Aside from personal New Year’s resolutions, the start to 2021 is the perfect time to nail down those real estate resolutions! Why do I need real estate resolutions you might ask? For someone in the real estate business, it is important to have a game plan for how to start 2021 off strong in the housing market.

Take a look at some of the top real estate resolutions every realtor should have on their list:

1. Network, network, network!

One of the most important steps in real estate 101 is networking. Networking is key to anyone involved in the real estate business. Many mistake networking for going to numerous gatherings and racking up a business card collection and creating a “rolodex” of potential business partners. There is so much more to the networking process that many often don’t think of. 

Here are the key steps for every networking professional:

• Having a stable online presence - It is important, especially in today’s day and age, to have a strong online presence. The younger individuals of today statistically have a strong engagement through social media. Your business should have a social media presence, along with a blog and website for clients to visit and find out more information about the business. Having a social media presence will allow for not only easier client access to finding out company information, but also will allow for easier communication between clients and potential clients. 

• Attending real estate events - Attending real estate industry events will ensure that you meet the key players in the real estate world. As stated earlier, when people think of networking, they think of attending events and racking up their business card portfolio. This is partially true as well as necessary. As a business owner, you should make it a point to attend these events, as well as encourage your employees to attend. This not only helps to raise awareness for your business, but also may help in finding potential employees for your company, therefore growing the business. 

• Find a charity to support - Networking isn’t just about your presence as a business, but also the reputation of your business. Supporting a local charity or charities is important for any business owner. By supporting a charity and/or charities your company has created a presence as a business that gives back to the community. As a business, you can not only volunteer at charity-related events, but also sponsor charity-related events for the public to attend. 

2. Never stop building your company. 

In the real estate business, it is important to always build your company and your team base. Building your team base ensures that not only your company grows but also that you have the accurate financial resources to help keep your company afloat. This could be in the form of having a financial advisor to keep track of company finances, a company lawyer to take over any legal issues on behalf of the company, as well as having proper contractors to help tend to any properties. All of these will assist in not only growing your business but helping to keep your business stable throughout the pandemic. 

3. Keep a list of yearly goals for your company. 

No goals are too big or small for any company, especially as a business owner. Create a list of realistic goals for your business as well as for your employees, to adhere to throughout the 2021 year. Create incentives that help push your employees to achieve these goals. Some realistic goals for your company might include:

• Ensure you are always conducting proper rent estimates

• Keep record of any networking contacts, should you need them as resources for your company

• Become more active with company advertising 

• Make an effort to digitize all company content in the event of an emergency

4. Digitize all company content.

Using paper creates for easily lost content. Living in 2021,it is important to keep a digital record of all of your content. This can create for protection if any disasters happen in your hometown, along with assisting if anything gets lost or goes missing. Digitizing content is more than just saving all of your paper content to disks and drives. Digitizing content also involves keeping track of your finances, digitally. This can be done with professional help or through the help of a bookkeeper. It is wise to invest in someone well-versed in this type of work in order to properly have your content stored, permanently.

5. Always keep up with the current laws and never be afraid of change and growth. 

With the ever-changing legal system, it is important to keep abreast of any changes in the legal system, especially when it comes to real estate law. If your company can hire a company lawyer, this is one way to easily insure that you are always kept up to date. If hiring a company lawyer is not in the cards, you can begin to network with other real estate investors, along with keeping aware of any tax-related laws and deduction opportunities. Keeping connections with people who can provide legal-related counsel is always to your company’s benefit. Again, the top 2021 goal should be to grow your network as much as possible.