Everything You Should Have Learned in Real Estate School But Didn't

What do we know about ourselves in relation to how we learn? Do we know or realize what we don’t know? Or do we only research what we want to know when we realize we don’t know something?

When embarking on a real estate career, there is a lot to learn. Does anyone tell you that or is it like going through the woods and continuing to search for the well-worn parts of the path, pushing the underbrush out of the way as you go?

Should we first ask, “Why real estate? What does this job entail? Will I be good at it? How does it relate to the life experience I already have?”

I remember my own journey, and I believe everyone’s journey is a bit different. I was doing curriculum development for the arts and STEM and loved it, but I started to feel isolated and too cerebral. I loved the creative part of it. An acquaintance told me I would be good at real estate and encouraged me. I just sold the house where I raised my children and where our lives happened. The emotional feeling and profound meaning of that were still fresh. So yes, I thought. I want to help people find that. What could be better?

I registered for the real estate licensure course, part in person, part online. I enjoyed the people in my class and started to feel connected to a whole new world. The more immersed I became, the more there was to learn. It wasn’t just the course content. After the test, I thought I had arrived, but I truly hadn’t even begun. For the first time in my adult life, I was working with others where there was camaraderie. My former careers were competitive (albeit mostly with myself) and very stressful. This seemed like fun. People were encouraging. (I later learned they were not so much - human competitive nature is strong.) We did open houses together, CMAs together, prospected together, took classes and shared our stories. OMG, it was just the beginning.

The further I got, the farther there was to go. Truly, it became a black hole, and all the while I kept track of what the training opportunities were and what was sorely missing. I came from a much more detailed, specific world. One where you knew what you had to do and only you could do it. You got the best teachers and coaches and worked every day to get better than the day before.

I realized the training and education weren’t very thorough, and as a result, agents approached their work in a random way. Or, if there was a protocol, people lacked the ability to discipline or motivate themselves to be consistent. I learned that consistency is everything; follow through, some reliable systems and knowledge are required.

From this experience, I created a protocol for what to do after licensure. It became “What you wanted to learn in real estate school but didn’t.” Now I am the poster child for this and have loved sharing it. I long to help others in a way they can relate to and succeed in. The total really is greater than the sum of its parts.

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