Unless you’re a fifth-generation real estate broker and closing escrow runs in your blood, jumping into a real estate career can be overwhelming. You’ll almost certainly need a North Carolina real estate mentor, especially as you begin your career. Here are five reasons why.
1. You can use your mentor’s experience to your advantage
When you have a mentor in your corner, you can learn from their mistakes. Partnering with a real estate mentor means learning from his or her past experiences—good and bad—and putting those lessons to work.
2. You can learn best practices from your real estate mentor
Even after all the real estate pre-licensing coursework, studying, and exam prep, you’ll quickly find that on-the-ground experience will far outweigh what you can learn in a classroom. Some best practices can be learned only through experience, or with the help of a North Carolina real estate mentor. You’ll need to figure out how to manage your schedule, innovative ways to generate leads, best scripts for calling FSBOs, how to negotiate a short sale, and more. A real estate mentor has been there, done that, and can help you develop your own best practices.
Free Guide: Interested in a North Carolina real estate career? Download our free Career Starter Kit.
3. You can gain valuable sales advice
In your real estate courses you will learn all about negotiating deals, ethical guidelines, and basic contract requirements. But what if you’re tasked with helping an investor navigate the purchase of a foreclosure? What if you need to write in certain contract contingencies and don’t know the legal verbiage? How about negotiating an all-cash offer with international buyers? A mentor will usually be able to help you with all that.
4. You can grab a cup of coffee with your mentor
Sometimes the biggest benefit of having a mentor is having a go-to person with whom you can “talk shop” and kick ideas around. Your North Carolina real estate mentor will serve as your advocate, and will provide you with support throughout your first year—and, likely, beyond.
5. You can help each other
Real estate mentorship can be beneficial to both parties. While your mentor’s helping you, you’ll be bringing fresh ideas, valuable questions, and support to the relationship. Don’t make it a one-way street. The most beneficial relationships are those that feed each other.
Don’t be shy about asking someone to mentor you. Most brokers will welcome your interest. If you don’t know where to start, ask your broker-in-charge for advice on experienced brokers who may be willing to provide guidance and support.
