1st Real Estate Apprentice® Tests Her Tools

ALISO VIEJO, CA, June 5, 2006 – Like many cities in the U.S., Kendra Shearer’s marketplace in Marietta, Georgia is intensely competitive with over 34,000 agents. There is also an inventory of available homes that exceeds 88,000. "It is a buyer’s market, where the average home price is $236,000 and remains 80 days on the market,' said Kendra. This price and time differential appears tiny when compared with the "bulbaceous' coastal regions of California where the average price is $700,000 and many homes, which are priced over a million dollars, are on the market and then sold in a matter of days. But even in tiny Marietta, Georgia, Kendra has during the recent completion of her first fiscal year, fought the good fight of faith and through long hours and wise use of her Real Estate Apprentice Grant tools, managed to:

• Write over 30 contracts
• Closed 16
• Achieved $2.816M in sales volume
• Projects $4.4M in total sales volume to date, carried over from 1st year which includes her current 6 listings in inventory and 3 buyers scheduled for closing in 2006 ($1.6M pending closings)

This is not a bad report for a rookie agent from a little Georgia town that most people have never heard of. If this was not enough to be pleased about, on the training and education side of her first year in business, Kendra has achieved the following:

• Completed 42 hours of training and continuing education
• Completed 25 hour post license course with Barney Fletcher School
• Obtained the SRES (Seniors Real Estate Specialist) designation which was very important to her senior’s niche market
• Obtained CAPS certification (Certified Aging in Place Specialist) by the National Home Builders Association
• Obtained Senior Advantage Real Estate Council (SAREC)
• Attended in-services training at Keller Williams Brokerage
• Capitalized on the iSucceed.com treasure chest of tools, utilized books, training CD’s, and magazines provided by Thomson Learning and Broker Agent News
• Attended the Gateway (Hobbs/Herder) in 2005 and 2006, and Power Summit with Success Strategies Institute (2005)
• Attended NAR Convention October 2005 and Keller Williams Family Reunion February 2006
• Was the first Real Estate Agent in the State of Georgia to obtain approval as a Senior Approved Service

Because of the difficulty associated with her Marietta market, Kendra needed to do some important networking. "I joined several key networking groups to begin to expand our sphere of influence. One key group is the Georgia ElderCare Network where I was appointed to chair the first Georgia ElderCare Roadshow.' This is a successful lunch and learn educational conference for seniors and their families. The second Roadshow will be held at the Emory Center for Lifelong Learning in September 2006. "I am chairing this event again, and have been appointed to the Board of Advisors for this network."

Summary and Lessons Learned

According to Shearer, The support provided by the Real Estate Apprentice Grant has provided several foundational layers that have allowed Kendra and her husband Paul Shearer, "The Shearer Group', to enter their second year in a business that results in a high first year failure rate for rookie agents: "I see the grant resources as a "turbo-charged engine' that propels the rookie into a position of "vision', said Kendra. "It exposes the potential of the marketplace and the role of mega-agent, so that you can see yourself playing a vital role in servicing clients during these tremendously important times of their life,' she added. For Kendra, getting this far has taken an unwavering spiritual belief that each person’s life has a purpose and destiny, and a belief that her niche is actually an office that she is called to fulfill.

Coaching, mentoring, advice and guidance by seasoned agents who believed in Kendra and wanted her to succeed, has helped her with the determination to succeed and to participate in the process of making the grant an ongoing resource and success for others. "The right brokerage is also essential for a new agent. We have the support and training needed to grow our business through Keller Williams.' For Kendra, membership in a team is critical for a new agent. Whether it is as a buyer agent for a successful listing agent, or other means of learning the process, while being mentored and working on generating enough cash flow to keep going. "A rookie has to focus on new business development with the necessary capital to invest in start-up,' said Shearer. "Personal marketing, image and branding within a niche market, the discovery and use of numerous lead generation systems is mandatory and not an option,' she added.

Negotiations and Transactions

For this first Real Estate Apprentice Grant Winner, the art of negotiation and transaction management is a huge part of a successful real estate business. "Understanding that much of the work that you do never reaches closing requires a rookie to have the faith to operate at a loss for up to two or three years, and the determination and belief that the business will develop, break even and eventually operate with a profit,' said Shearer.

"When I began to meet and work with the sponsors of the first grant. It was a whirlwind of activity and I was initially challenging to integrate and synthesize recommendations such as:

• Initiate weekly coaching with Success Strategies Institute with a focus on lead generation
• Initiated an on-site consultation by McLean International with a focus on systems development such as contact management software, marketing plan, team building and business development
• Initiated development of my personal marketing campaign with Hobbs Herder Advertising to include niche marketing and branding

"For me, it has been a tough and sometimes grueling year often filled with long days. But, I have experienced the joy of helping people find what they want. I have been blessed with a team, with the Real Estate Apprentice Grant, with somewhat limited resources to start-up my business, and a personal determination and belief that I am called to do this work.."

About The Real Estate Apprentice® Grant Program

Formed in 2004, the Real Estate Apprentice® Foundation is a unique, nationwide public benefits corporation designed to use the apprenticeship and best practice strategies concepts to help newly licensed real estate agents succeed in their new careers. The Foundation every year awards over 5,000 grants totaling $1,000,000 to help improve the quality of the real estate brokerage industry.

Leading companies supporting this vision include: First American Corporation, Hobbs/Herder, RealtyU, iSucceed, eNeighborhoods, McLean International, Thomson South-Western, Calculated Industries, CreateAPlan, Real Estate Simulator, ExpressCopy, The Real Estate CyberSpace Society, Broker Agent News, Saris Technologies/Real Agent Suites, VisualTour, The Real Estate Professional Society, Seller Agency Council, CourseDates.com, and of course RISMedia.

Companies interested in helping make the industry stronger and in getting their products and services into the hands of rookie agents as a Real Estate Apprentice® sponsor should email Dr. Martin Oliver at Dr.Oliver@RealEstateApprentice.com or call 949-600-7188.