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Your First Year in Real Estate: Making the Transition from Total Novice to Successful Professional

Your First Year in Real Estate: Making the Transition from Total Novice to Successful Professional

List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $13.57
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This Book Is Awesome!
Review: I was pleasantly suprised that such a small book had so much information. It has a great momentum to keep you excited. I will read this book over and over.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Incredible Book! Well worth your time & money
Review: I would like to tell people that are not agents, that are interested in investing in real estate this is an incredible book. I became a fan of Dirk's reading his weekly newsletter, and was anxious to get his book.

His advise is right on track, and I would recommend this to anyone interested in buying or selling real estate.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Too much fluff
Review: I'm not really sure why this book got such high marks from the other reviewers. The book is page-numbered to 281, plus the introduction and table of contents, but it really should have been only 100 pages, and can be summarized with "Set a goal, be persistent, find a mentor." In other words, there isn't a lot of substance to be found.

Probably the best chapter of the book is Chapter 1, "Selecting the Right Company". In it, the book gives you a decent list of things to think about when you're looking for a broker to work under. There is also a helpful list of questions that you need to ask your potential brokers when you are interviewing with them. On the other hand, the chapter falls flat when talking about the questions that the broker is likely to ask you. While the book gives you a list of questions, it doesn't counsel you in any way regarding what you might want to say or avoid saying in your answers.

The first sign that this book is going to be high on fluff and low on useful real estate sales help is the book's wide margins and line spacing, and large fonts. This makes for a low info-per-page ratio.

Next you'll notice that there is too much of vague generalities about real estate, too much meandering talk of discipline and persistence and goal setting and self-affirmation. Illustrative of this point is the fact that the book makes no mention whatsoever about open houses. Nothing. If open houses aren't worthwhile then why wouldn't you at least spend a couple of pages explaining why and presenting some scripts for convincing your sellers (and perhaps brokers?) not to do them?

Speaking of scripts, on pages 35 through 37 Mr. Zeller uses a lot of words to convince you of the importance and utility of scripts. In a sidebar he even lists 25 separate occassions in which one could, and presumably should, put scripts to use. Will you find any actual scripts in this book? Sadly, no, you won't.

Another frustrating example is the small, two-paragraph section with the heading "How do I get more listings?" The answer given is basically, "Learn the fundamentals of prospecting," with absolutely no explanation of what those fundamentals might be, just the unhelpful assertion that you should "[b]ecome a person of action." Thanks. I didn't realize that.

So, this book boils down to not much more than another book full of platitudes on general salesmanship and self-improvement. If that were what I was after I would have picked up something by Zig Ziglar or Anthony Robbins. To be fair, the chapters on "Mastering Your Sales Skills" are pretty good, but they don't start until page 143, and I found their contents to be so meandering and disorganized that I would often lose my patience as I read them. On top of that, I found everything in those two chapters in Mike Ferry's "How to Develop a Six-Figure Income in Real Estate"--in a more organized and, for me, far more motivational fashion, too.

I suspect that this book is intentionally vague for a very specific reason. Call it bait and switch. In the back of the book you'll find an ad for Dirk Zeller's other tape sets and manuals, all of which are substantially more expensive, of course.

I highly recommend you give a pass on "Your First Year..." and instead pick up a copy of Ferry's book--or, for a different perspective, Danielle Kennedy's "How to List and Sell Real Estate in the 21st Century". Both of those books are well organized and contain tons of helpful ideas (some presumably more lucrative than others). Best wishes.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Lots of excellent advice
Review: It goes into detail and gives you tons of ideas without wasting your time.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Boring, few practical tips
Review: It seemed like this book was written because they knew that the catchy title would go far and make them money. It was very repetitive with few practical tips that will help me in my new career. I basically can imagine that the author first wrote an outline and then later just filled in the blanks to make up the 200+ pages. I would have preferred a step by step guide to what one needs to do in my first few transactions.
Oh well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Must Read for the Real Estate Rookie!
Review: Mr. Zeller's book offers great insight and motivation for those new to the real estate profession. I read it cover to cover in a day and plan on reading it several times over. Only 2 months into my career, I felt like he was describing the very things I'm going through right now. I highly recommend this book!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I regret having bought this book
Review: There is much more than that in the field of real estate.
The book is centered in generalities and too many repetitions of contents. If I made a resume it would hardly fill an A4 sheet...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: For Any Beginner Jumping in Head First:
Review: This book along with some training classes taken at your local Real Estate offices can be the backbone for your new career! I wouldn't devote 100% into the books "SCRIPTS" on how to talk to potential clients because in this day and age there are to many different cultures and everyone sees things diffently when expressed to them in language. Just take the "SCRIPTS" as references and make your own judgement on how things should be said and you will do well. Everything else in this book is of great value for knowledge of the business and trying to get ahead of the "Novice Realtors". Highly recommend for any newbie Realtor out there!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Your First Year in Real Estate: Making the Transition
Review: This book as a lot of personal insider experiences. I was looking for more information on what to do my first day, how to do it, and how to gauge your success or failure.

Overall, this is a good overview of the profession and what to expect. It is filled with pointers on success: Self motivation and discipline, training, and building relationships.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Your First Year in Real Estate by Dirk Zeller
Review: This book is a most for a individual who is thinking about becoming a real estate agent. However, if you are a Real Estate Agent you can benefit from the book it provide you pointers on how to reach the top. I like the author approach very direct and specific. It guide you to how to select the agency and what to ask when you go in a interview. When you have the job what to do... if you still need assistance Mr. Zeller have a website. This book is a must...


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