Real estate agents help create the bridge to helping you find your next home or sell your current one. More than just helping you buy and sell homes, there are critical details a real estate agent needs to sort out.
How do you know you can trust a buyer? Which price offer is justifiable? Should you accept the offer or throw back a counter-offer? It’s decisions like these that can affect your profit margins or even prevent ownership issues in the future.
What does a real estate agent do that you can’t do on your own? Keep on reading to learn more about how real estate agents play a vital role in a community.
List Properties for Sale
One of the typical job descriptions of agents in the real estate industry is to list properties for sale.
Whenever you decide to sell your house, the first person to contact is your local real estate agency.
They’ll connect you with an agent that can help list your property in the local market.
At first, listing properties for sale might sound like a simple task. But there’s more to it than that!
Many agents have to go through a rigorous process to make sure your home becomes desirable in the open market.
1. Determine the market value of your property
The first and vital step most agents do before listing the property is determining how much your property is worth.
This step is crucial because most real estate agents have to make sure they set a selling price that is competitive in the open market, without sacrificing the actual value of the property.
2. Prepare the property for open houses
Once real estate agents understand the market value of the property or home, they’ll advise you to prepare it for listing and viewing.
This usually involves emptying and cleaning your home and make the necessary repairs. Improving the condition of your home or space boosts the market value.
Real estate agents understand you could incur more costs if the buyer finds any damaged furniture or leaks. This not only makes it less appealing, but it also lowers the market price you can sell your home for.
Once everything looks excellent, estate agents take social media-worthy pictures of the home and prepare it for viewing.
3. Advertise the property
Another crucial step a real estate agent needs to undertake is advertising the properties in various channels. They need to make sure they can reach as many potential clients and buyers as possible.
Luckily, with the advent of modern technology and various social media platforms, looking for buyers won’t be a problem.
The only challenge an agent needs to surpass is making sure their advertisements stand out from the others.
4. Supervise open houses
The listing is out there! Real estate agents are now on the ready for buyers interested in the property.
Estate agents start becoming busy, setting appointments for prospective clients. They may even prepare their spiel to encourage clients.
An open house may take some time, but that’s okay! Having a trustworthy and reliable real estate agent by your side will help you look for potential buyers.
They’ll put on a show for the clients to make sure they come out of the home, wanting to own it.
5. Close deals
A real estate agent makes sure to find buyers and close the deal.
After all the hard work they’ve been through, from listing your home up to the date of its sale, it’s finally time to start with the last crucial step.
They’ll coordinate with home buyers and sellers to schedule contract signing and take care of additional documents the deal may need.
Rest assured, buyers and sellers of the home can expect a hassle-free transaction with their agent.
Real estate can be a pretty challenging and complicated business to understand, but your real estate agent will help you close any gaps and clarify any terms or deals you need a better understanding of.
Help Buyers Look for a Home
Besides helping out home sellers, a real estate agent can also help many buyers connect with sellers and find their new home.
When it comes to helping buyers, there’s a ton of preparation both an agent and a buyer needs. Here are some of the typical responsibilities most estate agents have to do for their buyers.
1. Interview the buyer
Before estate agents look for a home for buyers, they’ll need to start with a routine interview.
Getting to know the buyer plays a vital role in understanding what they’re looking for and how much they can afford.
It’s always best to narrow down the options from the beginning, which can help save a lot of time and trouble in the long run.
This is a critical step because it’s pointless to list or advertise properties for sale without first identifying the right buyer.
Getting to know the buyer may take some time, but the process pays off later on. Once the real estate agent figures out what the buyer needs, it’s easier to move forward with the next steps.
2. Secure a mortgage
Part of the interview process is getting to know the financial capacity of the buyer.
One of the critical roles of an estate agent is to make sure they’re able to help the buyer secure a mortgage to purchase their prospective home.
Many real estate agents are familiar with how to secure a mortgage and the best offers to make sure you can get your money’s worth.
3. Locate a home for sale
The primary purpose of a real estate agent is to make sure they connect a client to a home available for sale.
There’s probably a ton of offers in the market today, and the role of your estate agent is to connect you with a home that meets your standards and requirements.
Agents make sure you get your value for money without compromising anything.
4. Prepare documentary requirements
Once a buyer finds what they’re looking for, it’s the role of the real estate agent to start preparing the necessary documents.
It can start with preparing the selling agreement between the buyers and sellers. Most often than not, it usually indicates the initial selling price and other counter-offers.
Many documentary requirements can also include inspections, insurance, deeds, among others.
Luckily, a real estate agent can help accomplish these documents in no time.
5. Buy the home
Now that all the preparatory steps are done, and after all the hard work accomplished, the only thing left to do is buy the real estate.
Once done, the agent can hand the keys to the buyer and enjoy their new real estate acquisition.
What Skills Make a Good Real Estate Agent?
Besides helping clients buy and sell real estate in the market, real estate agents are always under the challenge of continually improving and selling their skills to potential clients.
A part of what they’re selling to their customers isn’t just real estate but includes a big part of their personality.
Real estate agents should always be on top of their game. There’s a ton of work they have to do to market themselves to potential customers.
Here are some skills excellent real estate agents possess.
1. Establishing a niche
Agents need to start developing themselves in the early stages of their careers and establish themselves as real estate experts.
With a ton of real estate in the market, it becomes a challenge to differentiate one agent from another.
That’s where establishing a nice comes in. Finding a niche can make a significant impact in finding a loyal set of clients.
A few examples of real estate niches include:
• Vacation rentals
• Homeowners who want to downsize
• Off-market properties
• First-time homeowners/buyers
• Luxury properties
Agents that work with a niche can easily be identified and ideal for having a reliable number of clients.
2. Relationship-building
Estate agents have the crucial role of making a good impression with their current and prospective customers. They need to establish a great relationship with the people they come across to help them reach more people.
One of the advantages of having many connections in the real estate business is the number of leads and prospective customers they can take.
It may start with just one client now, but it can lead to a ton more, especially if agents show excellent performance with their existing client.
A customer can instantly recommend them to their business associates, friends, and family, among others.
3. Preparing and organizing relevant paperwork
Accomplishing paperwork might sound like an easy task, but it can get pretty complicated once laws and regulations are involved.
Agents always have to be mindful and knowledgeable of the laws in the market they’re working with. This revolves around technical concepts and terms that a real estate agent learned during their pre-licensing course program.
Paperwork doesn’t just mean drafting and signing a paper, and it can include other complicated subject matter which their customers don’t usually have to undertake.
Finally, agents need to be meticulous with all the paperwork that comes with selling and buying real properties.
4. Advancing business goals
What makes a great agent is their ability to advance the goals of their real estate business. Agents need to be comfortable talking to all sorts of people & personalities along with building their people skills.
Advancing business goals don’t just happen sitting behind a desk. In the real estate industry, negotiation skills are essential to advancing further.
If there’s one great way to start that can help advance any business interest, it’s when an employee starts showing passion in their work. They’ll know the ins and outs of the industry and how to manage it.
Most importantly, many real estate businesses set a target on how much real estate to buy or sell for a specified period. A great agent always will learn and understand how to reach this target effectively.
5. Learn continuously
Learning never ends for a real estate agent. There’s a level of knowledge and education required every time an agent renews their license.
Nevertheless, continuing education is vital for every agent. It’s always an excellent opportunity to grow and develop their skills. It keeps them on top of their game and regularly updated with the latest developments in the real estate business.
An agent who continuously strives to learn has more chances of being successful in the long term. It widens their scope of knowledge and helps them become experts in the real estate business.
Realtor vs. Real Estate Agent: Is there a difference?
Never confuse a realtor with a real estate agent because those two terms aren’t interchangeable, nor do they mean the same thing.
You can think of their main difference, like a math problem – all realtors are real estate agents, but not all agents are realtors.
The two vary in terms of the certifications they receive.
A real estate agent always refers to a person licensed to help buy and sell different properties.
Each State usually has different prescribed licensing requirements. Nevertheless, any person can become an agent by completing at least 30 to 90 hours of classes relevant to the industry.
Besides that, they need to familiarize themselves with relevant real estate laws. Once they’ve done this, they can get their license by passing the State exam.
Realtors are also agents in the real estate industry. However, what distinguishes realtors from the agents is their active membership in the National Association for Realtors.
Final Notes
Now that we’ve answered the question “What does a real estate agent do?”, I hope you have a greater understanding and appreciation of the work they’ve done.
Real estate can get very tricky and complicated to understand. The next time you’re looking for an agent to help with your real estate, keep in mind all the skills and procedures they go through.
Agents of real estate businesses bring a lot of value to the table you can’t easily get. Don’t underestimate what they can do to make sure your whole transaction is a success!
If you have any interest in becoming a real estate agent, be sure to check out our real estate practice exam to test your level of knowledge.
