A career in real estate affords many choices – from residential to commercial sales and resales, to appraisal and mortgage financing. One choice, however, must be made – decide which path to take and create a career plan.
Why a career plan?
You have already completed several important steps in developing a career plan – having chosen real estate, you have identified your interests, evaluated your personality traits, and successfully completed your real estate education.
At this point, you should also have developed a business plan where you assessed your income needs and determined how much income you will need to generate annually, converted income needs to sales goals by determining how many properties you will need to sell in one year to meet your financial goal, and translated prospecting initiatives into sales goals by having selected methods to use to locate potential buyers and sellers.
Now you must decide where you want your career to go, and what knowledge and skills you will need to get there.
Select a Path
Select a real estate option that matches your personal preferences, interests, individuality, and income expectations. Selling options include residential resale, new home sales, condominium sales, rural and agricultural sales, recreational sales, and commercial sales and leasing. Non-selling options include property management, property appraisal, and mortgage financing. All options require, at minimum, the ability to communicate, to work independently, and master various technical skills. All options boast an abundance of opportunities and challenges.
Invest in Yourself
Taking CE courses is an investment in yourself. Learning builds on your current knowledge and skills, and inspires confidence.
Taking CE courses is an investment in the public perception of you and your profession. As a professional, members of the public expect you to be well educated and knowledgeable. They expect you to build your knowledge and skills, and to keep these current. Striving for excellence will only increase the credibility of your profession.
The College offers several online courses, such as Real Estate Professions at Work [$25 + HST], and the Click and Pick promotion where you can choose as many online courses as you like for $15 + HST.
Volunteer
Volunteering is an excellent way to gain experience and enhance your career, make important networking contacts, meet new people, and make a valuable contribution to the profession. You may be new to the profession, but you do have something to contribute – energy and enthusiasm, and, most importantly, a fresh perspective.
There are several volunteer opportunities from which to gain experience. Consider your local real estate board, the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA), and The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).
Don’t Forget to Evaluate
It is important to review your career plan to ensure you are staying on track. Do so at least once a year or if there’s been any significant change in your professional and/or personal life. Consider making a list of likes and dislikes of your current job. If the likes outweigh the dislikes, you are on the right path. If you have more dislikes, you may want to consider revising your career plan.
More Information
Real Estate Professionals at Work – http://bit.ly/183Ewe6
Click and Pick Promotion – http://bit.ly/1BUt23V
Career Planning – Mentoring Kit for New Salespeople: Training for Success – http://bit.ly/1CvaJrh
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