All Forum Posts by: Sean O'Dowd

EXP has a great reputation for training and is doing a lot of really good things out there in the market.

However, it's hard to say on the aggregate level that EXP is better than Coldwell Banker, for example. Your experience can be dramatically different between different offices and different teams.

The best tip I can give (I own a TC business, so I see a lot of realtors) is to find the agent whose business today is most similar to the one you want to have in five years. For example, let's say you want to be a top luxury team lead. Find out who that person is today, and then focus on trying to work with them

Best of luck!

That's a nifty platform, I've never heard of it either! Looked it up and seems interesting.

Outside of that, congrats on the great listing!

Honestly, a lot of agents my company (Close Concierge) knows uses the spreadsheet approach to help their clients choose from offers. The columns typically are:

• Purchase Price
• Closing date
• Inspection? (Y/N)
• All cash? (Y/N)
• Other contingencies? (Y/N)

Then, you can add in all the data as rows and highlight if something is good (green) or bad (red.). Eg: HIghlight an inspection contingency as red, in this case.

It becomes pretty obvious pretty fast which the best offer is then, and clients tend to love the simplicity 

I actually just mentioned a lot of this on another thread, rephrasing briefly below. In short, trying to get some experience on nights and weekends will increase your success rate for when you quit your job.

For example, working as a leasing agent for a big building would be a perfect way to get started.

Another option could be volunteering to sit open houses for agents. You could definitely find someone who would love for you to take that off their plate for the day.

A final option would be trying to work as a transaction coordinator. (Full disclosure: I own a transaction coordination business in Chicago, so I guess that would technically make us competitors?). TC's handle paperwork and all of the admin of a transaction, which would get you up to speed very quickly!

Landon has a great point; working as a leasing agent for a big building would be a perfect way to get started.

Another option could be volunteering to sit open houses for agents. You could definitely find someone who would love for you to take that off their plate for the day.

A final option would be trying to work as a transaction coordinator. (Full disclosure: I own a transaction coordination business in Chicago, so I guess that would technically make us competitors?). TC's handle paperwork and all of the admin of a transaction, which would get you up to speed very quickly!

With apartments upstairs and retail downstairs, you should absolutely be able to get a standard mortgage on that with 25% down. If you're hearing no from lenders, then a portfolio lender who isn't going to flip your loan is going to be your best bet.

Question though: is this going to be a jumbo loan?

If so, that might be the issue. You might need to go 30-35% down to get that to happen then

Congrats-welcome to real estate! My wife and I are in Cook County up in Wilmette.

Everyone has posted some really stellar advice in terms of what to be looking for, and I agree with most of what people have shared. 

Within this area of the state, Compass and @ properties are probably going to be your best bets from there. Training will absolutely differ between teams, but if you want to start narrowing it down, I'd suggest those two.

From there, I'd go through Compass or @ properties listings to find agents/brokers who have the business you want. Who has the business today that you want to have yourself in five years?

From there, you can compile a list of probably 5-10 teams. That would most likely be your best bet of where to focus first

Good luck!

Joining a team is going to be your best bet. In terms of how to find one, I'd do some research. Who is an agent in your city that has the business you want? If you could be any agent in your city in 5 years, who would it be?

Once you know who that person is, go to them and make yourself indispensable so you can join their team and learn from them

Love the hustle at 17!! I'd absolutely suggest working to find an internship with Sotheby's or similar.

One point I'd emphasize: it doesn't say where you're located, but luxury sales can be anywhere from $500K-$5M, depending on location.

If you're in a location where a luxury sale means a multi-million dollar sale, then the buyers are going to be extremely sophisticated and high earning. I would strongly recommend using your internship to get to know these buyers, how they think about a real estate purchase, and what their consideration set is. It's often very different than non-luxury sales.

If you can learn that at a young age, you will be in great shape for a long term career in luxury sales!

Hey Max, congrats on making the plunge to real estate! 

Have to tell a quick story for a sec because my wife and I were literally talking about this yesterday.

I've been a buyer for a lot of tech products and have sat on more demos with AE's than you can possibly imagine. My business provides transaction coordination services to top agents so I've also got an "inside look" at how top agents operate.

Anyways, I told my wife yesterday after I got off another demo that a B2B sales rep would make an incredible agent.

So, long story short, I think you're going to do fantastically well!

To answer your question explicitly: I would join your friend. It sounds like the friend is experienced and can give you a sound education on some of the specifics of the real estate industry. My guess is the friend will go more out of their way to help teach you than a random broker would, due to your friendship.

I think you're going to do a phenomenal job in the industry due to your sales experience: the only thing you need is to learn more about is real estate. I would work for the person who is most likely to teach you, which I'm, guessing is your friend.

Congrats on thinking about taking the plunge!

I'll echo some points mentioned and share others I've observed. For disclosure, I'm not an agent but my business provides transaction coordination services for agents so I have an "inside look" at how top agents work.

What are your hours?

This is the classic point raised above. Building a business, especially as a new agent, is an absolute crap-ton of work. Your hours are substantially long and 7 days a week when you first start. Once you build a business, they don't get much better either.

Are you a "people person?"

This is my observation, but I think it holds. Most top agents are strong extroverts because they are constantly dealing with new people (clients, lenders, inspectors, etc.)

If you enjoy being with people and are energized by it, then this career could be great. I think introverted personalities tend to get more tired based on the reality of the job 

Do you love your area?

Another observation, but top agents really seem to love their town/city and enjoy getting to know more about it and show it off to new prospective buyers and sellers. If you love exploring and feel a lot of pride in where you live, I think it bodes very well for you as an agent.