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406 of 416 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Made My First Year In Real Estate a Huge Success!, July 15, 2004
This review is from: Millionaire Real Estate Agent: It's Not About the Money (Paperback)
I found this book on Amazon when I was just starting out in Real Estate. I read many of the how-to books because I wanted and needed to hit the ground running in my new career. This book, by far, was the most information-packed and practical guide to starting a real estate business. (By the way, another excellent book is "How to Become a Power Agent in Real Estate" by Darryl Davis).
I am an attorney and before starting my real estate career, I had my own law practice; and before that, I had my own computer consulting company-both successful ventures. I approached real estate from a businessperson's perspective and this book definitely speaks to the serious businessperson. There are so many books and articles telling new agents where to spend their time and money that by the time the agent figures out what works and what doesn't, they have spent their entire budget and an entire year, and have not made enough money to move on. That's why 70% of new agents drop out of the field by the end of their second year.
This book helps agents, new and seasoned, stay focused on the bottom line. Moreover, it answered the most important question for me--If I need to generate $80,000 in income per year (salary, not gross commissions), what activities do I need to do and how much will it cost me?
So many of the other books and articles claimed to have the winning formula by telling you that you must knock on 50 doors per week and make 50 cold calls per week to generate business. Their theory is that it must be painful if you are to be successful.
This book, however, gives you lists of ideas and says if you do "x" number of activities from this list, you can expect to receive "x" number of transactions per year. YOU get to pick which activities you perform (if you don't like knocking on doors, pick another activity--it does not have to be painful for you to be successful).
The other books tell you that you must know a lot of people--friends and family--and that you MUST call and hound them in order to get business. This book, alternatively, says that if you do not know a lot of people (if you are new to an area) or if you don't want to call your friends and family and beg for business, you don't have to. It gives you the formulas so that you can determine how much marketing you have to do with the "people I haven't met yet" group to generate the same results as you would have with your "friends and family" group.
Using this book as a business modeling guide, I closed just under $3 million in volume in my first year; and just over $7 million my second year. By my 3rd year in real estate, I had already broke through the $6 million volume cap that many seasoned agents hit as a glass ceiling and cannot move beyond. My manager with my first real estate company (Long & Foster) was hostile to my business model because she didn't understand it and because I was taking control of my own career. She wanted me to follow her formula and she wanted me completely dependent on her for my success (even though she never provided me with leads!)
Then Keller Williams came to Maryland! (Gary Keller, the author, founded Keller Williams to empower real estate agents to run their own successful businesses). I joined Keller Williams and now I am surrounded by agents and brokers who realize that the business is mine and that the broker's role is to support my success. They do not believe, like so many other companies, that the agent's role is to make the broker rich. This is obvious by the fact that they offer one of the highest commission splits in the industry, without charging a monthly "desk fee," and they share the profits with their agents! And their entire culture is based on the "Millionaire Real Estate Agent" business models.
If you are serious about approaching real estate as a business, you must read this book.
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171 of 177 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Real Deal, Can't Recommend Highly Enough, July 16, 2003
This review is from: Millionaire Real Estate Agent: It's Not About the Money (Paperback)
After reading this book three times through I'm struck with one overriding sense, "OK, this guy gets it". Can one book successfully sum up what's needed for a successful real estate career.....yes. I've been a real estate broker for 11 years and I've been to and heard just about every major "real estate trainer" out there: Wickman, Buffini, Stumpf, Kennedy, Ferry, Knox, Droz, DeLuca, etc. What they all offer are specifics of how they were successful realtors in their time. Which is really helpful, but what sets this book apart is that Keller looks at the challenge of treating your real estate sales career like a business. There is real wisdom here, not just about having a "successful" real estate career, but life balance, and personal fulfillment through our real estate business. I know a number of other agents who have read this book and one thing I've heard a few times is "I wish something like this was around when I got into the business", which are exactly my thoughts. Keller has kind of a tough love approach to spelling out exactly what is involved in true mastery as a realtor producing at a very high level. Another thing I find interesting is that this book could be about any industry, any career. The disciplines and business concepts he describes are universal. Keller starts with the open questions of essentially "what would it take for an agent to succeed at a really high level, and let's use a million dollars as a kind of random goal." He then builds with 1) finding the motivation within to climb this mountain, 2) How to earn a million, 3) how to net a million, 4) how to receive a million in passive income (a true business owner), and finally 5) how to put it all together with the key of focus driving your business. Keller has a direct common sense outlook and writing style which I found refreshing. This book applies to the new agent as well as a realtor who is already producing at a high level.
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37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, Applicable, Readable, January 19, 2004
This review is from: Millionaire Real Estate Agent: It's Not About the Money (Paperback)
Ill keep this short cause I see my opinion is shared by many other reviewers, but I found this book to be both inspiring and applicable, and much better than other real estate books Ive read, whether you are a seasoned realtor or a rookie. Heres why: 1. Unlike other real estate books Ive read, its not full of fly by night "creative" ideas that may or may not work. Ive read several books that want to spend all there time talking about everything from FSBO's to borderline deceptive approaches. This book gives you more of ground up approach and encourages the reader to discover his own techniques for producing listings. 2. Most real estate books Ive read are either too broad, or too specific. This book blends the two nicely, giving solid principles to form your practices on, and good ideas to sharpen your techniques, suggesting PRACTICAL ways of determining which methods work for you. Furthermore, it is NOT based SOLELY on what worked for the author, the information is based on empirical data gathered from the most successful realtors in the country. Very scientific approach. 3. This book goes beyond how to close the deal with John Customer and talks about how to build a business from the ground up, and what to do on the way there. 4. Finally, it gives dozens of histories of successful realtors which are fun and interesting to read. I highly recommend this book to anyone in the real estate sales field. Good read, inspiring, interesting, and practical.
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