Eugene, OR

Every seasoned agent would probably do things differently if they could start their business fresh. They'd channel their knowledge, time, money, and effort into areas that experience has taught them to be effective in generating leads, converting them to prospects, and closing transactions.

Realtors can't begin anew, but they can help to mentor new agents entering the profession. Now is a difficult time to become a real estate agent. New agents don't have the luxury of time and a rising market to bail them out of their early business mistakes.

If a brand new agent approached you for advice about building their real estate business, what would you say?

I posted this question on Trulia and received a number of frank answers from experienced agents:

• Annette Lawrence in Palm Harbor, FL warns against broker promises and slick brochures and recommends finding a good mentor;
  
• Judi Monday in Green Valley, AZ suggests having a first-class website and lead capture system;
  
• Rob Hughes in SE Pennyslvania wrote a long answer with many good points.

ActiveRain members have posted to their blog with their thoughts on what they would tell a new agent:

• Michelle Gibson from Wellington, FL wrote a post called I'm a New Agent how can I Compete?;
  
• Margaret Woda from Crofton, MD wrote Advice to New Maryland Real Estate Agents;
  
• Bonnie Erickson from St. Paul, MN wrote Advice for New Agents;
  
• Julie Escobar from Tampa, FL wrote What Every New Agent Needs to Know ... Part II;
  
• Liz and Bill Spear from Mason, OH wrote So You Want To Be A Real Estate Agent? Some Unsolicited Advice;
  
• Nickolas Underwood from Lawrenceville, GA wrote The New Agent Survival Handbook;

If a new agent approached you to become his or her mentor, what advice would you give?

With this post I cruise over the 500,000 point mark here in ActiveRAIN. It's well past time to have a picture header across the top of this AR Blog.

But before I could get all my real geese in a row (across the top of this blog), I first had to get my figurative blogging ducks in a row.

In the last (nearly) three years of RAINING, I have learned a lot. But until today I had never even entertained the possibility of putting a pix across the masthead of this blog.

Then today, I commented on, my friend, Todd Clark's Beaverton, Oregon blog and once again felt header-picture envy. So I emailed Todd who referred me to the freely available Picnic program as an easy way to make one of my personal photos fit the 960 X 130 pixel AR blog-header space. I also used the AR "Search" function to find Joni Staples' tutorial on the use of Picnic.

That enabled me to go from this:

To this:

This goose banner pix is just intended to be temporary.

Now that I know how easy this task is, I'll try to swap in some other pix over time. Maybe I'll be able to catch some actual Ducks in similar row.

This is Duck Country, after all:

Getting geese in a row is one thing. Getting our local Ducks to stay in a line long enough to snap a pix is a lot harder. (You'll see the ball flying just above the 50-yard marker.)

What kind of financing is used for the purchase of single family homes in the

Is "all-cash" an important factor? Are most new loans conventional or FHA? How about federal VA? Do all other financing mechanisms (owner financing, lease-options, etc.) account for many sales?

Here is how the sales for single family homes in this RMLS market area break out for calendar year 2011 - by type of purchase made:

What kind of financing is used for the purchase of single family homes in the

Is "all-cash" an important factor? Are most new loans conventional or FHA? How about federal VA? Do all other financing mechanisms (owner financing, lease-options, etc.) account for many sales?

Here is how the sales for single family homes in this RMLS market area break out for calendar year 2011 - by type of purchase made:

What kind of financing is used for the purchase of single family homes in the

Is "all-cash" an important factor? Are most new loans conventional or FHA? How about federal VA? Do all other financing mechanisms (owner financing, lease-options, etc.) account for many sales?

Here is how the sales for single family homes in this RMLS market area break out for calendar year 2011 - by type of purchase made: