022: Becoming a Successful Real Agent and Working with Investors
Most of the guests on the InvestFourMore Real Estate Podcast have been real estate investors. I have had a few investors who are also agents, but today we are interviewing Kyle Hiscock who is strictly a real estate agent and a good one. In this episode Kyle talks about how he got started in the business, how he has become a very successful agent and how he has used a blog and social media to promote himself.
Why did Kyle become a real estate agent?
Kyle was in the high pressure sales business after finishing school. Kyle was good at his job, but did not like the high pressure aspect of selling over the phone. His father had been a real estate agent for many years and he decided to try it out part-time. If this sounds familiar, I got started in a very similar way! After Kyle was exposed to real estate, he knew he loved it and wanted to make it his career. He worked hard to build a business so that he could become a full-time agent and quit his sales job.
Does Kyle recommend being a part-time agent?
Even though Kyle was able to get started as a part-time agent, he does not recommend it for everyone. Kyle had a lot of help when he started out part-time, because he worked with his father. His father was able to help Kyle’s clients when Kyle was at work. Kyle warns that if you are a part-time agent and have no one to help you, you are doing your clients a disservice. Real estate agents have to be able to help clients at all hours of the day. If you can’t talk to your clients, lenders or title companies during the day because you have a full-time job, it will be very tough to make it in the business.
Does Kyle or his father pay for online leads like Zillow?
Zillow and other online real estate sites sell leads to real estate agents. That is one of the ways those sites make money. I personally use Zillow, but we are thinking of dropping it at this point due to low conversion rates. Kyle and his father do not use Zillow or any other type of paid online lead source. Kyle says they have had much more success with good old-fashioned real estate strategies:
- Â Build a database of clients, take care of those clients, market to those clients and leads will come to you.
How has Kyle Hiscock brought in more leads through his own internet marketing?
While Kyle and his father do not pay for online leads, that doesn’t mean they ignore the internet. Kyle has built one of the best real estate blogs out there. Kyle started the blog a couple of years ago and has written many articles about the local market in Rochester New York and real estate in general. While it is tough to put a number on how many leads come from the blog. Kyle says he is now getting a steady stream of leads because of the blog. He warns that it is not an easy process to build a blog and it takes time to gain an audience.
What advice does Kyle have for real estate investors looking to work with agents?
Kyle works with many real estate investors, but he doesn’t work with every real estate investor. He has some very loyal clients who come to him and who he sends deals to. He makes it very clear that he does not have time to work with investors who are using 20 different agents and always shopping for the best deal. He works with investors who he knows will use him if a deal comes along. For those investors looking for a great real estate agent. Remember that loyalty goes a long way!
For real estate agents who work with investors, Kyle suggests agents choose who they work with carefully. He says that many investors are tire kickers who aren’t serious about buying. When figuring out who is serious and who is not, he says common sense will usually tell you who will actually buy and who will waste your time. One tip is to make sure the investor is pre-qualified to buy a house.
Conclusion
Kyle Hiscock does an awesome job on this episode explaining how to be a successful agent and what has worked for him. If you want to get in touch with Kyle check out Rochester Real Estate Blog here. Kyle has also built a huge following on social media, which has also helped his real estate business. You can find him on twitter here: https://twitter.com/kylehiscockre. If you’re thinking of moving to Rochester, NY, contact Kyle, to take advantage of top notch real estate service in the Greater Rochester, NY area!