Are you a new real estate agent? Perhaps you have a few years of experience in your pocket but need to make money faster ?

Most people quit 9-5 W2 Jobs to become a real estate agent. While they might have some savings to get them through a few months, it’s common to get anxious because they know they have to get things off the ground fast and start generating income. 

Does this scenario sound familiar? 

While you can never expect things to happen super-quick in this industry, there are some shortcuts and tricks you can use to fast-track things and start making consistent commission income as a real estate agent. 

Quickest Ways To Make Money As a Real Estate Agent in 2021

 

1. Make Fast Commissions being a Rental Agent 

Your income as a real estate agent is mainly based on the number of homes you sell. It might sound rather weird, but can actually make make money as a Realtor without actually selling homes. This is important because making a single sale in real estate could take you months. 

But how?

Be innovative. Instead of selling homes, how about you help landlords find renters? Become a rental agent.

You can actually visit two different agencies: 

• High-end rentals
• Low-end rentals

Basically, help landlords find great tenants and make up to the first months rent in commission.

Of course, the broker you are under will take a percentage off that commission, but you can still turn things around and start making money within a couple of weeks. 

As a rental agent, the important thing to realize is that you ought to be working with the landlord and not the renter. When starting out, you might think that working with many renters and taking them to many houses will be your best option. However, this will burn you out pretty fast. 

This is not a great idea as there’s only so much time in a day. It’s counterproductive if you only spend time driving the renters around, showing them house after house.

However, this could work in some higher end luxury markets. There are some real estate markets where this strategy could yield desired results. If you’re in a market where the average rental price is $5,000-$20,000 a month, this strategy is probably worth pursuing.

If the market is smaller and the rent is only $1k-$2k a month, then you’re better off focusing on the landlord themselves and your client.

When you work with the landlord, your tasks will be advertising and marketing the property, then showing the property to potential tenants. You’ll help the landlord go through the data and help them pick the most suitable persons.

This can be really great as you can get commissions within a couple of weeks. If you can get a few tenants under contract and into their new property within a couple of weeks, your business will be off to a good start.

You can make a couple of thousand dollars a month as a rental agent. Some agents make $5,000-$7,000 a month doing this alone.

To succeed as a rental agent, you’ll need excellent communication skills and remarkable customer service. 

The potential will be different for every agent because of the market they are in and the rental prices in the area but know that you can make good money fast doing this. 

 

2. Absentee Owner Leads

This is a great lead source that’s frequently overlooked. It’s mostly suitable if you don’t want to do rentals at first and you want to go straight into sales.

Absentee owners are investors or landlords who own specific properties but don’t live in them as their primary residence. They are also not involved in the management of the said properties. Such properties are also referred to as non-owner occupied properties.

People become absentee owners for many reasons. They include

• The landlord may have bought the property for rental reasons but has not been able to find tenants.
• The property could be a vacation home.
• The landlord could have inherited the property and don’t want to live in it.
• Loved ones could have initially purchased the property.
• The investor could have relocated but not sold the property yet.
• The owner bought the property only for capital appreciation.
• The owner is in the army and has been deployed to a different location.

This lead source is potent in 2021 because there’s low inventory compared to other years.

A lot of agents are calling sellers and getting people that are interested in selling. However, the sellers ultimately turn them down, saying they don’t want to get into bidding wars when trying to find their next house as there’s no inventory. As a result they do not move and do not sell.

If you’re a new agent and you have only a few months left in your savings, this strategy of long term follow up won’t help you. 

Absentee owner leads can play a vital role in helping your business get off the ground in 2021. 

Absentee owners often don’t have to buy anything else. They might be on their third home, or maybe it’s an investment property that’s just sitting there, and it’s an excellent opportunity for them to discover the value of their home and cash out while the market’s high.

With this strategy, you have to get to the action. Get on the phone, call the leads and make outbound prospecting attempts.

This lead source is overlooked, yet it’s a great way to get your foot in the door and start earning commissions much quicker.

 

1. FSBO and Expired Leads

For sale by owner (FSBO) is a listing property method where the owner is selling the property themselves, without the help of an agent or broker. Most property owners who do this do so to avoid paying commissions. 

FSBO clients are a little bit challenging in this market because many are having success selling on their own. But remember, owners might not have the resources and networks that agents have. Could they get more money if they listed with you? Probably. 

After prospecting this lead source you will quickly learn that they think that they’re winning in their minds, so it can be difficult to convince them to list with you. 

That’s not to mean that you should ignore this lead source completely because even if you spend an hour a day on it, you’re going to get a result. It’s a low hanging fruit and the fortune is in the follow up. Make friends with these home owners.

Keep in mind that some fruits are already getting picked before you get to them because of the market we’re in. Some buyers are already going straight to the seller and offering to buy their houses.

This is also not happening in every scenario, so giving up on this lead source completely is a big mistake. 

Expired listing leads

As for expired leads, some agents might think that they’re not happening in this market. While this could be true to some extent, you need to know about old expired leads.

You can dig back in your MLS and find expired leads from four or five years ago and start pulling their numbers. Get the data and call them up. Tell them that you can try to find a buyer for the house they tried to sell back then since we’re in a different market.

This strategy could spark an interest in somebody that might be on the fence about selling. If you can be the first agent to call them and help them through that process, you’ll start getting listings every single month.

Conclusion

2021 has been a tough year for many industries. The real estate sector is also reeling from the after effects of the pandemic. There’s not much inventory compared to other years.

As a new real estate agent or an experienced one looking for ways to pay your bills, there are several ways you can remain afloat. Become innovative and make faster commissions. Work with property owners to find tenants for their units.

Approach absentee owners and make outbound prospecting attempts. Also, think of FSBO and expired leads.

Which strategies are you using to get leads in 2021?