Real estate, like any other business, requires commitment and devotion in order to succeed. Many successful real estate agents and brokers have developed special daily habits or routines which help them get the motivation and determination which they need to excel in the demanding real estate industry. Whether you are a new agent just starting out or an experienced broker looking for a boost in your real estate career, you might get inspired from hearing the habits top-performing agents have adopted. Thus, we talked to 13 of the most successful real estate agents in the US residential real estate market to see what their daily routine is:
1. Adam D’Annunzio
Company: Keller Williams Realty Jersey Shore
Licensed in/Real Estate Market: South Jersey Shore, New Jersey
Specialty: Realtor
Adam’s tips for successful real estate agents include:
The most successful agents have a very regimented schedule, if it’s not on there, it doesn’t happen! The most important part is going to be their morning routine. Successful real estate agents will start the morning with some time of gratitude and mindfulness such as meditation, then a workout, and then proceed to lead generation to find buyers and sellers.
2. Michael Kelczewski
Company: Brandywine Fine Properties Sotheby’s International Realty
Licensed in/Real Estate Market: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey
Specialty: Realtor
Michael’s tips for successful real estate agents include:
Continually prospecting maintains a sales pipeline. Outbound calls to potential sellers and following-up with all potential buyers/clients occurs daily. It is best to create regimented habits facilitating “touch-points” inculcating an audience. Yes, calls are handled mornings along with prospecting, updating social channels, and monthly emails preserve “top of mind”.
3. Chase Michels
Company: Baird & Warner
Licensed in/Real Estate Market: Downers Grove, Chicago
Specialty: Realtor
Chase’s tips for successful real estate agents include:
- Don’t look to pay for services/leads at the beginning of your career. That is a business model but not one that will benefit you early on. Develop real relationships with clients and make connections: sponsor a local team, be seen in the community, go door to door introducing yourself and inviting them to an open house you have in the neighborhood. You will get better ROI on time and money for the cheap/free stuff that just takes effort. Because most agents don’t put in that effort, you will stand out!
- Run Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram ads. These companies allow highly targeted ads to run to the exact demographic that a potential buyer may come from. We do this by initially creating a YouTube video. YouTube is important because it ranks very high on Google searches, so your videos will be easy to find when searching your name or the property address. We then load the videos to the appropriate social media and “boost” or promote the video to whatever demographic we may be targeting. If you are hosting an open house in a few days, you can boost that video to a 2-mile radius of the home, people aged 35-65, household income of $100K+. The demographic data these companies offer is pretty accurate, so it allows for cost-effective advertising.
- Create a Facebook business page. Promote your services on there and try to grow a following. Once a client “likes” your page, they will begin to see your posted content on their timeline. Share your posts to the wall of the client’s home you are advertising. This shows your client the types of marketing you are doing, but it also promotes that post to all of the client’s connections as well.
- Get reviews on sites such as Zillow, Trulia, Yelp, and Realtor.com. Profiles with just 5-10 reviews get 50% more traffic than profiles with 0 reviews.
- Provide a unique single-property website solely for the purpose of marketing the home to potential buyers. Buyers can use this site to view information and photos of your home while also scheduling a showing with just a click. Once a buyer is active on this website, their information gets sent to us for future follow-up.
- Create great blog content consistently. This is extremely important and helps SEO rankings immensely.
- Use internet landing pages through specialized websites. These sites setup the basics of a landing page and will allow you to target and capture local leads on social media.
4. Ashley Koide
Company: Triplemint
Licensed in/Real Estate Market: Brooklyn, New York
Specialty: Licensed Real Estate Salesperson
Ashley’s tips for successful real estate agents include:
My habit of waking up early and cleaning up different parts of my home before heading out to work has changed my life drastically. Not only do I feel great in the morning, but also, I am pumped to work. In addition, throwing networking parties for my clients has unexpectedly shown great results of receiving referrals.
5. Courtney Poulos
Company: ACME Real Estate
Licensed in/Real Estate Market: Los Angeles
Specialty: Broker
Courtney’s tips for successful real estate agents include:
First, simply: I head to the office. I do not let one day go by that I’m not in the field, making calls, checking in with clients, or sending communication.
Regarding my morning routine, I check emails in the morning and review new listings that have posted overnight. I make sure to respond to all evening/am emails at once, as I will likely be in the field for the next few hours. I check again in the afternoon. It is important to group the emailing into sessions, or you can be quite disrupted all day.
A successful move has been hiring a social media manager, which has dramatically improved our promotional capacity and has also provided a platform for our agents to shine. Trying to do “everything” can put my system on overload. Having someone else regularly posting on social media keeps the content fresh and consistent, and takes the burden off of me so I can focus on sales.
Regarding networking, joining WomanUp! has been critical to expanding my network of colleagues and real estate professionals, and has provided so much inspiration. As a result of a conversation I had at a WomanUp! conference two years ago, I have just finished my first book, “Break Up! With Your Rental”, a primer for single professional women who have the money to buy, but haven’t yet taken the leap.
Creating and engaging in a supportive real estate peer group is a habit that has 100% contributed to my personal and professional growth. I make a HABIT of showing up and participating, learning, speaking, and sharing, and it definitely reminds me that I’m not all alone pushing boulder up a mountain!
6. Brigitte Pays
Company: Triplemint
Licensed in/Real Estate Market: New York City
Specialty: Licensed Real Estate Salesperson
Brigitte’s tips for successful real estate agents include:
Mornings and evenings are crucial to my personal success in this industry. I’m big on a ‘no-tech 30,’ which means the first and last 30 minutes of my day do not involve any technology. It might sound crazy to some, but when you start off the day blinding your freshly opened eyes with that bright phone screen and getting caught up in emails that may have come in overnight, it doesn’t make for a very peaceful ease into your day. I take the first 30 minutes of my morning to chug a full bottle of water, do a quick 5-10-minute workout to get my body going and then either a brief meditation or journal session.
Similarly, when you get stuck in a scrolling spree before bed, it’s very difficult for your mind to rest when it’s being stimulated by so many different pieces of content. Instead, I always try to read before bed. I find that I always get much smoother sleep, plus reading right before bed is the best time for the information to really sink into your memory and make you smarter.
7. Luis Torres
Company: Triplemint
Licensed in/Real Estate Market: New York City
Specialty: Licensed Real Estate Salesperson
Luis’s tips for successful real estate agents include:
As a competitive runner and fitness enthusiast, I wake up at 4:30 AM to go for a run and/or do a Barry’s Bootcamp class before I head into the office. After working out, I create a list of ten things I’m grateful for and send the list to my accountability partner. Creating a morning routine has allowed me to begin the day with a strong mindset, positive attitude, and lots of energy.
8. Pedro Crespo
Company: Triplemint
Licensed in/Real Estate Market: Bronx and Manhattan, New York
Specialty: Licensed Real Estate Salesperson
Pedro’s tips for successful real estate agents include:
Every day, I wake up, and rather than looking at my phone or the TV, I say two things to the most important people in my life: my mother and my girlfriend. I say, ‘I love you,’ and ‘Thank for being in my life and supporting me.’ These two sayings do two things for my day. First, it starts it off on a positive note, and second, it gives dividends to the people who have invested their time and energy into my career and life. Real estate is not the easiest career for someone to pursue and having a positive start to your day is essential to a successful day, week, and career and helps set the stage for success.
9. Shelly Place
Company: Triplemint
Licensed in/Real Estate Market: Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York
Specialty: Licensed Real Estate Salesperson, Sales and Rentals Agents
Shelly’s tips for successful real estate agents include:
Before I go to bed each night, I take a couple minutes and write down three things I was grateful for in my life that day and one thing I want to focus on for tomorrow. Appreciating the positive things in my life helps me keep positive no matter what may be stressful or upsetting at work. Setting an intention for the next day and actually writing it down helps me put power behind my goals.
10. Shelley Gallamore
Company: Realty Executives Southeast
Licensed in/Real Estate Market: Wisconsin
Specialty: Broker
Shelley’s tips for successful real estate agents include:
Agents struggle with phone calls, yet sales is a contact sport! We try email marketing, postcards, social media posts – everything except making a call. However, no contact with the buyer or seller equals no hope of closing a deal. The best habit for your business is daily phone calls. Try these reasons to call:
- Current transaction – If you are working with a client, there should never be more than 7 days without you giving them a call. Update them, check on them, offer support or help.
- Identifying needs – Calling to check in on the lives of a past or potential client is simple. Do they need a CMA, did they know about a community event, can you offer a referral to a vendor that might interest them?
- Happy News – Social media can be helpful in this category. It’s never inappropriate to wish someone happy birthday, congratulations on a job promotion, or well wishes on a milestone in their life. People enjoy connecting and will appreciate your call or voicemail.
Today’s assignment is to make some calls! As you work to grow your business, the simplest and cheapest lead generation that exists is to pick up the phone and make calls.
11. Stacey Sonbert
Company: Triplemint
Licensed in/Real Estate Market: New York City
Specialty: Licensed Real Estate Salesperson
Stacey’s tips for successful real estate agents include:
Something that I started last year was a morning routine, and I find that on the days I complete it, my mindset and output are leaps and bounds above the days I do not. As a constant reminder, I actually have a note taped to my bathroom mirror with the following: Abs, Stretch, Affirmations, Gratitude, Meditate.
- Abs: I start every morning with 5 minutes of abs exercises.
- Stretch: I have herniated disc issues in my neck and because of those, my back rounds, and I have awful posture. The stretching is focused on opening up my chest to reverse the rounding.
- Affirmations: I have 2-3 positive affirmations that I repeat 10 times every morning. This is usually done during stretching.
- Shower.
- Gratitude: I was given a daily gratitude journal, and I write 10 things that I am grateful for each morning.
- Meditate: I spend 5-10 minutes (not long enough) mediating with a simple app from my phone. I am working on increasing the time, but this is a good start for me.
Once completed, I text a check mark to my accountability partner to confirm completion. Having that accountability partner has really pushed me to be as consistent as possible. In total, this routine takes about 20 minutes each day and is so worth it.”
12. Brandon Marianne Lee
Company: Triplemint
Licensed in/Real Estate Market: New York City
Specialty: Licensed Real Estate Salesperson
Brandon’s tips for successful real estate agents include:
Have a system. Each of my clients gets an email tag, a Google file folder, and a Note that I fill with their requirements and the details of our tours. It’s all digital so every single client is organized and right at my fingertips. If you don’t have a system, you will lose track of clients and you will lose money.
13. Earl White
Company: House Heroes Realty
Licensed in/Real Estate Market: New Jersey
Specialty: Founding Partner, Real Estate Investor
Earl’s tips for successful real estate agents include:
Daily Client Follow-Up: Buying and selling real estate – particularly for those purchasing their home – is a huge decision. Marketing regularly generates leads in the early stages of the client journey. Prospective clients may need months or even a year before being ready to make a transaction. Habitual daily client follow-up builds long-term trust and puts you on the top of their mind. Schedule follow-up using a client relations management system that lays out contact information, communication history, and schedules calls, e-mails, and text messages to complete the follow-up efficiently at the right time. For those too busy for daily follow-up, consider hiring an assistant (even for just a few hours a day) to help touch base.
As you can see from our experts, succeeding in the real estate business is not a coincidence or a matter of luck but the result of a well thought-through and planned daily routine. The daily habits of successful real estate agents can focus on motivation, personal development, marketing, or lead generation, among others. It all depends on your personal preferences and needs and your business partners.
What’s your daily routine that allows you to excel each and every day?