Real Estate and Education....inextricably linked! (edit/delete)

It's the end of the real estate agent CE  cycle in Pennsylvania, and probably not a minute too soon. 

Speaking for myself, I'm tired of hotel rooms, car trips, restaurant meals, and (sometimes) having to

point out that during CE, returning emails on your smart phone is not allowed. The providers are burned

out too--they all offered lots of courses back in January and February, which were sparsely attended, and 

in some cases, cancelled due to low turnout. Now it is May; license renewal is by May 31st, and everyone

woke up about 5 weeks ago and said: "Gee, I need my CE!"  Classes are pretty much full, and I've had

students show up with colds, flu, and broken bones, just to get the CE done in time.  The variety of

courses offered is great; as usual, some students opted to get the least expensive 'butt time' for their

fourteen hours and paid little, expected less, and hoped they would get out early. So I hear--those are

not my classes. My providers (the schools and associations who hire me)  charge reasonable rates, but

both the providers and I have high standards. And no, there is no getting out early.

Tomorrow I'll be teaching the REBAC eBuyer course, which I just re-wrote with Amy Chorew. It's a fast

and fun 7 hours, very informative and full of ways for agents to improve their business. And not a

moment too soon--according to Inman News, NAR just unveiled their annual report about agents and

income--the bad news is in--agent income is down. Experienced agents, NAR reports, make more money.

That's no surprise to me. I teach real estate in a state, where, if we license 100 people on January 1, by

December 31st of the same year, 50 are gone. By December 31st of the following year, another 25 are

gone, leaving one quarter of our original class. With those odds, you would think new agents would be

hungry to learn all they could---and some are. Sadly, some aren't. They were seduced into this business

by a fantasy--real estate agents drive around in immaculate, late-model cars, show beautiful, well-kept

homes owned by very reasonable sellers to equally reasonable buyers--and then get to keep every

penny of the commission. If you are in the business, you know how far off the mark that is--this is a

tough business. Some REALTORS drive trucks and Jeeps; some houses are more like hovels; some

sellers are downright unreasonable--and some buyers are worse. And finally, after splitting with the broker

and any co-op agents, and paying your own taxes, your own health insurance, your own gas, your own

signs, business cards, MLS dues, etc.--well you get to keep some of that money. So every CE cycle, I

ponder the same things over again--if agents have to take 14 hours of CE anyway--why aren't more

of them taking courses that could actually help them be better at their job? Why aren't they showing up

to learn to price, to learn to market, to learn negotiation, etc. Why are they stuck in the mold of

taking courses whose titles they can't even recall?  In defense of my best students, they aren't all

on this page. I have some great students who will be in class this summer and fall--taking designation

courses like ABR, GRI, SRES, SRS--and getting a 'three-fer' here in PA--broker credit, CE, and part or all of

a designation. Those folks never worry about getting their 14 hours--they always have more than their 14

hours. That's because, even if they have their CE, if a good course comes around--they take it--on the

chance that they'll learn more....and earn more.

Melanie J. McLane, ABR, CRB, CRS, ePRO, GRI, RAA, SRES, 32 year veteran of the real estate industry. Offering training, speaking and consulting throughout the industry, I teach everything from ABR to USPAP. Certified ePRO Instructor. To contact me, email me at: melanie@TheMelanieGroup.com or visit my website: www.TheMelanieGroup.com

Pricing real estate has never been a more important skill than it is today. Yet, when I stand in front of a room full of students, I can tell by their faces that I'm the first person presenting basic fundamentals of pricing and valuation to them.  In many states (including mine, PA), the day we give a real estate salesperson's license out, we empower that person to go out the very next day and price a home for sale! This is scary--one of the reports I read within the past week was the case of a disgruntled homeowner suing the agent for allowing them to pay too much for the home.  In virtually every state, pre-licensing real estate courses are 'taught to the test'--in other words, instructors teach what students need to know to pass the test. Yet, virtually any new agent you talk to will agree that the courses did not tell them how to actually sell real estate. Never has education and training post licensing been so important for an agent's success.  The course I taught last week was a CE course I wrote, entitled: "What's it Worth?" As I type this blog, I'm in a hotel room--tomorrow I'll do a GRI "Pricing and Evaluating Real Estate". Here's my point: if you are a new agent, a seasoned agent, or even a successful, seasoned agent--you can never learn too much about anything--including pricing and valuation. There is an old adage in real estate: "A property priced properly is half sold already." Pricing property properly for a seller leads to satisfied clients and listings that sell. Pricing property improperly for a seller usually leads to frustration on both parts--you can't sell it, they won't reduce it and everyone gets to be miserable.  Pricing property properly for a buyer leads to satisfied clients that will return to you to sell the home, because you didn't let them overpay--or if they did overpay, you told them they were! Allowing a buyer client to overpay for a house is not only a violation of your fiduciary duties to your client, it's a stupid way to practice real estate.  I've written several articles and courses on pricing property, and I've got a new course in the works right now.  If I'm not in your neighborhood--find a qualified instructor and course near you and figure out how to do this right. And, if you are a consumer, it goes without saying that you ask the agent several direct questions: "How will you arrive at a price for our home?" "How long have you been in the business?" If not long, ask: "Is there someone at your office with more experience who will help you price my home?"  "What factors do you consider when you price a home?" "What homes are competing against mine?" "What is the average list price/sales price ratio in my segment of the market?" "What are the average days on market?" By the way, if you are an agent, and you can't answer these questions--you better learn how!

Melanie J. McLane, ABR, CRB, CRS, ePRO, GRI, RAA, SRES, SRS 32 year veteran of the real estate industry. Offering training, speaking and consulting throughout the industry, I teach everything from ABR to USPAP. Certified ePRO Instructor. To contact me, email me at: melanie@TheMelanieGroup.com or visit my website: www.TheMelanieGroup.com