You Don't Know What You Don't Know: Why New Agents Need More Than a Real Estate License
There is a point in every real estate agent's career when they encounter a situation they have never seen before. Maybe it's their first multiple-offer scenario, an inspection that uncovers a serious issue, a negotiation that suddenly takes an unexpected turn, or a client asking a question they aren't quite sure how to answer.
For experienced agents, many of those moments have become second nature. They've handled enough transactions to recognize what is happening, know which questions to ask, and anticipate what might come next. For a newer agent, that same situation can feel completely different. The challenge isn't necessarily that they aren't prepared or capable. It's that there are some things you simply cannot know until someone teaches you or you experience them yourself.
That distinction is an important one, because in real estate, learning exclusively through experience can come at a very real cost.
The $30,000 Lesson
On a recent episode of The Justin Landis Show, Bolst Managing and Qualifying Broker Cathryn Childs and Justin Landis talked about a situation from early in Justin's career that helped shape the way Bolst approaches training today.
A newer agent was representing a seller who had received multiple offers. The agent had a strong offer in hand and was preparing to advise his client to accept it. During a conversation with Justin, he mentioned what was happening, and Justin asked whether he had called for highest and best.
He hadn't.
It wasn't because he was careless or wasn't taking his responsibility to his client seriously. It was the first time he had been in that situation, and no one had ever taught him that there might be another move to make.
The agent went back to the interested parties and asked for highest and best. The result was roughly $30,000 more for his seller.
Justin's takeaway from the experience wasn't that the agent had almost made a bad decision. It was that there was no reason to expect him to know something he had never been taught.
That realization eventually became part of a much larger philosophy at Bolst: if we are going to bring newer agents into this business, we also have a responsibility to help them learn how to navigate it.
Passing the Exam Is Only the Beginning
Getting a real estate license gives an agent the foundation they need to begin practicing real estate. It does not replicate the experience that comes from actually sitting across from clients, negotiating contracts, working through inspections, managing competing priorities, and navigating all of the unexpected situations that can arise between an initial conversation and the closing table.
That experience takes time to build.
The problem is that clients don't stop needing good advice while an agent is gaining it. From the very beginning, agents are trusted with decisions that can have significant financial and personal consequences for the people they represent.
That's why the transition from learning real estate to actually practicing it matters so much.
Newer agents need opportunities to learn the mechanics of the business, but they also need access to people who have already encountered the situations they haven't. They need somewhere to ask the question they worry might be too basic. They need someone to look at their plan and say, "Yes, that's exactly what I would do," or, "Before you do that, have you considered this?"
The goal isn't to eliminate the learning curve. It's to make sure newer agents aren't navigating that curve entirely on their own.
Why Asking Questions Is Part of Becoming a Better Agent
One of the things Cathryn talks about in the episode is the fear newer agents can have around admitting they don't know something. Real estate is a client-facing business, and agents understandably want the people they represent to feel confident in their ability to guide them.
But there is an enormous difference between not knowing an answer immediately and not knowing where to go to find it.
Cathryn's philosophy as a broker is simple: call before it's a problem. She would much rather have an agent reach out with a question early than wait until a decision has already been made and try to solve the problem afterward.
That same philosophy is built into Elevate & Advance.
Closing the Experience Gap With Elevate & Advance
Elevate & Advance was created around a simple reality: newer agents need more than information. They need support applying that information to the situations they are actually going to encounter in their businesses.
There is plenty you can learn from a class, a book, a video, or a licensing course. Those resources matter. But real estate is also filled with judgment calls, conversations, negotiations, and circumstances that don't always fit neatly into a lesson plan.
E&A gives newer agents an environment where learning doesn't have to happen in isolation. Agents can build their knowledge while also having access to experienced professionals who can help them think through situations, understand why certain approaches work, and develop the confidence that eventually comes from having handled those situations themselves.
Because the goal isn't simply to help an agent close their first transaction. It's to help them build the skills and judgment they will carry into the second, the tenth, and eventually the hundredth.
Experience Takes Time. Access to Experience Doesn't Have To.
No training program can give someone ten years of experience overnight, and that isn't what newer agents need.
They need the opportunity to borrow from the experience of the people around them while they build their own.
Sometimes that means learning how to navigate a complicated contract. Sometimes it means talking through what to say to a client. Sometimes it means asking one seemingly small question that changes the entire direction of a transaction.
And sometimes, as one agent learned, that conversation can make a $30,000 difference.
If you're a newer real estate agent looking for more than a license and a place to hang it, Elevate & Advance was built to help you turn what you've learned about real estate into a business you know how to run.
Learn more about Elevate & Advance Here
You can also hear the full conversation with Cathryn Childs on The Justin Landis Show, where she and Justin discuss broker support, learning through experience, and why agents should never be afraid to ask the question.
