Real estate salespeople and other licensees who are required to work for and under the umbrella of a designated broker are often referred to as real estate agents.
In legal language, the term “agent” refers to the strictly defined relationship between a real estate salesperson and the buyers and sellers with whom they conduct business. Visit repcalgaryhomes.ca for real estate agent tips.
An agent is an individual who is authorized and consents to represent the interests of another person. As an agent, you act to assist people with the process of buying, selling, and renting land, homes, and other properties.
What Real Estate Agents Do
In addition to meeting licensing requirements and having a comprehensive understanding of pertinent real estate laws, real estate agents have a long list of responsibilities. These agents typically do the following:
- Advise clients on mortgages, market conditions, and pricing
- Advise sellers on how they can make their homes more attractive to buyers
- Compare properties in order to determine fair and competitive market prices
- Generate lists of appropriate properties for buyers, based on their price range and needs
- Guide buyers and sellers through the transaction
- Manage lists of contacts
- Mediate negotiations between buyers and sellers
- Prepare and submit all required paperwork, including various contracts
- Present all purchase offers to sellers for consideration
- Promote properties through advertising, listing services (such as MLS), and open houses
- Show properties to prospective buyers
- Solicit potential clients to buy, sell, and rent properties
- Stay current with real estate laws and trends
- Work nights and/or weekends to accommodate clients’ needs.
Expand Your Sphere of Influence
One way to build contacts and generate leads is through a real estate sphere of influence (SOI) business model. This networking strategy focuses on generating real estate leads via the people you already know, including your family, friends, classmates, business associates, sports team members, and even service providers (e.g. your doctor and hairstylist). The best way to keep track of all the names and contact information is in one place, such as in a spreadsheet program (say, Excel), your email’s contacts database, or using commercial software.
Develop a Professional Image
Developing and maintaining a professional presence is vital to your success as a real estate agent. Your image is projected through your:
- Appearance: Tidy clothing, hair, accessories, makeup, which should be appropriate for your office and the local market. Avoid perfume/cologne and revealing clothing (i.e., nothing too tight, too short, or too low-cut). Men, too, should dress professionally, but not too formally. Avoid accessories such as necklaces and hats, but a nice watch is ok.
- Face-to-face meetings: Good eye contact, positive body language. Strive to be attentive, engaging, and courteous.
- Marketing and advertising materials: Quality photos and accurate, compelling text, which should be free of grammatical and spelling mistakes.
- Phone calls: Articulate, engaging, and courteous.
- Web presence: A carefully thought-through website, engaging social media, which should be free of grammatical errors and typos.
- Written communications: Well-written letters, emails, and texts free of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.