Easiest tips to be a successful Real Estate Agent

[Music] Starss [Music] STS. What's up, YouTube? It's Graham here. I'm going to make a video today of the easiest tips that you can do to be successful in real estate.

We're going to start with this. Do you know what this is? This is called a light switch. It turns lights on and it turns lights off. It's pretty cool! When you're showing a listing, turn on all the lights. Well, start there; it's really easy to do. So many people don't do it because either they're lazy, they overlook it, or they think it's not that big of a deal. But let me show you how easy it is and how little time it takes. Lights on, lights off; just turn on all the lights.

Here's another example. You see it here: light on, light off; light on, light off. I think I may have broken it, actually. Oh, what the... All right, well it's funny I'm making a video about turning on lights and I broke it. Huh, that sucks! That totally backfired. The whole point is you want to turn on every light possible when you're showing a place.

Now here's an example: here's a light over here—light off, light on. To be honest with you, it doesn't make that much of a difference with a property like this to get so much natural light if the lights are on or off. But the point is it looks a little bit better when the lights are turned on. Even if it looks marginally better with the lights turned on, just turn the lights on! It's so easy to do. I feel like a lot of people just overlook it because they think it's not that big of a deal. It's maybe only going to make it 1% better, but if you can make your place look 1% better just by turning on a light, do it! It's the easiest, simplest thing you can do. It makes the place look better, it makes it look brighter, it makes it look cooler. Just turn on all lights; just start there.

This next part of the video is when you're doing push-ups or you’re doing sit-ups, whatever.

Let's get it! The next thing you need to do is use professional photography for any one of your listings. It doesn't matter if it's a $200 per month lease or if it's a $10 million listing; it doesn't matter. Use professional photography for every one of your listings. I personally prefer evening pictures, like right around sunset; I think it makes the place look the most vibrant. But it's really up to you! To use professional pictures, sometimes you need a wide-angle lens to make a room look a little bit bigger. Sometimes you need to use tactics of bringing in some additional light and flashes. Do whatever you need to do to make the place look appealing in photographs.

It's so easy to overlook a listing that has really shitty pictures. So many people do it! You're going to get a third of the people calling on it that you would otherwise if you had just better pictures. So just get better pictures. Taking it with your iPhone doesn’t count—that's not professional photography. Get a real photographer to photograph your listing. It makes a huge difference; it's going to bring in so many more people. It could be a small investment that could net the seller $5,000, $10,000, $15,000 more, sometimes $100,000 more, just by using the right pictures. Do it!

All right, we got a helicopter here. I'm going to film this again.

Another thing that I really shouldn't even have to explain, but I will because a lot of people find this to be an issue: It's just showing up on time. Show up when you say you're going to show up and be on time. Be a little bit early if you have to, but show up on time. If you say you're going to be there at 2, show up at 2! Show up at 1:55, 1:57. I don’t give a... but show up by 2 PM. You're there, you're ready, you're waiting. Don't show up late! It's the easiest way to turn people off. People just get upset; they get aggravated. When they get in that sort of frustrated mood, they just get turned off in general. Just show up on time! Don't want to piss people off; easiest way to please people is to be on time.

Also, when you show up on time to show a place, you shouldn't just let the client walk around on their own. Most agents would say, "Feel free to take a look around; let me know your thoughts, and if you have any questions." But instead, it's really important to be as descriptive as possible when showing a place. You can talk about how the kitchen was remodeled last year and how they used top quality finishes and how they matched the cabinet to the stainless steel appliances. You can talk about how this view is one of the best views you've seen. You can talk about how you're 10 minutes away to Century City. You can talk about all the restaurants here at Sunset Plaza, which you're pretty much walking distance to and all the that goes on in Sunset Boulevard.

Just be descriptive! When you're really excited about something, other people pick up on that, and they become excited about it too. So if you're talking about a place and you're all pumped up about it and you're really passionate about it, other people are going to pick up on that and they're going to feel the same way as you do. It's the best way to sell a place and it comes from a very authentic place as well.

Another one! Another one! Another one!

When somebody calls you, pick up your phone. If they leave you a voicemail, call them back as soon as possible. If someone emails you, get back to them within 5-10 minutes. Don’t wait! Don’t wait a day to get back to people! First of all, they forget about it. Most people that call you are in the moment; they want to see it as soon as possible. They want to talk to someone as soon as possible. By not responding to them or by waiting a day, you run the risk of losing the client. They could see something else they liked more; they can change their mind— a million things can happen! They can get busy; they could just forget about whatever. You lose the risk of losing the client and losing a sale if you don't pick up your phone!

So pick up your phone, call back voicemails as soon as you get them, respond to emails as soon as you get them. Just do it!

Another thing that I found is sometimes overlooked is not being ready to write an offer when the client wants to write an offer. So let's say you're representing a buyer; they call you at 10 PM wanting to write an offer. Be ready at 10 PM to write that offer and send it out to them for signatures as soon as you can.

For instance, for me, I keep my laptop within 5 minutes of me all the time. If I go to the beach, I'll keep my laptop in the car just because you never know when you're going to need it. When someone's going to call, when someone's going to need an offer sent out, when someone's going to need something to be emailed. Sure, you can do a lot from your phone, but there are some things you need a computer for. So, I keep my computer on me all the time.

It's like the same thing with myself; I always have my cell phone and my computer with me. Plus, especially if you're representing a buyer, you don't want to wait to submit an offer. Because there's a chance the seller is going to get another offer from someone else before you submit yours. And then all of a sudden, by the time you submit yours, you're competing with another offer and that’s not going to bode well for your buyer.

Because all of a sudden, the price starts to go up. The more offers they get, the more leverage the seller has, and your buyer is just going to be if they're competing with another offer. So just be ready as soon as you can to write offers when the client wants to write offers. Before they change their mind, before something else happens, before the seller gets other offers. Be ready! Especially in a competitive market; you want to be the first ones in the game.

Another one, one that I'm still struggling with admittedly, is you need to take everybody seriously. They may sound like they're a crazy buyer on the phone or they may sound like they're just wasting your time. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt! I've had people walk in my open houses in sweatpants and dirty t-shirts that could buy a $10 million house the next day cash if they wanted to.

Don't judge a book by its cover! Take everybody seriously until they prove otherwise because you really never know where your next buyer is going to come from or where your next deal is going to come from. You really never know who somebody is until you get to know them. Sure, there are people out there that are going to totally waste your time. You can kind of tell from the beginning, but at least give them the benefit of the doubt. Because for the time you waste with those that really aren't serious or really are just kind of wasting your time, you make it up for the one person that isn't wasting your time, that is serious, that will make a sale, that will refer you business.

So take everybody seriously; give everyone the benefit of the doubt! Speaking of which, I'm making a video right now, and my phone is ringing, so I'm going to pick up this phone call.

Oh yeah! So anyway, take everybody seriously. I've had a few instances where I've missed out on really good clients just because I've overlooked them. Here's one example that sticks out that I always try to think of when I see myself kind of gauging whether or not I want to work with a client.

I had four roommates contact me in maybe 2012, I'm guessing; maybe 2012-2013, somewhere around there. It was like 4 years ago, 5 years ago, and it was a group of four roommates that wanted to rent something like 8 grand a month. Usually, four roommates, 8 grand a month—it's just a headache coordinating with four people. That means four people have to like it, the landlord has to approve all four people, and most landlords don't want four young 20-somethings living in an expensive place. It's just a lot more work for me than what I like to put in for a deal when I can work with other clients that are generally a lot easier.

Some of it was out of laziness; some of it was just out of inconvenience—whatever it was, but I didn't really take this client seriously at all. But I still sent properties, and they identified a place in Venice that they wanted to see. I set them up on their own; I didn't even show up to the appointment because I'm like, "I don’t want to drive to Venice to show this place."

And then I really didn’t think much else of it. They didn’t like the place; it wasn't for them. But I sort of thought, "Well, you know, I'll just let this one go." But a week later, I go to the gym, and I meet the agent that showed them the place who was listing the house that they showed up to.

He was like, "Dude, these are really good clients. It's too bad they didn't like the place; would have loved to have them!" And he's like, "It's crazy how they work for..." and I don’t want to name the company, but it's a company that is in Venice Beach; that's probably one of the biggest tech companies in Venice Beach. So, you could feel free to Google that.

It was the four founders of this company in Venice Beach that I missed out on because I really didn't take them seriously from the beginning. And by the time I realized that and I followed up with them, they had already gotten another place. That was my foot in the door; that was my opportunity to get in with this special tech company that is now worth billions of dollars, that every company is trying to buy.

Because I didn’t take them seriously in the beginning, so take everybody seriously! You never really know who you're dealing with until you get to know them, until you take the time to see how serious they are. So learn from that mistake! I tell that story a lot because I messed up, but it happens. It was a learning experience, and you move on.

So, take everybody seriously!

So I think that's going to conclude this video. I'm filming this, by the way, in between showings. So when I have like an extra 20 minutes, I'll whip out the GoPro and I'll just talk and film something really quick for you guys. It's very hard to find the time then to take that and then spend an hour editing it and uploading it—a lot of work! I didn't realize how much work YouTube was going to be, but I'm going to continue doing it.

So just bear with me while I figure out time scheduling and like that of making these videos. But as always, I really appreciate you watching this! Add me on Snapchat, by the way; I'm getting really into Snapchat! Add me if you want to see cool dick pics and real estate videos and like cars. If you like this, please give a like! Comment down below if you have any questions, suggestions, whatever the... is on your mind. Just comment down below! Please subscribe if you like this and want to see more.

And until next time!