Are You the Best Real Estate Agent You Can Be?

Real estate agents work with their clients for weeks or even months on end, and they are ultimately responsible for what is often the most critical financial transaction most people will make in their lives. 

That’s why stories of a bad real estate agent can spread through a town like wildfire, while great agents often don’t get the recognition they deserve.

Are you an outstanding agent or a property professional in need of some help? Take a look at the qualities every stellar real estate agent possesses to find out.

Experience: Does Quality Trump Quantity?

When it comes to real estate, hiring an experienced professional is more important than it is in many other industries. Nobody wants an amateur learning the ropes on their life savings.

How much experience is enough?

As a rule of thumb, at least 5 years of experience is preferable.

However, agents with less time in the industry but more specific knowledge relevant to the buyer’s needs are just as valuable. Local game is important for both buying and selling, and it can be better to hire someone who has worked in the right area exclusively for 3 years, than someone who has worked all over the place for a decade.

In fact, being too popular can be a disadvantage. Potential clients can be put off by experienced agents that have a finger in every pie, but aren’t able to give them the attention they feel they need and deserve.

4 Skills You Can’t Survive Without

1. Negotiation: This is often confused with persuasiveness. Negotiation, however, isn’t talking people into doing what you want, it’s about making all parties to a transaction feel like they’ve “won”.
2. Communication: Arguably the most important of all the skills, this includes both verbal and written communication. Your communication – whether it’s emails, listings, forms, phone calls or face-to-face meetings – should be the best you’ve ever seen. Your responses should be timely and delivered via your client’s preferred method of communication. Finally, if you notice a nice touch to someone else’s communication style – adapt and emulate it
3. Tech savviness: With the vast majority of buyers and sellers reviewing potential properties online, don’t think your experience will compensate for being stuck in the marketing dark ages. You must know how to appeal to all demographics using a mix of both traditional and digital advertising.
4. Adaptability: Even if you have no formal education, you must be constantly adapting to the industry. It’s your job to know more than your clients, and be able to explain the ins and outs of property, from mortgages through to legal processes to industry practice.

The Ideal Real Estate Agent Personality

Follow the 80/20 listening rule: Aim for 80% of your communication to be listening and asking questions, and 20% to be talking to your clients. Agents who talk at people too much are off-putting, and shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to networking.

Perseverance not pushiness: The last thing anyone wants is an agent who gives up really trying and puts your property in the “too hard” basket after just a few weeks. Follow up all of your leads politely but firmly, and regularly communicate the outcomes to your clients.

Enthusiasm and motivation: You need more than just financial gain to be your motivation, otherwise when the going gets tough you’ll be tempted to quit. Discover all of your motivations and call on them to get you through the hard projects.

Presentation and attention to detail: Real estate agents need to be meticulous in everything they do – from presenting both themselves and the properties they show, through to dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s in the final paperwork. Sloppiness in this industry can cost clients thousands and irreparably damage your reputation (all it takes to put off future clients is one or two bad reviews!).

Don’t be the agent clients dislike the least – be someone people genuinely like and trust.

Interview Yourself: Questions You Must Be Prepared to Answer

Can you provide a detailed list of references? You are interviewing for a job every time you speak to a potential client, so always leave previous clients ready to speak highly of you.

What are your fees, what’s included and are you willing to negotiate? People need to know that, as their real estate agent, you know how to do business. After all, if you can’t negotiate with your clients, you won’t be able to negotiate for them.

What properties in this area have you bought and sold this year? People will be more confident in your ability to buy or sell on their behalf if you can give them clear cut examples of how you’ve done it before.

What will you do to help me get the best price? Smart clients know that agents can inflate quotes just to score a listing. Win them over with an explanation of your strategy before giving them an honest and realistic sale price expectation. And whatever you do, don’t lie. All it takes is an independent valuation for you to get caught out!