Matthew Maschler:
Welcome to the Real Estate Finder podcast. I am Matthew Maschler. I’m a real estate broker with the signature real estate companies here in Florida. And, um, I want to talk to you about being a real estate agent and what the job entails. And as a real estate agent, I sometimes think that I wear a lot of hats. Um, and there’s things that I do and skills that I have that I see other agents, um, who are very, very successful. Um, maybe they don’t have one or two or three of these skills, but they have other skills. Uh, for instance, I am not good at interior design. I’m not good with colors. I’m not good with, um, how do you think it would look if we move this wall, right? Uh, but I think that’s very, very important, uh, as a, um, ability, uh, an important skill that a real estate agent has.
Uh, it’s just that there’s so many hats that a real estate agent wears that, um, it can be confusing at time. So I want to talk about the different hats that real estate agents, uh, wear. Um, I went to law school, uh, so I’m very good at the documents and the contracts and that part of, um, being a real estate agent. And, and I don’t expect other people to have that skill, um, because while there’s law on the real estate, uh, class, um, it’s not, um, it’s not the same as, as, as as full law school. So there’s things that we learn in law school about contracts and execution and consideration, et cetera. Uh, that can come in very, very handy, right? Very often, um, we get situations where, uh, we don’t know if there’s a contract, right? Um, there’s a buyer and a seller of real estate, uh, but did they, um, draft an offer?
Was the offer accepted? And is there a legally binding contract? Um, and if there’s a breach of the contract or an alleged breach of the contract, you have to first find out if, if a contract even existed, right? So that level of, of, of, of depth, um, I don’t see in, in most real estate agents. Um, but it’s scary, um, because I’ve heard real estate agents say, oh, you don’t need a lawyer. You have me, right? But just, uh, but just learning law for, for the, uh, real estate exam, uh, doesn’t give you everything that you need, um, to, to be a lawyer. So in Florida, uh, we have a lot of, uh, fill in the blank contracts and forms. And one of the reasons why you’re not supposed to add too much to it is, um, because then you’d be dealing with the unauthorized practice of law in, in fact, I had a, um, um, no, that’s a story for a different day, but it was, uh, um, you know, we have, you have, um, leases and, and the lease agreements.
Um, they really can’t be changed by real estate agents, um, because doing so is considered the unauthorized practice of flaw, and sometimes, sometimes I see it. Um, so that’s one skill, uh, that you need to be a good real estate agent. Uh, you also need to be really good with people. And sometimes lawyers aren’t very good with people, uh, but you need to be very good with people because you need good communication skills, right? Real estate agents need excellent communication skills to effectively negotiate deals, manage client’s expectations, and maintain relationships with other industry professionals. Um, I have a real estate deal going on, uh, right now that’s totally blowing up, and it’s because of bad communication. I don’t believe that what I’m saying to the other agent is getting from the other agent to their customer. Uh, I don’t believe the customer understands what the issues are and the ramifications of, uh, of what their positions are. And I, and I’m, I can’t talk directly to this other agent’s customer, um, but you know, he’s wrong and he’s giving his agent bad advice, and it’s gonna result in a lawsuit, and I can save the deal. My seller is getting very, very upset with the buyer. But the buyer, I don’t believe is even understanding, uh, what the issues are because, uh, because their agent does not have good communication skills, being able to communicate clearly and effectively is critical for a real estate agent.
And we’ve all seen salesman, right? We’ve all seen cheesy salesman on TV and movies, right? You know, you know, car salesman and other stereotype types of that. But real estate agents are essentially salespeople. And as such, they need to have strong sales skills to persuade and convince clients to buy or sell properties. Um, I sometimes forget about that. I forget about, I sometimes act too much as an advisor and not as a salesman because, you know, I sometimes I think, well, it’s not my house, right? They’ll, they’ll make the decision, but sometimes people need to be sold a little bit. So sometimes we have to take our, take our advisor hat off, or our lawyer hat off and put in our salesman hat, because, you know, sometimes, you know, parties take positions that, that don’t necessarily reflect their goals, and they need to be sold, and they need to be persuaded to do the, to do, to make a decision, um, one way or another.
Uh, so you need to be a salesman. Uh, you need to understand basic sales, um, manship and that, and besides an advisor, clients, it’s also to sell yourself, right? To convince people to use you, right? To convince buyers or sellers to hire you. You need to be a salesman. So, being a salesman, understanding the client’s needs, presenting our properties in a compelling well, and being able to close deals, um, that is a, a something that real estate agents need to do. Some of the best real estate agents, and by best real estate agents, I, I mean, most successful are salesmen. Um, the problem is sometimes salesmen, you know, work for their own best interest, right? And, and you see that, right? I’m like, I’m like, you know, there’s, there’s a guy I’ve, I’ve, I’ve seen for 20 years, and I think, and I can’t stand the guy, but he’s a good salesman because he sells a lot of real estate, right?
Um, he may not, um, have his customer’s needs at heart, right? As a lawyer and, and say, what you will about lawyers, you do want what’s best for your customers, right? Uh, but that’s why lawyers charge by the hour and salesmen are on commission. But being a commission salesman, you need to be a good salesman. Um, to be a real estate agent, you need good organizational skills, right? To keep track of multiple clients and properties and transactions at the same time. But you need to be good, um, with detail, right? Real estate transactions involve a lot of paperwork and legal documents. So you have to have good attention to detail. You need good time management skills, right? Because sometimes you don’t have a boss telling you what to do, and you, you’re not responsible for someone. So, um, one in, in some of our trainings with some of our advanced, um, agents, you know, we, we keep track of what are they doing to make money?
What are they spending their workday on, right? How much of it is lead generation? How much of it is how representing sellers, how much is rep, rep representing the buyers? Um, and if you don’t have good time management skills and you don’t have a boss, maybe you’re spending too much time, uh, playing on Facebook and calling it, uh, social media. Uh, but being a social media marketer is also a very important, um, skill that you need to be a real estate agent, right? You know, so you, you, you, you’re part lawyer, part salesman, part social media marketer, right? And we didn’t even talk about knowledge of the real estate market. Um, some real estate agents don’t have any idea of what’s going on in the real estate market. Um, but you know, you get by with the inventory that you have. Um, but obviously many real estate agents have a deep understanding of the real estate market.
Uh, I know personally in 2005 when I was looking for a house, uh, one of the listing agents wasn’t my agent, but one of the listing agents, uh, spent a lot of time measuring rooms and talking about price per square foot. Um, and some real estate agents spend a lot of time measuring rooms and talking about price per square foot. Um, but some real estate agents, they kind of need to be psychologists or psychiatrists even. Uh, but you know, when you’re, when you’re representing a, a buyer, uh, that’s a family, right? Uh, if you know two parents and, and a couple of kids, um, you know, the size of the room doesn’t matter so much. The actual square footage of the room doesn’t matter so much. It’s how the room will be used and by who. Um, so, you know, the, the, the buyers have to see themselves, uh, living in the house and how they’re gonna live in the house.
You know, measuring a room, you know, uh, the square footage of one house, if two houses have the same square footage, um, they’re not necessarily equal. The layout of, of, of, of, and the plan of the house could be very, very different. So, um, so sometimes you need a psychiatrist because, you know, the different parties want different things out of their house and, and trying to find that information, because as real estate agents, we are not privy to what a couple says to each other after the showing or late at night in bed, right? When they’re talking about their dream house and what they want from a house. So I show someone a house and someone’s disappointed because the house doesn’t have something, but they never mentioned it to me, right? They, they said it to each other. So, um, mind reader, maybe, but you have to be a psychologist.
You have to understand, I’ve had situations where my buyers have told me, uh, we want a one story house because we’re tired of, of stairs and going up, up and down. And, um, one of my agents showed ’em a house that they fell in love with. And, uh, when I got there for the, for the walkthrough, which was the first time I saw the house, I saw stairs everywhere. There were two sets of stairs going up, um, you know, one in the main foyer and then one in, one in the back. And then there was one room that had like four stairs to go up into a, into a little bit of an, of an office area. I’m like this, you said you didn’t want a house with stairs. This is the most stairs I’ve ever, I’ve ever seen in the house. So you have to be part psychologist, uh, part lawyer, part interior decorator, and part marriage and family counselor, not to mention financial advisor, right?
And I’m not talking about mortgages, right? And that’s a whole nother thing, but, but I tend to pass mortgage questions off to my mortgage partners, like, like Choice Mortgage with Signature Choice Mortgage or, uh, Wayne at Supreme Lending, um, and let them talk about rates and payments, et cetera. But financial advisors, right? Do they have enough to afford the house? Um, is it gonna fit in their, in with their lifestyle and their budget? The, the, the h o a fees and possible Country Club fees, um, and, and the payments and everything like that. Does it make sense to buy or rent? Um, you know, sometimes someone’s in a, in a neighborhood for not, for a very long time. So, um, they, um, maybe it makes more sense to rent, uh, because if they’re only on a one year contract, um, and, and maybe they can be transferred or maybe they’re finishing school and they’re gonna move.
So, uh, financial advisor, um, is another role or skill, uh, that, uh, real estate agents have. Uh, so I’ve always wanted to make this list of, um, skills and, and, and I want it to really be jobs, right? Not, not just skills like attention to DT L and organization, uh, but salesmen, financial planner, psychologist, lawyer, interior decorator, marriage and family counselor. What other, uh, what else goes into being a good real estate agent? Uh, knowledge of the market, knowledge of interest rates, being able to predict to the future. Um, what am I missing? Uh, if you’re listening to this podcast and you have, um, ideas, if there’s something I didn’t say, uh, please reach out to me, Matt, at realestate Finder. Um, I’d love to, um, uh, you know, explore this topic more. Sometimes I read on, uh, things on a piece of paper of, uh, topics I want to explore, uh, when I, when I do my shows.
Uh, so if you are, um, uh, even if you’re not a real estate agent, if you’re just listening to, to me for whatever reason, um, you need to be good with computers, right? You need to be, uh, good with computers to use the M l Ss and use our forms and, and do our contracts. Um, you know, I I I’ve met real estate agents that are not good with computers, and sometimes I wonder how they function, but they do. They do. Um, so, um, yeah, so what else do you need to be good real estate agent? Uh, a YouTube host, a podcaster, um, a connector. What else? What else? What else else? Okay, I think that is all I have for this week’s episode of the Signature Real Estate Finder Podcast, where we talked about, uh, the different skills and roles that are necessary for real estate agent. But again, uh, please reach out to me, Matt, at Real Estate Finder. Um, if I forgot one, uh, or two,
Speaker 3:
The future looks bright and the stones pass by the sky’s dog. Blue. When it’s almost that time. Light shows cameras flash when I pass. Living in the moment. Forget about the past. They saved the best for last Matthew Mania. We about to make a splash. Life is a marathon full of sharp turns, gotta keep pace while the hands on the clock turns high stakes. Five star real estate. I run a show, you can tell the boss Center place electricity, energy if vibrate. I’m always on time. Even if I’m late, I make dreams come true. Living my life. Hope the same for you.
Speaker 4:
You know, it’s, you know, it’s, you know what’s, you know, it’s, you know, it’s, you know, it’s, you know, it’s know, it’s, you know what time, you know what time, you know what, you know, what time it,
Speaker 3:
You know what time you, you know what time it’s mania. The time it says, you know, what time it’s, you know whose time it’s, you know what time it’s man? Yeah. Shook not afraid of big bad wolf.
