10 Questions you will want to ask a Broker Before You Hire Them.

You have just earned your real estate license and now you are looking for a broker and company to work with. Here are 10 questions to ask

1) How long have you been in the business? (The person, not the company)

2) Why are you still in the business?

3) Why did you choose to work for this office and this company?

4) What do you do to help a new agent get started?

5) Thinking of your last 5 new agents that you’ve hired:
a) How many are still at the office?
b) How much did each of them earn so far?
c) What did they do to become successful?
d) May I talk with two of your new agents?

6) Thinking of the agents you have:
a) How many agents are in your office
b) How many do you want?
c) How many have left in the past year?
d) Why did they leave?
e) May I talk with 2 of your experienced agents?

7) What is your business model? How much does it cost me and what do I receive in return?

8) What makes you different from your competition?

9) What do you look for in an agent? What are your expectations of me?

10) When I have a problem or a challenge how do I get your attention? How do I get guidance from you? Evenings, weekends?

The answers to these questions will help you decide whether or not you want to work with this broker. Don’t forget….while they are interviewing you…..you are interviewing them. You want to make the right decision, the first time.

Now that you have your real estate license.

You have your real estate license……..now what???

In the state of Washington a new licensee must place their license with a Broker in order to practice real estate. This can be a daunting decision. How do you choose a broker or company to work with, what do you look for, how do you choose?

Imagine you want to go swimming. You have found a group of indoor pools. You need to figure out which pool you want to jump into. You don’t want just any pool, you want one that is clean, warm, not too crowded, one that has dry towels and nice showers. Sounds easy right……now you have to choose by looking in the windows you can’t actually go in. If you are lucky you might be able to ask some of the swimmers who are leaving the pool. You ask questions to try to get an idea what its like at that pool. You know that once you make the decision you are going to be jumping into the deep end, so you want to make sure you make the right decision, the first time.

Trying to figure out an office to join can be the same way. If you take the time it can be a little easier in that you will want to interview the manager. You will want to talk with several agents who are working for that office. Talk with a couple of long time agents as well as a couple of new ones.

This is not a time for quick decisions, even though the broker may be pushing you to join. I’ve had agents ask me if it is hard to get a job once you have a license. The challenge is not getting a job offer (many brokers will hire you on the first meeting because they just want to put another license on their wall) the challenge is trying to decide why you might want to work for a broker that is so willing to hire you after only one brief meeting.

Click here for a list of books that I recommend to agents just starting the business.

Housing Stats for 10/9/2005

Watching stats like these will help you determine what kind of a market you are in.
For Kitsap County Washington as of 10/09/2005

917 Active Listings
50 Homes went Pending last week
50 Average Days on Market

$271,515 Average List Price
$271,198 Average Sale Price

100-% List price to sale price ratio

18.34 weeks of inventory

Learn more about Defining Your Market.