I have my first house paid for, livable by July at the latest. I would like to build a portfolio, if you had to start over would you run off a HELOC loan and reinvest or would you save cash and take the good buys as they come?

Anybody work as a broker from home? How is it? What is it like? Currently in the process of getting my license and looking to work for a online (aka cloud) brokerage.

I spoke to a broker today that I met through my business connection (interviewing where I want to hang my license after my test) and something seemed very fishy. She has a realty group and told me that she was actually “interviewing” me for the group she’s a broker of record for. However, when I went to the realty site, they have no listings & only an mls of properties $80mil and up. She said they provided leads and the leads were government & hospitality. Her listing/sales records that I found by searching her ig, Facebook and realtor.com were all for homes in the range of $340k - $1mil. And she’s had no activity for a year.

The website had a photo of said “principal” with his name, red flag was that this photo was AI generated. I searched his name through LinkedIn and the page also had another version of this very AI looking photo. His employment history says he worked as a wholesale account executive for a mortgage lending company that closed 10 years ago (searched them up on Google, 2 reviews, permanently closed & website removed), his LinkedIn also said that he currently is the Senior Catering Sales manager for a private specialty restaurant company (can’t find anything past 2020 through searching) only problem is, this specialty company only works in India… no operations in the US. And his LinkedIn had nothing related to real estate. I found his “profile” on Instagram and Facebook and it’s filled with a bunch of AI generated spam videos with weird captions. He also apparently has a website that says he’s a musician?

This led me to my next investigation, the DRE. DRE has no record of his name, the group that the broker of record is attached to, and the realty group has the same name as a group in Chattanooga (only difference is this shady group has a “The” in front of it.) DRE has a record of the broker I spoke to.

She then began to tell me that they don’t have an office but would like to get a few in the future. (The website has their offices listed in a very nice building in Woodland Hills). I asked her for the total number of agents they have, dodged the question. Asked for the name of their top performer, dodged the question. Asked how many of their deals are commercial or residential, dodged the question. She also made it very clear that she has passed on multiple experienced agents, and emphasized how much she loves freshly licensed agents because they’re hungry.

I then asked the fees, split, etc… $85 tech brokerage fee (monthly) $100 onboarding fee 50/50 split

I can’t find anything on this group besides the website. No reviews, no history, nothing.

Is it possible she is running a scam? Something just seems so off about this entire thing. Maybe I’m just paranoid 🥲

The weird thing is that I met this broker before.

Signed up they have class quizzes I wasn’t able to get all the answers after we did them and the instructor and the institution will just not release them. I wanted to use these for finals prep. He shared them in class but I didn’t jot them down now he won’t give the answers.

Also the instructor can be quite rude and picks on me in class I’m really starting to lose it.

I saved many quizzes to review later but wasn’t always able to grab all the answers. I’m finding this quite terrible behavior. I don’t really wish to leave the course either and don’t understand why they’re being so stubborn.

Edit: I’m not sure why everyone keeps commenting on questions. I did ask questions but I stopped and when I stopped and just stay quiet he keeps making personal comments out of nowhere.

In your opinion how important is email blasting to market your listings to other agents and brokers?

Is it worth the time? I know some agents send me emails all the time and other agents don’t bother with it.

As the title says, I want to know if being in the top 16% of real estate agents nationwide is a big enough accomplishment to put in my Instagram bio? Does it sound like a big deal or does it just highlight that I’m not the absolute best/not in the top 10%, 5% etc.

What are your thoughts on this Instagram outreach strategy that my coach told me to do for getting new ‘sphere of influence’ people in my CRM.

Here’s the approach:

1: Audio message who follows me with something short like: “Hey, it’s been a while since we talked!” or “Hey, can you help me with something real quick?”

2. If they respond, I’d let them know I’m working on new marketing material for my real estate business and would love their feedback.

3. If they agree, I’d ask for their email to send it over.

4. Once they send their email, I’d add them to my CRM and include them in my email drip campaign about buying/selling tips, investing tips, free events I’m doing etc..

My followers are a mix of family, friends, past coworkers, college friends, and people that follow me but have never talked to.

I see how this could work to grow my list, but I also wonder if it might come off as weird or spammy.

What do you think? Would you be open to this kind of message from someone you follow but don’t talk to often?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

My friend has a 12.5% stake in 3 businesses in San Anselmo, CA with a storage unit attached. All three on the property are valued at about 2 million-ish. He can NOT find a realtor to take his listing. Does he have any options other than doing nothing and sitting and waiting for the majority owner to buy him out like the others? Are there any realtors that handle these types of transactions?

I am still unlicensed and working on the exams. I am curious to know more about how working realtors handle this. It seems to me that this line can be fuzzy. As a future listing agent I owe loyalty and confidentiality to my client...but then there under the mandate of reporting material adverse facts...there are things I must also report to the buyer's agent that my client certainly will be hoping that I won't share. How does this play out in real life? And is the reporting of MAF's really about protecting yourself from lawsuits more than it is about protecting the buyers? It seems that way to me.

Example: I have been a client and sold with a realtor more than once and both times my realtors, upon learning an MAF about my property were like "well...let's keep that to ourselves..." And then during client visits when potential buyer's come through they always wanted me gone in case I might let slip something "unwise" about the property to the potential buyers. So what I can see is that in practice, MAF works differently than I have been taught in my courses.

What's the craziest reason why a buyer backed out? Have you ever had to drop a client? Cheapest property you sold? Most expensive? Any gross houses that you managed to sell or even refuse to try?

Is there a kind of person that I could hire around Dallas to find a rental for me, or is there a person that i call and they get paid through their company or anything like that? I need to find a place but i don't know where to start tbh as it's my first time finding my own place

Edit for clarification: I'm looking for a house

How do you like to store text messages that aren’t sent within a CRM for record keeping? I got a new phone and I have 400k texts because I dont have anything auto delete due to the need to keep texts in case of anything.

I’m thinking it would be great to have a task item after closing to upload messages to a file folder so I can delete them off my phone eventually.

Does anyone have a process they can recommend?

I just wonder about your honest and real experience.

I own Taco Street Locating, a small independent locating agency in Austin with operations in Dallas and Houston. I've closed over 500 deals. Learned tons about the industry and niche. Hope to answer questions for people looking into the biz

Hi everyone I wanted to know what’s some ways I could prospect for new clients. I’m not sure exactly what to do. Everyone keeps telling me to cold call or door knock, I’m just so nervous to cold call.

So not sure if this is allowed here but just trying to pick the brains of some realtors. I bought a house less than a year ago it’s my first home, the contract stated the seller was to have all personal property removed by 4/7/24 and needless to say he didn’t remove it after i demanded he get it. What’s the standard practice for when the seller leaves item if the contract specifically dictates a removal date? Side note now he’s suing me 🤷🏻‍♂️

I’m a year in, only closed once. I have written many offers that just didn’t make the cut whether I did or didn’t know it would. I’m stressed, wanted to save 6 months salary of my current job and quit to focus full time in real estate (which would only be $10-12,000). I’m tired, down, and close to tears. But I absolutely do not want to stop. I actually like being an agent, it feels like a game to me. I haven’t really felt like this with any job or field. I’ve seen agents who joined the team after me, working or not, already pumping out more closed deals like nothing. I’m worried my team would be tired of me not closing anything and toss me out. But until then I will commit to stick it out and make a career and future for myself. If newer agents are doing better than me. I need to get stricter with myself. I know I can do better, I blame my day job due to how much it drains me mentally and takes up prime time I could be doing anything else real estate. Any day I’m not working there, I am doing showings and following up with people. I am working on cold calling people more and trying to be more consistent. I just wish I am in the position to quit this job so I can breathe and live real estate. But I need to commit more. I really see a lot of people fizzle out because they gave up too easily. I refuse to give in, nothing great comes easy. I don’t need to be great, just great enough! Is there anyone that has been in a similar position as me? Curious to how you navigated these obstacles and made something of yourself.

I am a Canadian agent in Vancouver, specialize in the West End. This is the area where I market myself the most. I have a great website whose design I leverage for marketing materials. The website is called mywestend.ca

I have garnered some leads from the website, it is growing. My goal is to create more content this year! I am looking to do some more farming in the area, as to garner more leads specifically through post. Bulk mail-outs tend to mostly end up in garbage or many people have red dots, so Canada Post doesn't deliver.

I have had some success with targeted addressed mail to buildings. This way, I can be very specific. Does anyone have success stories or tips on how to maximize ROI -- as to what sort of content to send? If you have any examples that would be much appreciated too... Thanks for your input.

Anyone have any tips on studying for the Texas real estate license? Course provider suggestions? Thank you in advance!

Have any realtors partnered with business brokers? I’m trying to do a little bit of due diligence on how to position myself to find business owners that want to buy or sell commercial properties. I’d think a strong relationship to build would be business brokers. Has anyone gone down this road before? How’d it go? Pros and cons?

From what I’ve read online a lot of business brokers already have a license to be a realtor and they just throw that in but I guess you could say I just don’t know what I don’t know.

Hey guys, I’m having trouble finding leads since nobody in my life is moving right now. I got my license at the beginning of the month but just got MLS access two weeks ago so all of the work I’ve done is in the past two weeks. I’ve been called FSBOS and have been getting mostly voicemails and haven’t called two many expired gets since there hasn’t been many in my area lately. What more can I do?

Hi im wanting to stage this new listing I have. Its a new build any staging tips on a budget?😁 I have a dining table I found at a thrift store that’s pretty nice and I was planning on using fold up tables for the bedrooms, but I don’t know what to do for the living area or kitchen.Thanks

So I recently got my WV license. I’m also licensed in MD/VA/DC but have a different broker for those states. Both brokers are in the Bright MLS service area.

If I go to list a home in WV it will only populate my primary broker from MD/DC/VA. Does anyone know a work around for this? I submitted a request to Bright but haven’t received a response yet.

Any realtors open to working with wholesalers. I currently have a pool of buyers in Houston who are actively looking to purchase distressed properties. These buyers are not interested in lowballing sellers but are specifically seeking homes in need of significant repairs, with owners who are open to negotiation and cash offers. We are also flexible and willing to discuss commission terms that work for all parties involved. If this aligns with your expertise or interests, I would love to connect and explore how we can collaborate effectively.

So I’ve been seeing lots of “tired of cold calling? Try my paid method” ads and it seems in this market, the only people getting listings are very experienced agents or celebrity agents. I’ve been licensed since December. Right now I’m cold calling and door knocking. Trying to use my sphere but there’s no motion there. But I’m just wondering if anyone is experiencing the same thing. I’ve been considering trying those paid methods but I’m not sure if it’s worth it.

What resources do you point your clients towards to use to guide them when they want to find the best schools and safe neighborhoods. I want to stay compliant, but also know that they look at you blankly when you, "the neighborhood expert", can't share with them the information they are looking for to make their decision.......

Hey everyone, does anyone here use OpCity? If so, are they still providing consistent daily referrals?