You may have heard someone say, “You have to know the rules before you can break them.” While that phrase applies to many aspects of life, it rings true particularly for the real estate industry. The most successful agents and brokers live by it. At Brooklyn Real Estate Institute, or Brooklyn REI, we are all about teaching you the basics inside and out. From there, you can create your very own real estate career.

Create Your Own Schedule

If you are thinking about a career in New York real estate, you may be worried about the cubicle-and-paperwork side of the job. It’s true, you won’t spend all of your time driving clients around town or networking at an open house. With the buying and selling of property comes a long list of rules and a large stack of forms.

But don’t worry; we have some good news too. You get to decide how and when to manage the deadlines and deskwork. One of the most appealing parts of a real estate career is the flexible schedule. You set your own hours, and you can use technology to streamline much of the paperwork. Some agents create a home office, hire an assistant, or work with other agents to balance their workload. So get creative with your schedule. Find what works for you.

Create Your Own Image

Another creative outlet that many real estate agents enjoy is deciding exactly how to market oneself in the industry. We’ve all seen the signs in front of homes, the ads for open houses, the online reviews and recommendations. Good marketing is vital to creating a healthy clientele. So ask yourself—whom do you want to attract? Agents and brokers often specialize in a particular type of real estate like commercial property, vacant land, or residential property. Find what you most enjoy in the industry, and start marketing for clients in that category. Your image is what you make it.

Build on the Basics

Successful real estate agents and brokers have molded their careers to be exactly how they want it—schedules, client load, marketing style, and more. There is plenty of room for you to be creative. However, any of these successful men and women will tell you that they didn’t get there by luck. A New York real estate career requires a foundation based on fundamentals.

At Brooklyn REI, we offer licensing courses for brokers, salespersons, appraisers, mortgage loan officers, and home inspectors. In any of these programs, you will learn everything you need for the field ahead. We take you from the basics to the essential details of real estate in New York. You will come out with the necessary tools to build the career of your dreams.
But don’t stop just because you’ve received your license. A real estate career is a lifetime of learning. At the very least, you will need to renew your license periodically by spending a set number of hours back in class. However, those agents and brokers who want to get ahead know that education is one of their greatest tools. At Brooklyn REI, we offer continuing education courses to keep you up to date with the latest trends and tricks in the industry; we also provide career courses where you can learn about other aspects of real estate like construction project management or electronic notary record-keeping.

With resources like ours, you’ll never forget the fundamentals; and that leaves you all the room in the world to be creative.