Reddit mentions: The best real estate sales books

Take your post licensing classes right away. They are going to tell you the stuff you need to know right up front. Don't be that agent who waits until the last weeks, then spends all her breaks screaming into her cell phone because she's trying to juggle clients and at least one escrow headed south (hi!). On the other hand, learn all you can from that crazy lady.

Also take whatever your brokerage offers in the way of success classes right away. Yeah, different set of classes. If you're with Arizona Properties, it's called RE-Start. They will tell you what you need to do to manage your business, get clients, and close transactions.

As for books, I liked Champion Real Estate Agent and 1200 Great Sales Tips.

You must do some sort of lead generation every single day that you work. Doesn't matter if it's making phone calls or knocking doors or shudder putting address labels on a mailer.

Know what's going on in your market. Be able to say things like "Well, Monday we had 4580 available properties, 9330 under contract, and 4320 sold in the last 30 days. Median price on SFR was $143k and median time on market was 32 days."

If you think you might have any interest in new homes, tour all those properties. Put the brochures in a folder in your desk so you can talk about them with clients before you get in the car.

There will be many vendors who want to take your money. Don't give anybody a dime unless they can put in writing what you get before you pay them. They are counting on the fact that most Realtors are idiots.

Make sure you know where your clients come from. If you didn't call them first or they didn't come in on floor time, ask them "So, may I ask how you found me?" This will let you figure out what you are doing right and do more of it. It will also give you an excuse to stop doing (and stop spending money on) things that don't work. It will also give you a chance to thank people for referrals. If Bob sent in Mary, give Bob a call to say thanks or send him a Starbucks gift card. The advantage of calling -- other than being cheap -- is that he might tell you things that will help you and your business relationship with Mary.

Call every person in your circle of influence once a quarter. Your broker or sales coach will have a script. Ask if they need anything from you and ask if they know somebody who needs a Realtor.

Attend office meetings. You'll learn something.

Be prepared for the fact that something will go wrong in the last week of most transactions. Most of the time, it will have something to do with the mortgage. The deal isn't closed until it's recorded and the buyer has the keys in his hand. Don't spend your commission check until you have it.

Good luck!

There's really no such thing as a "best state" for homesteading. There's just too many factors involved, some of which work against each other, and there's personal preferences also. What's perfect for one person would suck for another. Personally I think most states east of the Mississippi will work just fine--just avoid places with a whole lot of local laws and codes and regulations that will make your life real hard.

And climate is only one small factor among many that you need to consider. Cost of the land? How much can you afford? How will you make a living? Commute to work? How's the local economy? The local government and regulations and fees?

The viability of homesteading can vary a lot not just within a state but also within a single county, or even between adjacent parcels, due to deed restrictions and local conditions such as one property is on a flood plains and the adjacent one isn't. Stuff like that.

Take your time researching all this. No need to hurry. Laws are going to matter, so will land and living costs, and your ability to generate sufficient income in a given area.

I suggest you start with your library and with amazon, look into books on homesteading and on how to find and buy a place in the country.

Two books I particularly like:

How to Find and Buy Your Place in the Country.

and

Country Property Dirt Cheap

"Place" is extremely thorough and detailed, will help you avoid a lot of pitfalls. I found it an overwhelming and somewhat discouraging read, t hough--but it has important information I found in no other book.

"Dirt Cheap" is my favorite of all the "how to move to the country" books. It's an autobiography of a guy who did it, on not a whole lot of money. Talks a lot about his journey, the things he tried, what worked for him what didn't. Fantastic tips. Lots of adventures and surprises--and it left me feeling very heartened and encouraged. He found his place and loves it. He made me feel I could do it too.

And I did. Finally got out of the city for good just a year ago. I researched it for years before I found and got my little piece of paradise. It feels real good.

Might I then recommend Dirt Cheap Property

It's a pretty good resource for figuring all this out, and some of his ideas, like talking to local farmers if they have land they might parcel off, might be up your alley. As noted by another commenter, landwatch.com is also a good resource.

https://www.amazon.com/Country-Property-Dirt-Cheap-Inexpensive/dp/0945959524

This book has been recommended to me.