Hello everyone! I am Bob and in this real estate video, I'm going to teach you what is hard about being a Realtor.

Now, everyone is trying to be successful in real estate and everyone is like, “Ok that's the hard part - being successful and making a lot of money,” but here’s the thing, to me, that is just a small part of becoming a “successful Realtor.” But this video is really about is becoming a “successful and GOOD Realtor.”

What is the hardest thing to do in real estate to be a good Realtor? Well, the answer is...telling the truth.

You know, there are a lot of ways to making money in real estate that are not necessarily the best ways, as in sort of messing with the numbers, kind of misleading, puffing, things like that. And I think the big part of this is that it is not even the individual real estate agent that might not do the best of things, there are a lot of issues in this industry that makes it to where an agent doesn’t even know he or she is giving out fake or misleading information. There is just so much hype in this industry. You can go between different, highly recognized groups in real estate and they won’t even agree on how to find certain numbers, certain rates of return if you are doing commercial, cap rates, etc.. There's so many different ways people in the industry use of calculating it and often they are just kind of playing with the numbers, but nethertheless they are all seen as highly credible institutions and, in general, they are, most are great.

There are just so many different things that an agent is looking at and, at the end of the day, those numbers can show differently from what the reality is. This isn’t just in commercial, it is in residential with the puffing. You can say, “Oh yeah, this is a great area, this is a great this, that, the other.” Or, even “The market! The market! It's going to be amazing! The market is never going to go down! You are not buying at the top of the market.” Then, bam! 2008 hits and everyone loses a third of more of their home value and you might have kind of seen that coming, but you got caught up in the excitement or you needed to make that commission, make your own mortgage payment. Because when an agent in real estate pitches sales day in and day out, the agent has a tendency to start believing what he or she says. This tendency only gets more real to the agent if he or she is with a group of other people in real estate and they are all saying the same thing and after a while you are going to start noticing that everything that is being said is absurd, but we are going to kind of say it anyway, but give them (clients) a warning. It starts to become more real to the group because they have just been saying it so long. So, you have to be careful. That’s why I am saying being a good Realtor is basically being a fully lucid person who will tell the truth even if it costs him or her a commission.

I pride myself on saying I do that and it can be really hard because I will occasionally lose a deal, but here’s the thing, as an agent, you gain so much credibility if you actually do that. You have to show proof that you do that with other people. You have to bring it up. If you do great, amazing things and not let everyone know about it, you are doing yourself a disservice. It might sound like you are bragging or something, but this is real estate, this is marketing, this is branding.

If you are doing something like this, it is something that is truly separating you from the herd and it is something that should separate you from the herd. So, you need to emphasize. Show a past of telling the truth and even show the pain, the scars of actually doing it. And I think that is what makes a really good Realtor because once you finally get into the right circles, the right groups, and they truly trust you, over time you become irreplaceable. If an institution has worked with you on a few deals and you have said no to suspected bad deals and yes to suspected good deals and you have done it for a few years, they are not going to get anyone else. Over time, certain groups just don’t change who they are with. It is like, “That’s my real estate guy. That’s the only guy I use.” That agent is going to get a bunch of calls. You have to do that if you really want to be a good Realtor and be successful in the long term. Key words are “the long term” in that. Don’t degrade yourself into being something like a different version of a used car salesman. Be a Realtor. Be the person you wanted to be when you actually went into this industry and over time it will pay off so long as you are actually working hard and making sure people know you are actually doing the right thing and you are willing to continue doing that.

I hope you like the video. If I omitted anything or if you want to know anything else, put it in the comment section. I really appreciate! If you like this video, click the like button, that really helps!

Thanks from Phoenix, Arizona and Fort Lowell Realty and Property Management!