Ed Sarfo - Becoming a Real Estate Broker

For real estate brokers like Ed Sarfo, building a team of agents that reflect the core mentality of you and your company is important. Sarfo is the owner of Commonwealth Real Estate Professionals in Lexington, Kentucky and has spent much of his life dedicated to his studies and self-betterment. Born in Ghana and educated both in West Africa and Germany, he puts a great deal of emphases on his passion for his business and for those he works with both clients and colleagues.

Real estate brokers like Sarfo have gone through years of real estate experience as an agent as well as education and testing. Depending upon the state in which an agent resides, you may be required to have anywhere between one and three years working for a licensed broker helping him or her buy and sell properties under that license.

Although becoming a broker requires additional education and experience, many find the opportunity to be your own boss exciting. The prospect of making the decisions for your schedule and employing agents to help with the load is one that finds many agents putting in the extra effort to become licenses. However, Brokers are paid on commission, so your earnings would be a direct reflection of the quantity and quality of properties you choose to complete for clients.

Ed Sarfo is one of many successful brokers who realizes that the market will fluctuate from month to month based on a variety of factors, some of which are out of your control. Finding your niche in the market and building a successful company can help you navigate through the slower months and reap the benefits of hard work during months of higher volume transactions.
Sources: http://www.howtobecome.com/how-to-become-a-real-estate-broker

Ed Sarfo - Help End Homelessness

Helping the homeless is an important endeavor for improving the community and lives of everyone involved. For business owner, Ed Sarfo, helping the homeless in his home state of Kentucky is well worth the time, effort, and financial gifts one can give. Although the immediate, most obvious form of assistance would be providing food and shelter, for many volunteers like Sarfo helping the homeless in the short term is not enough.

According to a two-year study that was conducted by the University of Louisville's Kent School of Social Work, the cost of sheltering and caring for just over 7,000 homeless adults was close to $89 million over this two-year period. In comparison, providing permanent housing solutions for these same individuals would have saved over $6.4 million. Studies such as these help to highlight the importance of assistance with the goal of meeting needs on a long-term basis and providing opportunities for more permanent solutions. This is one instance where the adage, ‘Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime', takes a very real meaning.

One organization in the Lexington, Kentucky area, Hope Center, works with the mission of caring for those who are homeless and at-risk by offering life-sustaining and rebuilding services. These services are intended to be all encompassing and address the underlying cause of homelessness for each individual. Finding the root of the problem is a great way to begin the journey of recovering one's life and finding future success. Some of the services offered by the organization include emergency shelter, recovery programs for men and women, detention center recovery programs, a mental health program, employment programs, socials services, a health clinic, transitional housing program, permanent housing, a health clinic, veterans program and a Hispanic program. All of these programs enable workers to better understand the cause of homelessness for each individual and to help prevent homelessness for those who are at risk. 

Helping your own local shelter is a great way to join in the fight against homelessness. There are many ways to get involved. Whether you are able to donate your time or finances, spread awareness, start fundraisers, or attend fundraising events, even the smallest efforts are valued and appreciated. If you would like to participate in Hope Center initiatives or find your place in one of their many programs, please follow the link below:

http://www.hopectr.org/volunteer/ 

Volunteers such as Ed Sarfo are the hands and feet of the organization in which they represent. Without hard working individuals who give the gift of their time and talent to benefit the community and strangers in need, organizations such as Hope Center would be lost.

Ed Sarfo - Real Estate Investment Strategy, the Exit

One of the thing that has made Ed Sarfo such an accomplished and successful real estate broker is a sound investment strategy. While experience and hard work are an important part of a success recipe, ultimately doing well in the real estate industry boils down to investment strategy. At least that is what Casey Quinlan, a journalist for U.S. News reports in an article published on their official website. An important part of real estate investment is knowing all of the rules involved. By doing due diligence and the proper research, a savvy realtor can learn which investments pay off, and which ones do not.

Brokers like Ed Sarfo are ultimately investors. When they buy a property it is simply an investment, one they need to pay off in order to profit. Real estate is a unique investment though, which is why Casey Quinlan says you cannot apply the same rules to real estate investment as you would to stocks or bonds. One important real estate investment rule is to always have an exit strategy. That means that before you invest in a property, you should have a plan of action. That means knowing when to sell the property, and who to sell it to.

Real estate investors like Ed Sarfo always make sure that they have a good exit strategy when buying a property. Having a good exit strategy is recommended because you do not want to get trapped with a property that is no longer profitable or that you have no interest in. Flexibility and a clean exit is recommended for property investors.
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