Your First Year as an Agent-Investor: What to Expect (and How to Win Anyway)

If you’re a real estate agent stepping into the world of investing, your first year will likely be a mix of excitement, overwhelm, and a steep learning curve. You’ll quickly realize that selling real estate and investing in real estate are two different skill sets. And while your knowledge of the market gives you an edge, you’ll still face the same hurdles as any new investor—fear, analysis paralysis, and the frustration of deals that don’t work out.

What Most Agent-Investors Experience in Year One

1. You’ll consume a ton of information… and still feel unprepared.
   Podcasts, books, YouTube, courses—you’ll dive into everything. But at some point, you’ll have to stop studying and start doing.

2. You’ll analyze deals but hesitate to pull the trigger.
   The first time you run the numbers on a property, you’ll second-guess yourself. The best way to break through this? Get a mentor, run your deal by experienced investors, and remind yourself that every investor has had to take that first leap.

3. You’ll lose deals.
   You’ll get outbid. You’ll have offers rejected. You’ll find a great property and hesitate just long enough for someone else to snatch it up. It happens to everyone—just don’t let it stop you from making the next offer.

4. You’ll wonder if you should just focus on your sales business instead.
   Selling homes pays you today. Investing builds wealth for tomorrow. You’ll feel the temptation to put investing on the back burner, but the agents who stick with it change their financial future forever.

5. You’ll have a breakthrough.
   One day, the numbers will finally make sense. You’ll write an offer without overthinking it. And when you finally close on that first property, the path forward will become so much clearer.

How to Win in Year One

• Get a buybox and stick to it. Too many new investors waste time looking at everything. Define what makes a deal worth pursuing and ignore the noise.
• Make offers regularly. You will not get your first deal by waiting for the perfect one. If you’re not writing offers, you’re not actually investing.
• Leverage your agent advantages. You have access to data, off-market deals, and commission savings. Use them to move faster and smarter than the average investor.
• Surround yourself with experienced investors. Hang around people who have already done what you’re trying to do. Their insights will help you skip costly mistakes.

The first year is hard—but it’s also the most important. Push through the discomfort, stay consistent, and by the time you’re 12 months in, you won’t just be an agent learning about investing. You’ll be an investor—building a future most agents never will.