Success as a Real Estate Agent for Dummies

Great resource tool for anyone considering or working in a career in Real Estate. This book is a good basis for someone just starting out but also serves as a good day to day reference. I keep a dog eared copy at my desk and another next to my favorite reading chair. Dirk Zeller presents the information in a logical, easy to follow format that allows you to pick and choose whether you read the whole book or jump around to just the chapters that are your current focus. Lots of anecdotes and tips make this an enjoyable read. If you are new to Real Estate, this is the first book to buy!

As a broker/owner, I bought this book for my new agents. We love it! It's a fast-read with easy-to-implement ideas. I keep it as a reference in my office! Dirk Zeller is an excellent author/coach and the 'Dummies' format puts his ideas into yet another presentation form.

If ever I've read a book that I'd wished I could press it against me and absorb every tidbit of information by osmosis, this is it! I reached a point where I was delaying sleep at night just to continue learning from this incredibly informative book. As a newbie, I find the chapter on marketing/advertising especially helpful. I'd initially checked the book out from the local library, but quickly realized I needed to buy it to have on hand as a reference source. This is a must-buy for anyone just entering the field or considering becoming a Realtor!

The title says it all,"...For Dummies." Dirk Zeller puts it into perspective. When we receive our license, walk into the office of our choice, pay to create an image, what next? Many agents and REALTORs have made the same mistakes as our collegues. This book teaches not to make those mistakes, and is a comprehensive guide as to what to do. If one wants to make a career with real estate, I strongly recommend this book. Also suggest "The Little Red Book of Selling"

From the opening cheat sheet to the last top ten list in this book on ten best web sites for real estate agents. This booked is packed with quality information and value. From the first chaper on Discovering the Skills of a Successful Agent to the last chaper Maximizing Your Time you will not be able to put this book down like I couldn't. It was obvious through every page of this book that the author not only was an expert in selling real estate successfully himself as confirmed by his bio of selling 150 homes annually while only working on Monday - Thursday to do it. I was also clear that he has coached and trained a large number of agents to become Successful agents. I loved the chapter on researching and understanding the marketplace. He teaches a couple of techniques to really track and understand the marketplace and how to use them to attract and secure new buyers and sellers. Before this book I had no idea of the power a few of these tracking and simple research techniques he demonstrates and neither did my broker when I asked him. In the chapter on prospecing it lays out the how's, where's and why's of prospecting for new business and lead generation. He also shares how to list For Sale by Owner and expired listings complete with tracking systems, scripts, things to send them via marketing. Chapter 6 Mining Your Databse for Referrals is priceless. I learned so much about how to ask for referrals. The scripts to use in the asking for business. He also shares how to take a referral to what he calls a higher level getting the person giving the referral to help you "improve" the referral by asking them questions about the person they are referring, approval of using there name, and even calling the referral on your behalf. This chapter alone was worth the money for the book. The author, Mr Zeller takes you through open houses from selecting the right home criteria, to marketing, to set up the day of the open house to conducting and securing the names of the vistiors. The chapter on doing a quality listing presenation is outstanding. I learned the questions to ask before hand. He gives you a structure or agenda he calls it for the presentation. Along with how to separate youself from the other agents through your services. In addition I learned home pricing strategy to insure that my listing will sell. How to talk with the seller since most want more for the home than it is worth. The book goes through staging the listing with checklists, marketing myself online and my properties, negotiating contracts and closing them, postioning yourself in the marketplace and against other agents, keeping clients for life with check lists on how to service your clients. The chapter on maximizing your time was awesome! I know the value of my time and how best to get paid well for the time I invest in my business. This book is really the turning point for my real estate career. I only wish that it had been available earlier in my career. It is a must read fo