Real Estate Career Right for You?

A career in real estate can be very rewarding both personally and financially. Real estate agents need the right mix of sales abilities, people skills, and business understanding to be successful.

Do you have a strong work ethic?

A strong work ethic is required to put in the time it takes to help clients buy or sell a home. Irregular hours and long work weeks are common in this profession and being dedicated to helping buyers and sellers is an important part of the career.

Do you have a wide network of relationships with others?

A strong network of potential customers and clients is critical to the success of a realtor. Referrals from friends and those within the community you serve will help a career prosper and is important to establishing a career in real estate.

Are you comfortable with self-promotion?

Because real estate agents are continuously seeking out new clients, they must keep themselves visible within their communities. This will require you to promote your services and your accomplishments through advertising and other marketing techniques.

Do you have strong communication skills?

As a real estate agent, most of your responsibilities will involve communication. These include networking within the community, listening to and addressing client needs, and collaborating with other realtors to finalize sales.

Are you highly organized?

As a real estate agent, you will need exceptional organizational and multi-tasking skills to simultaneously service current listings, facilitate offers, accommodate existing buyers and continue to promote yourself for new business.

Are you self-motivated?

The amount of time you invest in your real estate business often determines the commissions you earn. Self-motivation and independence are critical to a successful real estate career.

Are you detail oriented?

Real estate involves more detail work than most people realize. Listing forms, contracts, financial details and the many steps involved in a satisfactory closing are all very time consuming. These details must be handled with ease by a successful sales agent.

Are you knowledgeable about your local real estate market?

When potential clients are interviewing agents to help them buy or sell they will often choose the agent who conveys the greatest knowledge of the market's real estate values, trends, and outlook.

Do you value honesty and integrity?

While finalizing a sale is the ultimate goal for real estate agents, they must do so in good faith to their clients. Misleading a client or customer may help you close one deal, but will ultimately lead to unhappy clients and negative word-of-mouth in your community.

Are you technologically savvy?

Given that real estate information is readily available on the Internet, and that buyers and sellers today typically do research online, a successful real estate agent must have a significant online presence, including a website and social networking profiles.

Are you interested in real estate law?

While real estate agents are not lawyers, they regularly use and draft contracts on behalf of clients. As the first point of reference for your clients, you will need a working knowledge of real estate paperwork in order to provide them with proper guidance.

Are you a skilled negotiator?

As a real estate agent, you will need outstanding negotiation skills to help both parties agree to details in a real estate transaction. You also will be working with other sales agents and you will need to adapt to the sales styles of each of them to be successful.

Are you a people person?

Both enjoying others and adapting to the personalities and demands of buyers, sellers, and other realtors can at times be challenging. Keeping your emotions in check and realizing real estate can be stressful to you and your clients involves patience, empathy, and the ability to adapt to all sorts of personalities during your career.

Is a real estate career right for you? Click here to learn more about what it takes to have a successful career in real estate.