, helpful, and guiding with your clients and try to always be dialling into ‘where they’re at’ in the process so you can be as involved as possible. It takes some doing to perfect it, but it’s oh so worth it in the long run. I wish you all well!
