How I Became a Real Estate Transaction Coordinator
Hi there! Welcome back to the blog!
I often get asked, “How do I become a transaction coordinator?” “Do I need to have real estate experience/my license?” “How do you get a job as a TC?” “Is there any training available?” and so on. Because of this, I’ve finally decided to share my journey in depth with you on how I got where I am today! Disclaimer: While you’ll see I got my license and was in real estate before becoming a TC, I also know people who have been able to learn along the way. Don’t let this discourage you!
Okay, now it is story time. We are taking it back to the summer of 2018! I had just graduated from college and started what I thought was my dream job at an insurance company. However, I soon realized it was not the best fit for me. (It is a running joke now between my husband and me about how long I lasted at the corporate gig, I say 8 weeks, and he says 6 weeks lol.) While I can joke about it now, I felt like a huge failure at the time. I had secured this impressive job early on in my senior year of college and had been excited about it for months, only to quit a few months (or weeks lol) in. Who quits their first job so soon right out of college? It made me feel awful about myself, but I recognize now that it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. If you ever feel undervalued or that you aren’t in the right place, I encourage you to explore your options and see if you can make a change. I am one-million times happier now than I was then. Also, I’m a firm believer that while even your dream career will have stressful days, no one should be crying after work. 😅
Anyway, as I was going back and forth about quitting my insurance job, I had lunch with my wonderful stepmother-in-law, who is a real estate agent, and encouraged me to meet with her broker as she thought a career as an agent would be a great fit for me. I meet with her broker, decided to give up insurance, and started studying for my real estate exam. Without a job, I was able to study and pass all of my exams in less than two months. I was 22 and ready to start my real estate career! (Enjoy a photo of 22-year-old me, fresh-faced and ready for her real estate career!)
Honestly, I had a great first year for a rookie, closing 10 deals, but it was not without its struggles. I felt stressed financially as I hadn’t really planned to make this career change and also being fresh out of college didn’t have a lot of savings to fall back on. I also felt like there was SO.MUCH.I.DID.NOT.KNOW! Why doesn’t the real estate exam teach you anything applicable to actually working as an agent day in and day out?! I was fortunate to have my stepmother-in-law as a mentor and a bunch of other supportive agents at my brokerage that I could lean on, but I still felt like every time I started to feel confident, I was hit with another hurdle or question that I didn’t know the answer to.
Towards the end of my first year, I listened to a podcast where successful real estate agent Farrah Brittany (who is now on the Netflix show - Buying Beverly Hills) was a guest, and she mentioned how at the beginning of her career she worked as an assistant to learn the business and also have a steady paycheck. At this time, I didn’t even realize agents had assistants (I certainly couldn’t afford one! 😂). This intrigued me as learning more and making a steady income were the two biggest things I was struggling with. I decided to start exploring jobs in this category.
After a few weeks of applying and interviewing, I accepted a job as an executive assistant to a high-producing agent in my area. I went into an office every day, had a steady schedule, and a salaried paycheck. I also learned SO MUCH! I had never even worked on a listing before until this! I managed the transactions, handled incoming calls, communicated with the buyers and sellers, kept track of office supplies, and worked on marketing. Eventually, we decided my role wasn’t exactly an executive assistant and my title was changed to “Licensed Marketing and Transaction Coordinator”. After doing this for a while, I started realizing I really wanted to drop the “marketing” part of my role, (which is funny because my college degree is in marketing!) But, I really really just loved the transaction side of it all. I started researching and realized there were people out there who were full-time transaction coordinators.
I started researching a few ideas, start my own TC company from scratch, go work full-time at a brokerage as a transaction coordinator, or work as a contractor for a company that had a variety of coordinators and services. While the idea of starting my own company was appealing, I was a little scared as I didn’t feel quite as experienced as I felt I needed to be, and wasn’t really prepared financially to make that jump either. This was during the Covid-19 pandemic, so office jobs weren’t really hiring either, and I decided to land right in the middle working as a TC as an independent contractor at a TC company.
This was a great opportunity for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was the perfect mix of getting a feel for running my own business while also having some support. Also - getting to work from home which was a huge win for me! I learned so much and closed hundreds of transactions. Eventually, I realized I was ready to go off on my own.
That pretty much brings us to where I am today! Starting my own TC company was such a blessing and is so rewarding every day. While it was a little intimidating at first, I took several months to plan and prepare and to make sure I was ready both mentally and financially.
Overall, I feel like my journey to get where I am today was very organic, I kept learning more and more and narrowing down what I was doing in the real estate world until I found my perfect niche. Since that day in 2018, I have closed over 1,000 real estate transactions, worked with over 50 agents, mentored numerous other coordinators, started my own business, more than doubled my income, and learned more than I ever thought possible. It is one of the biggest reasons I am passionate about helping other TCs and aspiring TCs today. Making such a great life for myself, all while working from home fills me with such pride and joy and I want to help other people achieve the same dream.
Thank you for being here and reading my story. I hope I have inspired you in some way to make your own dreams come true.
Here is a link to the podcast episode I referenced earlier if you want to listen: https://tscpodcast.com/episodes/219-farrah-brittany/
Allyson
