10 Things You Need To Know To Be A Successful Real Estate Agent In Los Angeles - Part Two
Thank you for stopping by for the second part of this series. If you'd like, you can check out part one, which gave the first two teaching points of this series. We pick up at point number three.
3. Even though you may have a concept of which areas of the city are considered to have and which areas of the city are considered the have-nots, you need to verify for yourself because you could be wrong. There are areas of Santa Monica where some of the residents own homes that come in at around $150,000, which is considered a low priced house in the area. There are also areas of Compton that have homes starting at $500,000. Stereotyping areas of the city based on preconceived notions could lose you a lot of sales and customers.
4. Los Angeles is a city that deals with a lot of international moguls, therefore knowing more than one language is a definite plus. It is not just Spanish that you should be familiar with. It helps to be familiar with Asian languages such as Japanese, Chinese, and some dialects from India as much as Spanish, Portuguese, and French. If you don't know these languages, then you better know who and where to go to for help if you come across any potential foreign clients. Even those clients who normally would want to work with someone who speaks their language will work with someone who's not only competent but has gone out of their way to try to find a way to communicate with them.
5. Los Angeles may not have boroughs like New York City, but it does have a vast variety of neighborhoods. Neighborhoods are broken down either by asking the city or economy. For instance, everybody knows that Chinatown has mainly Chinese residents. But many people might not know that Echo Park, which is to be an area where many scenes used to be filmed for movies, is now predominately a Latino community. A successful real estate agent will know that Hollywood Hills is very popular among the rich because he gives them great views of the city, whereas areas like Westlake have poorer residents and higher incidences of crime. There are literally more than a couple hundred neighborhoods throughout the Los Angeles area, and successful real estate agents will know where all of them are, either by remembering them all or at least having them listed on a map so that they can locate them if they need to.
6. Los Angeles has a lot of cultural phenomena, and sometimes that's the most important thing to potential buyers, therefore, knowing where landmarks are is very critical for any real estate agent who wants to make money in the city. For instance, you have to know where the Hollywood Bowl is, as well as places like Wilshire Blvd., Sunset Strip, the Fairfax District, the Venice Boardwalk, and Mulholland Dr. It wouldn't hurt to know where some celebrities hang out, because even though you need to make sure that's not a big deal for you, it could be a big deal to some of your potential clients. Of course you always want to protect the rights and privacy of celebrities for fear of a backlash of any kind, but if you happen to know that Tom Hanks and his wife love to frequent a certain restaurant from time to time, it's a nice fact to have in the back of your mind.