Nine Mistakes Agents Make in Their First Year

The first year is survivable and most people do not survive it. Not because it is hard, but because of a consistent set of avoidable errors.

1. Taking every listing

An overpriced listing costs months of updates, viewings and hope, produces nothing, and blocks the time you needed for work that would have paid.

Learn to say: "I can list it at that price, but here's what will happen. I'd rather we agree a number that sells."

2. Not asking about money early

Showing six properties before discovering the buyer's actual budget is a wasted fortnight. Ask in the first conversation, framed as service.

3. Chasing leads and neglecting the people who know you

New agents buy leads and ignore their phone contacts. The people who already trust you are the highest-converting audience you will ever have, and it costs nothing to tell them what you do.

4. No system

Leads in your head, follow-ups in your memory, and a deal lost every month to someone you meant to call. Seven columns in a spreadsheet fixes this permanently.

5. Spending on the wrong things

A logo, business cards, a website, an office. None of these produce a client. Spend on: a decent phone, a tripod, and time.

6. Not knowing one area properly

Being a generalist across a city means being outcompeted everywhere by someone who knows their patch. Pick two localities and learn every society in them.

7. Being unable to answer basic questions

Carpet area. Maintenance. Water hours. Stamp duty. Loan eligibility. A buyer who hears "I'll check" three times has already decided about you.

8. Talking too much

At viewings, on calls, in meetings. The agent who asks and listens finds the objection. The agent who presents never learns what it was.

9. Under-capitalising the runway

The pipeline you build in month two closes in month seven. If you cannot fund six months of living costs, you will take bad listings and desperate deals out of necessity, which extends the problem.

What to do instead, in order

Month 1–2: Pick two localities. Learn every society. Message every contact you have. Set up the spreadsheet.

Month 3–4: Start publishing — three posts a week, all about those two localities. Take listings only at defensible prices.

Month 5–6: Build five referral partnerships. Follow up everything relentlessly. Ask every client for a review.

Month 7 onwards: The first ones close. Reinvest the time, not the money, into the same four activities.

The one that matters most

Consistency in the unglamorous work — following up, calling back, knowing the answers, telling the truth about price. The agents still working in year three are not the ones with the best branding. They are the ones who did the boring things every week when nothing appeared to be happening.