Is A Career in Real Estate Brokerage for You?

By S. K. Jha, 

While you are reading this, there are more than three million people in India employed in property brokerage and leasing profession. These are in addition to those who work with housing finance companies, who are not counted as real estate professionals even though they too influence deals in this business.

Indian housing sector is today the second largest employer in the country and 269 industries are dependent upon this sector-such important is the role of real estate in the entire economy and brokers are considered the backbone of this important industry.

Real estate brokers, also known as advisors, consultants, agents etc. in day-to-day language, grow with the development of the economy. They advise people and influence decisions that shape the way we live and work. They initiative and close real estate deals and are the most important link in the real estate business chain.

A career in property broking is personally highly rewarding, ever-changing and challenging. Property consultants are known for making huge money which, with the growth of this business in India, made this profession highly lucrative and glamorous. However, this profession requires you to have certain knowledge, personality traits and skills in order to grow. Someone without this knowledge, traits and skills, may not be able to pull off.

Therefore, before taking the final decision to start your career in this profession, find out if you have the right potential.

Nature of job:

Property agents and brokers are usually independent property sales professionals who associate with many builders and developers to promote and market their existing as well as proposed properties in exchanges for a commission on per unit sale. Property brokers specialize in different types of real estate such as residential real estate, commercial real estate, retail real estate, industrial property, land etc. among many others. However, in India very few brokers have specialized in one particular segment. Most of them deal with all the available properties.

The Role:

You are an expert in sale and purchase of different types of properties. As an expert, you advise your clients about purchasing properties. Similarly, you advice investors about the right time, opportunity and location to invest into real estate. On day-to-day basis you deal with walk-in enquiries and call potential home buyers from your database. You also generate leads of potential buyers thorough various online and off line activities. You also attend seminars and exhibitions and sell face-to-face.

Skill sets required:
People skills   -                  Very High
Client focused -                 Very High
Self-starter    -                  Very High
Negotiation ability-            High
Sales skills     -                 Very High
Communication skills-       High
Computer Skills-               Medium to Low
Analytical skills-                Medium
Creative ability-                Medium
Self-Initiative-                  Very High

Hours of working:

Like any other entrepreneur and self-employed person, you do not have a set working time when you start your own broking firm. You need to be present, whenever there is a call that requires your presence. Remember, if you are not there, your competitor will be there because Indian property market has become highly competitive. In this market, you need to have a better professional approach to survive as well as grow. This is a full time job and in most of the cases you need to work even at odd hours.

Internet Resources:

• Real estate jobs: Naurki.com; http://www.naukri.com/
• Real Estate Courses for Brokers: EduMark Realty Education Services; http://www.edumarkindia.in/

Compensation:

Income in this profession depends totally depends upon the level initiative and input. The more you work, the better the income will be. Infact some of the wealthiest people in the world have made it in this market. Remember if you are in broking profession, you do not have a fixed salary but you get a commission on sale of each unit. So, even if you are able to sale one unit of property every month, priced in the range of USD 5 million, your monthly earning would be approximately USD 0.01 million. But remember you have office establishment and fixed cost every month.

S.K.Jha is a senior real estate professional with particular interest in the Indian property market

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=S._K._Jha

Top 5 Things You Should Know to Help Sell Your Home Fast

Top 5 Things You Should Know to Help Sell Your Home Fast

RISMEDIA—While many markets around the country continue to experience challenges as the market makes its slow turnaround, Ann Arbor real estate is selling fast, and it’s because we follow some simple rules.

1. Curb appeal is key to selling your home

If it looks rundown from the outside, then it probably is on the inside too. Curb appeal is all about first impressions. Buyers want to feel like they could live in a home from the moment they pull up in front of it. Basic improvements such as exterior painting, cutting the grass and planting some flowers improve the look of a home from the outside tremendously.

2. Deodorize

Every home has a unique odor, especially if pets are present. Be sure to professionally clean the carpet and the furniture and replace carpets if necessary. Keep pets clean and the home free from dander. Consider taking pets and pet cages if present in the home with you when you leave for showings.

3. Really want to sell your home? Repair and repaint

A little putty and paint can make all the difference. Repair damaged dry wall, gouges in wood surfaces and paint the walls. Bright colors such as those in children’s rooms should be repainted with a neutral color. We like to repaint our Ann Arbor homes with a neutral shade that will be attractive to a wide variety of buyers.

4. Put away your personal collections

Here, the old saying that one man’s treasure is another man’s junk rings true. De-clutter your home by packing up knick-knacks, heirlooms, personal collections, and even family photos. After all, they are special only to you and your goal is to make the home presentable to the widest number of people possible. Expensive collections should be packed away as well to keep them safe.

5. No guns, drugs or valuables

If you own a gun, be sure it’s unloaded and lock it away. Don’t leave it accessible to anyone viewing your home, especially anyone with children. The same is true for prescription drugs, fine jewelry, valuable art work, money and anything else you want to keep safe.

Sharon Snyder is the President and CEO of Prudential Snyder & Company Realtors in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Real Estate Contact & Prospect Management

James Kimmons*

It's always interesting to see a successful real estate agent or broker working hard and long to keep their information systems updated, their listing information accurate and closing transactions on track.

Then, when you hear that same REALTOR® discussing their next training or continuing education, it's a course or seminar on building more business. So they learn some new business building strategies, which if they work, will have them working longer and harder, with the probability of quality degradation and dropped balls increasing. Since repeat business and referrals are so important in this business, a seamless transaction without major upset should be everyone's goal.

Most of us would do just as well building business if we devote the time and energy to implement strategies we already know. By using sensible technology to manage your contacts, listings and transactions for efficiency, you can free up valuable time to do the behaviors and activities necessary to grow your business.

Many of those in that growth phase of the business curve make the decision to put on one or more assistants. Then they have to take the time to train and manage, not even talking about the overhead expense. Not that I'm against assistants, as we'll talk about how to make your team more efficient with intranets in a section devoted to intranets. However, what if you could do more in less time and with more accuracy. You could delay that first assistant and save that overhead expense in time and money. Let's bullet some of the important things we need in Real Estate Contact and Project Management integration:

• We need to keep track of contacts and buyer/listing prospects with their contact information.
  Once we have the contacts in our database, we need to be able to market to them via email, snail mail and/or telephone.
• Once a listing prospect becomes an active listing, we need the ability manage the listing process. This includes tasks with reminders for the many to-do's required to set up and maintain a listing.
• We need to regularly communicate what we've done for that listing, including marketing and other progress.
• Once we put a listing under contract, or write a contract for a buyer, we need to manage the closing transaction requirements and progress. This includes a large number of deadlines and tasks that need to happen in a timely and accurate manner.
• We need to report to our client the progress of the transaction, including its related inspections, appraisals, etc.
• After closing, we want the ability to regularly communicate with our client to keep our name in their mind for future referrals.

Those are the basic requirements for a good solid real estate contact and project management plan. Some are doing all of these things. Some are doing some of them. All too many are doing few of these things. Contact management is probably the most-used of the two, but there are a lot of us who do not have a good project management solution in place. Thus we don't have all those tasks pre-built so that we can just apply them to a new listing or closing and have the task list create itself.

Author is a About.com Guide

Preparing Your Sellers for Home Showings

Introduce sellers to the realities of showing their home

You've already talked with your sellers about the physical work involved to get a home ready to show, but have you mentioned other events that may take place while the house is on the market? Giving home sellers a basic education in Buyers 101 will help prepare them for the realities of showing their house.

Be Ready to Show at All Times

Sellers should be aware that same-day and even last-minute requests for showings are common, so a seller with a '24 hour notice to show' stipulation often cuts himself out of a good chunk of the buying market. The only standard hefty lag time that should be necessary is when you must give ample notice to a tenant.

Once a house gets tagged difficult to show by agents, you won't receive as many calls to show it. If sellers choose to make showings difficult, be sure to tell them now that it will cut down on showings--and fewer showings equals fewer potential buyers.

Keep it Flexible

Explain to your home sellers that most agents do try to arrive within the scheduled showing time, but sometimes it isn't possible. They may get stuck in traffic, or the house they saw prior to your showing took longer than expected. It happens, and sometimes it happens too late to be fixed by a phone call.

Encourage sellers to stay away from home a little longer than they think is necessary, just to make sure they don't interrupt a showing.

Sellers Who Want to Be Present

This is nearly always a bad idea. Sellers think agents and buyers won't be able to find everything, that they must be there to point out important features. Truthfully, most just want to be present to see buyer reaction firsthand.

Sellers should be aware that at the very least buyers feel uncomfortable when they are present, and that it can actually kill a sale. Buyers often won't even open closet or cabinet doors when the seller is home, and when they cannot view a house comfortably, they'll hurry up and move on to the next one.

Sellers want to talk, and not just about the house. You never know when a buyer will be turned off by the mood of the seller, or by a statement the seller makes. Buyers are there to look at the house, not chit chat about hobbies or the weather or worse--politics and other controversial topics.

If sellers must be home during a showing, counsel them to go outside or stay put in one location, not wander around with the agent and buyers.

Sellers Who Want YOU To Be Present for All Showings

If you're selling a large estate or complicated property, it might be the norm to plan on being present for all showings, but it's not necessary or smart for the typical house.

Explain that other agents generally feel uncomfortable with the selling agent hanging around, listening to and participating in conversations with potential buyers. If the other agent is representing the buyers as a buyer's agent, she won't be free to have open discussions about the house in front of you.

There's another negative that may be more important: busy agents don't have time to work around your schedule. Requiring the listing agent to be present for all showings is another way to give the house that difficult to show reputation.

If your sellers are worried about theft of small items, they should store them away. Packing up collections and small personal items is part of the process they should have already gone through to prepare the house for showings.

Pets Must Be Controlled

Pets should be out of the house during showings, especially large dogs, since many people are afraid of them. A gruff bark coming from inside the house is enough to make some home buyers turn around at the front door.

If there are pet odors, talking with your seller about the subject can be tricky, because most people are not aware of odors in their own home. You may need to conjure up your best be-tactful mode to deal with that subject, but it must be dealt with. Your sellers don't want buyers to remember the home as the house that smells.

Gaining Seller Cooperation

Share showing information in a 'did you know this about buyers' tone, rather than simply telling a seller what he must do. Explaining why these steps are important helps sellers realize that it's in their best interests to comply.

1. Consider putting showing advice on paper in an easy-to-read format. Give the seller a day or so to digest the information, then ask if he has any questions about the information.
2. Show that you respect the seller's opinions by asking what he thinks are the home's best features, then spotlight those features in a flyer or brochure that can be left on a table for prospective buyers.

Sellers usually just want to help. It's up to you to figure out a way to give them a role in the sales process, one that is truly helpful and that won't have a negative impact on showings.

NAR & CREDAI Join Hands to Bring Transparency and Ethics in Real Estate Sector

National Association of Realtors India (NAR-India) and Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (Credai) have come together to bring transparency and ethics in property sales and other service offerings to customers. The two associations signed an agreement of cooperation to this effect on the sidelines of NAR-India’s third annual convention here.

“This initiative will help us in streamlining the brokerage process and to scale up the brokerage industry. We want to create a common language of fair and ethical practices among the realtor community to give a better service to customers,” PSN Rao, chairman of NAR-India, said. Brokers and builders are the two key stakeholders of the real estate industry and it is imperative that a synergy is cultivated between the two, according to him. The association represents about 14,000 brokers across the country. Credai president Lalit Kumar Jain said the collaboration between the two associations would also help reduce property prices.

The 12th Plan envisages a requirement to build 27 million dwellings even as the rapid growth in urbanisation is expected to add another 60 million people in the cities and towns by 2020, according to him. “Policy makers have to think of taking steps, including reducing the approval time lines, to make housing affordable to all sections. We need to create a decent accommodation for every person in the city and avoid mushrooming of urban slums,” Jain said.