GreatAgents.Blog
From Your First Year of Survival to Becoming Established
Please note, this site, GreatAgents.blog, is designed for real estate agents. The Grisak Group, is where you'll find our listings and company information.
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The Harsh Realities of Residential Real Estate
If you're a new agent or considering becoming one, here are some sobering facts to consider before you take the plunge. 90% of new agents are out of the business within two years of receiving their license. That's when their licensing renewals kick in.
71% of real estate agents in America did not sell a single home in 2024. Those numbers are from the National Association of Realtors.
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Of the 10% of Realtors in the business, only about 10% are making the big money consistently, say $500K and up. The rest are just scraping by. That's the major downside of our industry and it hasn't changed in 40 years. So why even consider getting into real estate?
The Plus Side to Real Estate
Residential real estate sales is without question the best way to gain financial stability and wealth for the average American without a large outlay of money. The career is basically open to anyone as long as they pass the testing and background investigations. Texas, where I work, is considered the best state to build a successful career in real estate so if you're building your business here, you have a nice head start.
You don't need a college degree or even a high school diploma to obtain your real estate license. Your startup costs are minimal. After all, you aren't selling a product that you have to pay for, you're selling a service. You really don't even need an office. I started out working from our home and there are plenty of places to meet like Starbucks.
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No-one will ever tell you you're too old, making too much money, or being "downsized". You are truly your own boss. You'll set your own hours.
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With residential real estate, the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) allows new agents in the business to compete with experienced agents because they're all sharing the same information. With some help by a veteran agent you can find yourself working on a sale or purchase the day you get your license.
My Real Estate Background
You'd be hard pressed to find someone with less going for them than me when I started thinking about real estate as a career. I had absolutely no business experience and had been a tennis coach out of college. I thought that's what I'd be doing for the rest of my life, but I found out quickly, that wasn't going to get me to where I wanted to be financially. I knew I had to start looking for a career outside of education.
I had a Master's Degree in Secondary Education, which pretty much guaranteed no business was going to hire me. Unless I wanted to remain in coaching or education, I was stuck. The only thing I could think of that might give me an opportunity to build a career was some type of sales, and thankfully I chose real estate. I jumped in with both feet and started with commercial real estate 40 years ago.
I spent 14 years exclusively selling and leasing commercial real estate in Dallas, Tx and did well. For various reasons, which I'll discuss later, I decided I just didn't have the passion for it so I made another bold move. I walked away from my commercial career and started up "cold turkey" in residential as a lone wolf, or one man shop. That was 25 years ago and was the smartest move I've ever made.
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I didn't know a thing about residential real estate when I started but I just figured "How hard could residential be? I was very experienced on the commercial side". Little did I know those two disciplines of real estate have almost nothing in common so I found myself having to learn residential without a company behind me. I didn't even know another residential agent I could ask questions of for years.
How I survived early on was a miracle but I had three things going for me. I was stubborn and had the confidence I could learn anything I needed to know, I had a family to support, and I wasn't afraid to ask questions.
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2025 is my 25th consecutive year to finish #1 in sales volume within my sub-area of our Multiple Listing Service. I don't know how many agents can say they've done that, but there can't be many. My sales volume ranges from $50 million to $60 million and quite often I'm two to three times ahead of the second place agent in production. My average home sale price is just north of $1 million.
There are around 10,000 agents within Collin County, where I practice, and I'm typically ranked between #5 and #10 among them in sales volume. My GCI, or gross commission income, is well over $1 million in most years. I also have a team of 8 excellent agents and we're normally in the $80 to $100 million range of sales volume, almost all within our area of specialization, Fairview, Lucas, and Parker, Texas.