SOLD! A Top Producer's Blueprint for a Standout Real Estate Career

By Rosemary Knick

Build financial freedom through real estate sales.  Earn as much income as you’d like.   Give yourself a raise.  Take a vacation when you want to.  “Enjoy the people you work with and work for.  I did it and you can too!” 

"My hope is that after reading this book, you w

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rosemarie Knick
• Release date: Feb 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9780578443676

Rosemary Knick

Rosemary Knick was a realtor and Broker/Manager for over 25 years. She studied English and Communications at Mankato State University in Minnesota before calling New Jersey and North Carolina home. As a realtor she worked for Schlott Realtors, Coldwell Banker and Weichert Realtors. A consummate professional she was honored for logging 52 listings and sales within one year plus numerous awards for regional, county and office top producer throughout her career. Her optimism and skill grew her office to 80 agents with over 200 million dollars in real estate transactions for one year in Northern New Jersey. Rosemary trained new agents and conducted master classes for Weichert University for fifteen years. She developed her expertise by attending yearly seminars held by Tom Hopkins, Floyd Wickman, Brian Tracy, Barbara Corcoran and many others. She conducts sales training seminars and recruiting workshops for real estate agents. Her passion for real estate and love of family, church, entertaining friends, and sports has enriched her life.

Book preview

© Rosemary Knick, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-5784436-7-6 (e-book)

Acknowledgments

Helping others build a real estate career has always been my goal. Now, I would like to thank the people who have helped me bring my methods and words to others. Without your inspiration and help, this book would not have reached the next generation of top producers.

This book is dedicated to my mom Rose Slomba. Her motto, If anyone can do it, we can too, kept me busy all my life. She was so proud that I was writing a book. Wondering why she was still on this earth at ninety-eight years old, I had to say it might be because she needed to have the book in her hands before passing on to God’s house.

With loving thanks to my two sons, Scott and Jon, and my grandchildren who inspired me to keep at it.

Thanks to Jonathan Hettinger who encouraged me to write a book. A little nudge went a long way! Thanks to Chris Brown who read my first draft and said, Wow! Where do I sign up? Thanks to Eric Drost for being my first reader and critic; giving me more fuel and information to add to the work. Thanks to my real estate friends Diane, Sandy, Maria, George, Charlie, and Mehmet for inspiring me with great memories.

Special thanks to Gina Schenck and Lauren Manoy from Sciptorium Book Packagers. Their care and professional guidance got me here. Outstanding does not give them enough credit.

When I thought of creativity for the cover, I thought of Anthony Rubolotta. For years I admired his work as a graphic artist never thinking one day I would be calling on him to help with this project. His willingness to work with me can never be repaid.

I need to thank Jim Weichert, who led so many of us to greatness. He was a master at empowering us to reach for the stars in business, family, and recreation. I will be forever grateful for the opportunities he gave me.

Contents

Preface

Introduction: There’s Always Room for One More Good Real Estate Agent

Chapter 1: Are You the Next Top Producer?

Chapter 2: Get Ready for School

Chapter 3: Choose an Office

Chapter 4: Part-Time Versus Full-Time

Chapter 5: Get the Keys to the Kingdom

Chapter 6: Build Your Client Base

Chapter 7: Visualize Your Goals

Chapter 8: Share Your Business Life

Chapter 9: Hold a Successful Open House

Chapter 10: Work With Internet Leads

Chapter 11: The Buyer Consultation

Chapter 12: Build Loyalty

Chapter 13: Develop Your Sales Skills

Chapter 14: The Seller’s Consultation

Chapter 15: The First Steps to List a Property

Chapter 16: Prepare to List the House

Chapter 17: Negotiate to Close the Title

Chapter 18: Market for Repeat Business

Conclusion: Stay Focused

Index

Preface

In 1983, I was a production manager in a fabric warehouse in New Jersey. I found this job through a dear friend who knew I liked to sew and had knowledge in yard goods. Most importantly, I was desperate to earn more than eight dollars an hour. I earned $24,000 a year working from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with no breaks, trying to do a job I wasn’t really qualified for. The factory I worked in was dingy and dark, and it felt like a pressure cooker blowing every few minutes due to our clients clamoring for their goods to be delivered around New York City. After six months, at the age of thirty-seven, my hair started to turn gray from stress. The job was too big for me with no training or experience. Luckily, my husband got a job and money was coming in to pay the bills so I happily gave up the position. It was a job, not a career.

My next job at a printing company was a much slower pace without pressure. I didn’t make as much as I did at the factory, but aging too fast was not really in my wheelhouse. However, my time seemed more valuable than what I was receiving for it. I realized the annual two percent raise was never going to pay for the lifestyle I wanted to live.

I saw real estate as a way of owning my own business with a very small investment. I would have millions of dollars’ worth of inventory without paying for it to be on my shelves. Investing my time and abilities to be in charge of my own career and destiny would serve me well. I would have a career, not just a job. I would be able to work with happy people, set my own hours, not have to ask anyone for a raise, plus—and this would be a big plus—take a day off without asking. I’d be in control of my own environment and free to work as long as I wanted to reach my goal. That happened for me and it can happen for you too.

By applying your own life experience of living in an apartment, house, or trailer and adding sales skills, energy, and commitment, you will advance to a new level of income and work environment. Motivation creates income in real estate sales. A child’s college education costs caused the income level of agents to go up substantially. A wedding, home renovations, or new house compelled agents to work smarter and longer. I told my agents to plan a vacation and look forward to getting a new car. I knew their incomes would go up as a result.

You—and only you—can make it happen!

Introduction

There’s Always Room for One More Good Real Estate Agent

Work? Are you talking to me? I was part of the baby boomer generation in which students graduated from college; got a job or went on to technical school, beauty school, or secretarial school; and integrated themselves into the workplace. However, there were many of us who just wanted to get married, have a family, and live happily ever after. Millennials can graduate from high school, technical school, or college; not want to get married; not want to have kids; and not work, either. So some of us did follow the same path of career uncertainty in our twenties.

I thought being a mom, volunteering with woman’s clubs, and playing golf was a good life until my husband and I made a poor career decision for him that put us in a bad financial situation for several years. Although I felt fulfilled working on charitable fundraisers and keeping my family healthy and happy, it dawned on me that if anything happened to my husband, I’d be unable to support my family. That scared me right into the workforce.

Before I took the real estate course, I counted eleven people who had a real estate license in my small town. This included people in my church, on my street, and my son’s friend’s parents. It seemed like a lot of competition for the same business in one community. I didn’t know where most of them worked and I had not heard a word about their work in the field. It seemed like most were working part time in real estate sales, if at all. After some research, it came down to two agents who were active and their office was in a neighboring town. With 18,000 people living in my town, I felt confident there would be room for me. I started to believe what I said for the next thirty years: There’s always room for one more good real estate agent! Throughout my life, the words If you are going to do something, be the best you can be and do it the best you can followed me. In a subjective competition my mantra was Be so good the judges can’t help but pick you to win. You won’t see average in any job description, so I set up my new business by putting my heart, soul, and time into it.

I was smart, but without the four-year college degree and impressive resume, I was not going to earn the salary needed to support my family and have the lifestyle we deserved. This mindset was the motivation that fueled my real estate career for the next thirty years. During that time, I once earned $250,000 in one year. In 1992, I was named regional combined salesperson for Weichert Realtors after logging fifty-two transactions in that year. As a Broker/manager, I took over the Pompton Plains, New Jersey, office. It was a low-producing office in 1992, ranking eleventh in production out of the twelve-office region. I expanded it to eighty agents with 600 transactions. We were a small town of 18,000 people with lots of small towns surrounding us. Why not take advantage of that? From the Pompton Plains office, my mind and marketing went regional and my goals led me to a great lifestyle and satisfying career.

My hope is that after reading this book, you will realize the cost to obtain your license is a small price to pay for a lifelong career doing something you are passionate about. Like any course of study, it will take weeks of your time without pay. However, more than 50 percent of the agents in my office were self-supportive and lived well after obtaining their licenses and continued education in the field.

Fast forward to 2018. I’m still considered a mentor to a lot of successful agents and my teachings and sales skills are still being used by many. In fact, I’m writing this book because a New York City Sotheby agent once repeated something I said as if my comment had great value in his sales life: Don’t be in a hurry when negotiating; let them believe they won. People who take a good idea and apply it to their profession are the people who move on to achieve wealth.

Ro K’s Top Producer Tip: Go to meetings and seminars with the goal of using one good sales idea to help improve your sales skills—and then use it!

I went to seminars every year with the mindset that if I learned one new idea, one useful train of thought, one sentence that would help me in my work it would be worth my while . . . and I was right! So I read books about successful businessmen and women, learned about mortgages and financial institutions, and trained with Schlott Realtors, Coldwell Banker, Weichert Realtors, Floyd Wickman, Tom Hopkins, David Knox, Brian Tracy, Danielle Kennedy, and others in the real estate field. I’m sharing dialogue, steps to succeed, and ideas that will help you make real estate a lasting career. As you read, look for one thing that makes your job more enjoyable and more profitable. You will thank me later!

Let me share one of those golden ideas that helped me in my career. The art of the sale is empowering. In 1987, when interest rates dropped to 10.5 percent, my Broker said, We are in a window of opportunity for buying real estate. I loved the statement and idea, and used it when showing homes to clients. During the first two appointments with one client I said, I hope we find a house for you soon so you can take advantage of this window of opportunity. Interest rates are low and house prices are going up. On the third appointment, we were driving down the same road to see more houses when the client said to me, Rosemary, I hope we find a home today. I’d like to take advantage of this window of opportunity since interest rates are so good. He went into contract on a home that day. When he repeated the words window of opportunity, it was music to my ears and a lesson about how we can influence actions through words. No matter what year it is, there is always a window of opportunity in every market. In 2006, when prices were dropping, it was a window of opportunity for buyers. In 2018, when interest rates held below 4 percent and house prices increased, it was a window of opportunity for both buyers and sellers.

Why do you want to become a real estate agent?

1

Are You the Next Top Producer?

Real estate is a sales position. It is not an administrative position and has little