5 Pitfalls to Avoid When Getting Started In Real Estate

Pitfalls to Avoid When Starting a Real Estate Career

Residential real estate is a career field that is exciting, dynamic, and incredibly rewarding — with nearly unlimited earning potential and endless opportunities for learning and growth.

It is also a career path that exemplifies the old adage, “you get out of it what you put into it.” Many of the decisions you make early in your career can have an enormous impact on your future — either setting you up to create the sustainable, lucrative, and flexible business you’ve dreamed about, or limiting your capacity to grow and earn over time. 

Want to put yourself in the best position possible for success? Let’s explore five pitfalls or missteps to avoid when getting started in real estate: 

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How to Choose the Right Brokerage for Your Chicago Real Estate Career

How to Choose the Right Real Estate Brokerage

As you get started in real estate, joining the right brokerage is one of the most important steps you will take on your journey. The support of your brokerage is one of the biggest contributing factors to getting your new real estate business off the ground quickly and successfully. But with so many choices out there, how will you find the brokerage that will be the right fit for you — and for where you want to take your career next?

I encourage new-to-the-business brokers to look at seven factors when researching real estate brokerages. From most important to least important, those criteria are: 

  1. Access to management and support
  2. Training and coaching
  3. Office culture
  4. Technology
  5. Broker services
  6. Business opportunities
  7. Commission structure
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Lincoln Park Agent Spotlight: Millie Rosenbloom

Millie Rosenbloom Agent Spotlight

Millie Rosenbloom has had a long and celebrated career in Chicago real estate — and her unique perspective on the industry started at a young age. 

Growing up, Millie says, her mom and dad used to buy properties to fix up and sell. She moved a lot during grade school, while gaining a lifelong understanding and appreciation for architecture, building homes, and the many kinds of work involved in real estate along the way. 

Once she decided to start down this career path, Millie initially had something of a turbulent beginning.

“When I first started, I interviewed with Habitat. And they did not hire me because I didn’t have any experience. So I found a small little firm and went to work there, and six months later they closed their doors, unfortunately,” she says. “So I wound up going back to Habitat.”

This time, Millie interviewed and got hired. She then spent 15 years working her way up the ladder, eventually becoming part owner of the company. Over this span, she grew the brokerage division from 15 agents to 120, before selling it to Baird & Warner in December of 2007. 

“And I’ve been here ever since!” Millie says.

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How Office-Level Support Can Take Your Real Estate Business to the Next Level

Office-Level Support Staff and Management

Here at Baird & Warner – Lincoln Park, our brokers are some of the most productive in the city — and we know how important a strong support team is for keeping the flow of business moving. 

Consistently praised by our brokers as some of the best in the business, our office-level support staff includes multiple full-time administrators who are available to assist with listing management, marketing production, closing logistics, and much more. And with a full-time management staff of three, brokers in the Lincoln Park office have unrivaled support, guidance, coaching and mentorship at every stage of their careers.

Let’s take a deeper look at how our office-level support helps our agents to make the most of new opportunities, focus on their business strategies, and gain a competitive edge in the market: 

Operational Support: Freeing You Up to Focus On What Matters Most

Attentive, driven, and professional, our operational support staff provides our agents with the specialized support they need to run a full-time business. Having a dedicated support staff in our office frees up time for our brokers to focus on the lead-generating activities that are central to growing their businesses. Depending on your business plan and strategy, this might include cultivating leads online or in-person; preparing market research and putting it into practice; negotiating deals; attending listing and buyer presentations; learning and growing in ongoing training sessions or classes; or taking part in local networking events to grow your sphere. 

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Real Estate Training for New Agents: Three Tiers to Success

Real Estate Training for New Agents

Looking for training and coaching opportunities as you launch your Chicago real estate career to new heights? At Baird & Warner Lincoln Park, we have a training program and office culture that is designed to help boost your confidence and productivity from day one.

Whether coming to us with experience or brand new to the business, every new broker who joins our office is offered access to three important levels of training, including:

  • Corporate training
  • Office-level training, and 
  • Individual coaching and mentorship

These three distinct training opportunities work together to provide you with all the tools necessary for success, empower you to feel confident venturing into your new career, and help accelerate your success curve with a business plan tailored to your specific goals.

Curious about what our corporate, office-level, and one-on-one training can do for your real estate career? Let’s explore each of these three levels of training in a bit more depth: 

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New to Real Estate? Here’s How to Find the Brokerage That Will Be the Right Fit

Finding the Real Estate Brokerage That Will Be Right For You

When you’re new to your career in real estate, finding the right brokerage is one of the most important factors in determining your future success. 

With so many brokerages and local offices to choose from in Chicago, it’s important to do your homework and put in some time to find the place that will be the right fit for you and the career you want to build. 

When you join a brokerage, you’re choosing a professional “home base” — one where you can start building relationships, learning the ropes, and growing your business. With a decision this big, it can be hard to know just where to start your search. What factors should you look at in order to compare different real estate brokerages? What steps can you take to really find the one that will be the best match for your style and personal goals?

Everyone is different, and launching a real estate business is certainly not a “one size fits all” proposition. In my view, finding the right brokerage really comes down to evaluating three major components:

  • Training and coaching
  • Access to management and support
  • Office culture
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How to Get Your Real Estate License In Chicago

How to Get Your Real Estate License In Chicago

Are you ready for a career in real estate? I’m here to help set you down the path to success.

Working as a real estate broker is an opportunity to work in an industry that is flexible, fast-paced, and always evolving. Here in Chicago, being a broker is a meaningful opportunity to help build up your community. It’s an exciting and rewarding career path, with high earning-potential — and there’s never a bad time to get started. 

In order to become a Chicago real estate broker, you first need to get your Illinois real estate license — which means attending classes, passing an exam, and joining the real estate brokerage that will be the right fit for you. 

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