As a real estate agent, you will spend lots of time talking to buyers and sellers about their home needs and looking for a house they want to buy or sell. You can make good money as an agent if you know how to market your properties and close deals quickly!
But before you start working as hard as possible to earn those dollars, you must understand what your role is in a real estate transaction. The truth is, there are many people involved in every real estate deal. Not just you, but also agents, lenders, title companies, and even the seller themselves all have different roles in the process.
Some agencies have formal job descriptions, like when your boss tells you why his/her team deserves a raise. However, in the real world, we often don’t have that kind of structure. What we have instead are things called “rules of engagement.” For example, at my office we have a policy where no matter who you talk to during a call, you have to be directly seated next to each other. This way, one person cannot listen in using headphones or by standing outside the door.
This rule really helps us focus more fully on our conversation because we feel restricted physically. It also ensures everyone has full communication access; someone else would need to come into the room to take over if needed.
Open transactions
A lot of people may think that only agents who have their own real estate company can make money, but this is not the case at all!
Most professional realtors work as independent contractors for other companies or individuals. This is called an open transaction agent position.
As the name suggests, you are paid to do things for others. You will still need to put in some effort into your job though, just like any other career.
The difference is that instead of doing it solo, you get paid more per-hourly than if you worked for yourself.
This is because you are also paying the broker or listing service fee they use to hire you. These fees add up quickly over time, so you earn well even when there are no sales!
Some professions (like lawyers) require you to be licensed, which has additional costs involved with studying and keeping license current, but most don’t.
Property management
A real estate agent’s second highest income source is property management. This can range from running someone’s house while they are away, to owning an apartment building or a large home group.
Running a house includes paying the bills, keeping up with the renters, and finding new tenants for the current ones. Keeping up with the renters means showing the house or apartments to potential future owners and ensuring their safety in the event of a fire, flood, etc. Finding new renters is very close to selling as it creates positive exposure for your agents’ name and company!
For example, if you are an agent that works for me, I pay you a monthly commission when people put your listing agreement into effect, I get paid when you find them a home, and I get paid when they sign the contract. Beyond that, you earn extra money by bringing in new renters.
This is one reason why most top earners are rich because they spend little time doing non-property related work.
Social media
As mentioned before, being active on all of the major social media sites is a great way to advertise your business and grow your client base. But what about the agents that already have clients? What if those people are not actively posting on Instagram or Facebook?
Luckily for you, there’s an easy solution! Companies like HireSpace offer paid social media accounts so that you can manage and update their profile while working at your job.
This gives you two benefits: professional looking profiles with appropriate content, and payment per post. So whether it be boosting the image of a client, commenting on a article, or just creating a lively conversation, you will get paid for it!
And since we’re talking about paying for posts, this also opens up new opportunities to connect with other businesses and gain some revenue.
Client references
As your real estate agent, you will be directly responsible for getting paid! Thankfully, there are many ways to do this, but one of the most effective is gathering client referrals. Get yourself some “brag books” that feature testimonials from past clients, and ask around constantly to find out who these people are and what services they received from you.
Your colleagues and superiors can often help by sharing their contacts who have referred them to you. It’s not only nice to receive credit for helping others, but it also helps build trust in your business as well.
When asking for references, make sure to ask about both the service being referenced and the person providing it. For example, if someone refers you as an excellent salesperson, make sure to inquire whether or not you made an effort to greet them when they arrived at the meeting place and time, and whether or not you took appropriate notes and pictures during the visit. You should always take such things seriously, and put in extra effort like this because it shows you care about doing a good job.
Another way to gather references is to write down all of the professionals you work with, and then compare those lists. If something doesn’t match up, call or meet with each other to see why there was a discrepancy.
