A close friend of mine has been working in the real estate business for about 6 months. However she is struggling to make it. She is a hard worker and trust-worthy individual, but she is having problems in two areas. She has worked with two different agencies and in both of those agencies they are always pushing her to engage in unethical practices (such as forging documents and misleading the buyers/sellers). Of course she is not obligated, but if she does not do so she will not have any business. The second issue is that when it comes down to networking, male agents only want to network with her if she goes out with them. The moment she turns them down she looses that contact.Is there any advice you could give me so I could pass on to her, or is this how the R&E business is? Thank you in advanceEric
first of all you friend needs to do a better job when interviewing real estate brokerage companies for a job. she should not engage in unethical or illegal activities. she can lose her license and go to jail and it isn't worth it! that being said there are good companies out there and she can do research on any of them and ask lots of questions. as far as the men in the business, i am sure there are some that will talk to her or be nice to her because they want more but that is true in any business. real estate is actually a female dominated industry. she needs to be professional and demand respect and she will get it! it is okay to be friendly but there is a line that she should never let them cross. women flirt in every business, so do men the secret is to understand that whatever you do you have see all of these people over and over again and based on your actions would you be able to do that. if your friend wants more advise on how to find a good company she can send me an email or call me at 1-877-472-6810. i have been involved in the real estate and mortgage business for 22 years and i own a large real estate company in new york state good luck
No, the real estate business is not like that. Unfortunately for your friend these people think that she is naive because she has only been in the business for a short time. Tell her to start document situations in a log journal. She should also contact the Attorney Generals Office in her state. She can file a formal complaint about the unethical practices of these businesses. She should also contact an attorney right away for advice and a possible sit down. The more info she has documented, the better for her. Since she is in a tough bind for networking, tell your friend to contact mortgage brokers. They sometimes have clients that do not have an agent. She could also try Craigslist and even make postcards to send out to people. Place like Office Depot and Office Max have programs and all the paper to print out fliers and postcards. I am a Mortgage Broker in Washington State. I get leads through word of mouth and of course my clients. I do work with some agents at times. But one thing that I am able to obtain at no cost for me is a Farm List. Once I close a loan, I contact the title company for a the Farm List and receive info anywhere from 50-500 people in the neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods. I don't know how that works for real estate agents, but it wouldn't hurt to ask a title company for farm lists.
Where are you working? If she want's help have her email me.
Women in real estate have a tough battle, I believe. If they stick to their ethics they are termed bit***s and men aren't. My best advice for her (from someone in the field) is to find an agency that is woman or female headed, meet with the supervising broker prior to going into the agency and find one that also involved a lot of continuing education opportunities. Your friend could try finding her niche and making herself a standout in the market. Perhaps she is the agent known for helping first time homebuyers or helping retired people sell their home and downsize, foreclosures, college investments, etc. are all ideas she could use to figure out where she might want to make her mark. She'll need to advertise, advertise, advertise, and beat the streets to make it in this market. Tell her that standout ads catch people's attention and she wants to get both Buyers and Sellers to find her. There are a lot of agents out there, how is she going to stand out among the crowd? As far as ethics go? Tell her to stick to hers and watch her local RE bulletins for information on the ones who don't... they almost always get caught. Besides, in this sue-happy business the key is stick to your ethics, document everything and have a paper trail a mile long... that will keep her in business and out of trouble even when a deal goes bad.
