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Are You a Know-It-All or a Real Estate Expert?

May 1, 2025

middle aged woman looking away thinking
If you haven’t ready Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Outliers, then you need to put it on your list right now. It’s a fascinating examination of what it takes to be an expert (loosely defined as 10,000 hours of practice) and how some individuals develop expertise more quickly than others. The book evaluates how a certain set of circumstances cause certain people up to develop expertise more quickly than other people. One example that Gladwell uses is in the case of Steve Jobs, and how Jobs grew up with a supercomputer practically in his backyard: thus giving him the opportunity to “play” on the computer more than others who had the same interests.



What Does This Have to Do with Real Estate?

First off, consider yourself. Have you put in your 10,000 hours selling real estate—writing contracts, representing buyers and sellers? Are there people who you know or work with that naturally developed their 10,000 more quickly than you did? Are you a real estate expert?

For me, due to a specific set of very strange circumstances, I became a short sale expert in no time flat. Having helped agents to close nearly 2000 short sales in a 5-6 year period, I developed significant additional expertise that likely boosted my general real estate experience to way beyond the 10k (or even the 20k) mark.

When working with homebuyers and home sellers, it helps a great deal to have expertise. With that expertise, you are able to advise based on your experience. You are able to avert landmines and predict outcomes. Since real estate transactions can be very stressful for buyers and sellers, this expertise is definitely an asset.



Four Ways to Overcome a Lack of Expertise

Nobody is born an expert. Expertise takes time to develop, as we’ve already mentioned. If you do not yet have your 10,000 hours in real estate, there are some easy and practical ways to overcome your lack of expertise.
  1. Find a mentor. If you are relatively new to the business, seek to work with a mentor (someone who already has his or her 10,000 hours) so that you can learn from an expert. Become a buyer’s agent on an agent team, or join a small brokerage where the broker can provide training and assist you with your daily activities.
  2. Take lots of classes and watch lots of webinars. This is self-explanatory. If you don’t have a lot of skin in the game, compensate by getting as much training as possible. Seek opportunities at your brokerage, online, or at your association.
  3. Practice scripting. Experienced agents can go into a listing appointment blind and usually obtain the listing. They handle difficult situations with finesse and overcome objections without blinking an eye. If you aren’t at that point yet, you’ll need to practice your scripts. Find a partner and conduct role-plays to practice. Read and record your scripts and then listen to them at every opportunity—in your car, at the gym, etc.
  4. Polish marketing materials. If you have limited experience, you will need to overcompensate with high-quality marketing materials. Just like a shiny yellow Ferrari turns heads, potential buyers and sellers will be attracted to your polished marketing materials.
Last but not least, the best piece of advice that I can give (expert or not) is to never, ever provide an answer unless you are 100% certain. In Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch’s book APE, Kawasaki writes about trustworthiness. He states, “Trustworthiness means that people can depend on you because you are honest, forthright, and effective.” He continues by saying, “Tell people what you don’t know. No one knows everything. There’s nothing wrong with this. You can build trust explaining what you don’t know. Then people will believe you when you say you do know something.” Instead of acting like a know-it-all, act like a professional and an expert: be honest and show integrity in everything you do.

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