After binge-watching Tom Ferris’ and Gary V’s real estate business video guides and five straight seasons of Fixer Upper, you’ve found inspiration to start your career in the real estate industry.
But can I really start a real estate business? I thought only licensed real estate brokers have the right to establish a real estate business?
In this day and age, having a real estate business is not an exclusivity. As long as you’ve got the knowledge, ample resources, skills, and passion, you can see yourself with a flowing stream of income while doing what you love.
Starting a real estate business isn’t as complicated as some may think. In fact, it only takes 5 major steps to set up your property business. Here’s how the experts started their success in the saturated industry of real estate:
1. Visualize what you want your real estate business to achieve
Any successful businesses started off as an idea, so let your mind run free and imagine what you want your real estate business to become.
- Do you see it as your major source of income?
- Do you see yourself selling real estate to families or young professionals?
- How long will you work on your business to declare yourself a six-figure real estate maven?
- What kind of real estate do you see yourself selling? Villas? Condos? Suburban homes?
Don’t forget to jot down everything to help you see better if an idea has potential or not.
2. Create your business plan
Don’t feel overwhelmed by the term. It’s simply about identifying the points that make you different from the competition in the industry.
Here are some questions to ask yourself while writing your business plan:
- What is your niche? Where is your target farm area? Who is your target audience? Who is/are your potential competitors?
- What are your business’s mission and core values?
- What can you offer that will make you different from the competition?
- What things in your business will you be handling yourself? Which would you leave for your future staff? You should also finalize the business structure you want to adopt. Considering the benefits, starting a real estate LLC would be an ideal choice.
3. Do extensive market research and develop your marketing plan
When it comes to your marketing plan, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. The best thing to remember is that your marketing is a continuous process, so you need a strategy that continues to market your properties/services even when you’re asleep.
Here are some questions to consider for your marketing plan:
- What do you offer that no real estate business have?
- What are the current market trends in the property industry?
- How will you approach your target market?
Remember, when your marketing becomes too much to handle for you, you can always ask a professional like Edge Online for help. They can tackle the promotional aspect of your business while you continue to focus on your prospects.
4. Set up your finances
Mostly, startup real estate businesses can function at a $1000 capital. But it would be ideal if you can start with more than that, probably enough to cover your first few months of operation.
When you don’t have ample funds at the moment, you can always apply for a loan through banks or credited landers. But remember to borrow money only when you’re confident that you can pay it back on the agreed date. Otherwise, you can ask friends and family for help.
5. Establish your online presence
Whether you’re planning to set up a physical office or not, the integral part of your business is your online presence. It’s where you can gather the most number of leads since almost all types of target markets are now online.
Here are the things you need to set up to start establishing your online presence:
- Website
Think of your website like you’re online office or store. It’s the best place to provide all the information about your business, such as:
- The properties you sell
- Your elevator pitch (why should people choose you as their agent)
- Your contact information
Your website is also the best place to gather leads for free if you play your cards right.
- Social media accounts
Social media is the best place you can go to for marketing your properties/services and to establish authority in your niche.
You can gather leads here for free if you stay consistent with sharing useful content, or use every social media’s advertising options to collect prospects in a short period of time.
Facebook’s the best platform to start building your online presence. Almost everyone has an FB account, so your audience reach here is wide.
Aside from Facebook, it’s recommended to build your presence on these platforms too:
- Instagram and Snapchat (for photos)
- LinkedIn (for reaching out to prospects)
- Twitter (for sharing real estate news and trends)
The only reminder here is to provide as much information as you can to your social media profiles so people won’t have to ask around for minor things from you.
Remember, gaining success in the real estate industry doesn’t happen overnight. It takes years, but with the right dedication and passion, along with the ability to keep up with the trends in your market, your name will be among the success stories in the real estate industry!
