Real Estate Classes in Brooklyn – Welcome to the Club

I have a friend from Phoenix who attended the University of Arizona. She is constantly trying to compare her education to mine. I attended Brown. If there is a minor piece of information that I don’t know, she quickly points out the obvious flaws in my undergraduate schooling. I humor her because I know she wanted to go to Brown. She tries to remind herself that she didn’t miss out. I know she did.

Attending an Ivy League school isn’t about being the smartest person in the room, even though most of the time I am. It is more about belonging to a special club. Some of us made it because we were very smart, others because their family has donated to the school’s endowment for generations. Regardless how you got there, once you are in the club, you feel special.

It’s not Ivy League and that’s okay

On the surface, the classes at Brooklyn Real Estate Institute don’t even begin to approach the difficulty of an easy class at Brown. But if you are looking for the value in this experience based strictly on information, you may be missing the point. I think I have learned more about human psychology studying and applying my real estate lessons than I ever learned in my psych classes at Brown.

I think the reason for that is in real estate and sales, you are in the actual trenches of life. You learn to understand what makes people tick or you don’t make the sale. An important lesson you learn by hanging around people who are successful in real estate is how to read people. You don’t learn that in class. You learn it from the instructor after class and from others who are at the school learning advanced investing strategies.

The University of People

Even though my real estate classes in Brooklyn taught me every detail I would need to know about real estate sales and investing, it is the education in people that I enjoy the most. After you get your real estate license and start taking advance courses, it becomes a little like Brown; you belong to the club. The veterans start pulling you aside and divulging their secrets for reading people and understanding what motivates others.

Even though there are no secret handshakes or anything like that, members of this club seem to get special privileges reserved for those special few who have advanced in the ranks. I am actually impressed how well connected my instructors are.

Going with your strength

In my previous career in health care, I became good friends with some of the top surgeons and doctors in the country. Even though the politics of my job made it difficult to use my network of friends for anything other than an invitation to a cocktail party, I now found I had something they wanted. I knew all about the good properties, the ones to invest in and the ones to avoid. And if they were looking for a good home, I knew who was moving and when.

I also found that my Brown connections were still valuable. Some of the people I have been working with are so upscale, I think I may even switch over to working for Sotheby's Real Estate. Seriously, check out this video. I could sell that. Easy.

Yes. I went to Brown. I am in the club. But I also went to Brooklyn Real Estate Institute. I am in that club too. That club makes money.