Just What Does a Real Estate Agent Do?
A Day in the Life of a Real Estate Salesperson
A real estate agent, as defined by Cambridge Dictionary, is a person whose business is to arrange the selling or renting of houses, land, offices, or buildings for their owners. While that is a technically accurate definition of a real estate agent, it doesn’t give an accurate description of what a real estate agent does on a day-to-day basis. Each day is unique and different for a real estate agent; while this can be an appealing aspect of the real estate profession, it can also offer unique challenges or opportunities, depending on the agent’s skill set. So, just what does a real estate agent do in a typical day?
Managing Your Real Estate Business
There are a number of administrative tasks that are at the core of a well-run real estate business. A good real estate agent:
- Keeps up with local and regional market activity and industry news
- Researches active, pending, and sold listings and reviews the daily MLS Hot Sheet or Activity Report
- Completes, submits, and files paperwork, such as real estate documents, agreements, and records with the proper state agencies
- Plans and coordinates appointments, open houses, showings, and meetings with clients and other real estate agents
- Develops marketing plans for listings and creates fliers, newsletters, and other promotional collateral
- Responds to incoming emails and phone calls
- Update websites, social media profiles, and blogs
Many successful real estate agents have an assistant or office manager to assist with the day-to-day activities, allowing the salesperson or broker to focus on more direct revenue-generating activities.
You’re Not Just Selling Homes, You’re Selling Yourself
Attracting clients is crucial to a real estate agent’s success. Below are some tips to attracting new clients:
- Market yourself. Competition is fierce. You need to develop your niche in the local real estate market and be known as the expert in the type of work you enjoy. This will help differentiate yourself through effective marketing. Websites, postcards, television and radio spots, billboards, fliers, and blogs are all channels that can be utilized in effective real estate agent marketing plans.
- Lead generation. Generate leads through networking and relationship development. This starts with people you know, such as friends, family, business associates, and so on. There is little that is more valuable to a real estate agent then a thriving database of leads.
- Everyone is a prospect. Basically, everyone you meet is a prospective client, because everyone rents, buys, or sells a home at some point. A real estate agent’s day is often consumed by cultivating leads, as well as meeting and following up with potential buyers and sellers.
Working with Sellers
- Meet with and understand the needs of sellers with new listings.
- Demonstrate your market knowledge, marketing abilities, and negotiation skills.
- Research the current local market activity and comparable properties to establish an asking price.
- List the property with relevant listing services.
- Take digital photos of the property, inside and out, to prepare a listing presentation and advertising collateral.
- Stage the home properly so it shows well and conduct open houses.
Working with Buyers
- Meet with, interview, understand, and qualify prospective buyers.
- Research the listing services for potential properties that fit the needs of your clients.
- Plan property showings for buyers and set up appointments that fit your client’s schedule.
- Show selected properties to buyers and communicate any details of the property you learned during your research or while talking to other agents.
- Demonstrate negotiation skills, making offers of purchase on real estate.
Networking with Peers
Real estate agents typically work in an office with other agents and brokers and have many opportunities to discuss new listings, get updates on listings, and discuss buyer’s and seller’s needs. Another option that agents utilize to narrow down a search for a buyer or to perform research on the competition for sellers is the MLS tour. This allows agents and brokers to quickly gather first-hand knowledge on a number of available properties in the local market.
Developing Your Skills
Although continuing education is a requirement to maintain a real estate license, it is also an opportunity to develop the skills that will keep an agent at the top of their game or open a door to new real estate opportunities within the regional or local market. Continual development is crucial to long-term success of real estate agents and brokers. Continuing education not only widens their scope of expertise, but it also improves their proficiency, knowledge, and marketability as a real estate professional.
