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

How to Become a Real Estate Investment Analyst

by S.K.Jha, EduMark Realty Education Services

Real estate investment analysts are the most important and vital element in real estate investment decision making process and in optimization of the performance of currently held portfolio of investors. Their prime responsibility is to find out the feasibility of making investment in any real estate project, either now or in future. Their specific activities include collation, compilation and analysis of large amount of information about a potential project, carry out financial analysis, valuation modeling, cash flow analysis etc., understand and analyze operating statements, capital budgets, rent rolls, tenant leases etc. and analyze third party reports. Property investment analysts prepare property analysis and investment report. They are closely associated with the investment and acquisition process and work actively with asset managers to identify under performing assets and to optimize portfolio performance.

Working Environment

The normal working time is 40-hour per week. However, during project acquisition and/or investment period, they may have to work longer and on weekends in order to meet project deadline. They work closely with internal staffs, external consultants and other professionals. Internally they work very closely with investment as well as asset management team. Externally, they deal with a host of professionals including research professionals, property consultants, project development managers etc.

Employers
Property investment funds, equity investors, high net worth individuals etc. are the major employers of investment analysts. However, large developers, international property consultants, advisory firms also recruit property analysts.

Employment Prospect

Since Indian property market is in the growth phase and offers one of the highest rates of return to investors, global investors are setting up their base in India, which in turn has enhanced the need for investment analysts. Therefore, employment and growth prospect for them are expected to remain very strong in the coming future.

Education
Educational background in real estate, finance, investment, urban planning, commerce etc. is preferred. Educational background in property related subjects is however most preferred for career advancement.

Knowledge, Skills, and Personality Traits

Employers prefer candidates with following qualities:

• Good analytical skill
• Excellent written, verbal and listening skills
• Good decision making ability
• Excellent problem solving skills
• Ability to work under pressure and strict deadline
• Report writing skills

Similarly, candidates with knowledge in the following areas are highly preferred:
• Accounting journal entry
• Spread sheet accounting programs
• Analytical software such as ARGUS
• Design, graphs, charts, tables etc. for presentation
• Excel spread sheet etc.

Compensation
Analysts are among the highest paid professionals today. Moreover, salary range rises very fast after having two to three years of work experience.

Tips for entry: If you are working as analyst in other sector, pursue a real estate course in any related area from a reputed real estate institute and then approach employers either directly or through placement consultants. Institutes such as NIREM, EduMark Realty Education http://www.edumarkindia.in/ etc. offer several related real estate courses. Infact, EduMark offers to highly specialized courses in investment. These are certificate in residential investment and certificate in commercial investment, which may be of great use to those planning to start their career as analyst. 

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

Real estate courses: EduMark announces dates for admission

Real estate education institute 'EduMark' has announced dates for the next batch of its various real estate courses. These courses include certificate in real estate management, diploma in property sales & transaction and planning & starting property Consulting Business. While, these courses will start from 15^th June, 2011, last date for admission is 05^th June, 2011.

EduMark realty education services offers these courses in association with national institute of real estate management (NIREM), which is the leader and pioneer of real estate education in India. Admission has already been started and is offered on first-come-first-served basis.

Certificate in real estate management is targeted at both existing real estate professionals and professionals from allied sectors as well as those who want to understand the various aspects of real estate market. Course covers legal aspects of real estate, property marketing, valuation, property transaction & sales process etc. among others. This is a part time one-month course.

On the other hand, diploma in property sales & transaction is aimed at candidates who are looking for real estate jobs. In other words, if you want to start your career in real estate then this three-month part time course is for you. Like previous batches, all the successful candidates of this course/batch will be placed with leading real estate companies. 

Planning & starting property consulting business is a two-month course for those who want to start their own property consulting business. This highly focused course covers topics such as legal aspects of real estate, property sales & transaction process, valuation, customer handling, dealing with property developers, sales & promotion, sales channel development etc. in addition to topics such as formation of company, tax issues, hiring employees, office management etc.

Want to start a property brokerage firm?

If you want to start your own property consulting business but don’t know what to do next, then this article is for you.

You have very closely seen the growth of real estate and property business in India. Infact, you have seen people raking money in property brokerage business. Now, you want to start your own property consulting firm but are not sure of the processes required. Infact, you know everything about this business but when it comes to actually starting it, you don’t what to do and where to start from. You have several ideas in mind and get as much advice as many experts are there. Still you are not clear of steps that you should take-Probably you need somebody who can guide you step-by-step by telling you what you do the next.

On the other hand, though there are advisors and management consultants who advice individuals and organisations about starting a business but their service charges are usually much higher than your total budget for this business. It is due to this need and to promote real estate entrepreneurship in India, EduMark Education Services started a program ‘Planning and Starting a Property Consulting Business’.

Through this program, EduMark provides you with step-by-step guidance to plan and start your own property related business. Infact, EduMark offers you more than the guidance-It offers you a network of mentors who are experienced real estate entrepreneurs and professionals who will enrich you with their knowledge and experience. In addition EduMark offers you a platform for each and every query, enquiry and needs of yours.

Key features of this program:

In this highly structured program, EduMark (http://www.edumarkindia.in) offers you knowledge and resource in three categories, as follows:

Subject Knowledge: Property Law, Brokerage & Marketing

First, the subject knowledge in which you get knowledge about legal aspects of property, property brokerage and property marketing e.g. various forms of property ownership, acquisition and transfer of title, free hold and lease hold interests, title search, contracts, property transaction process, property listing and brokerage, marketing of properties etc. However, EduMark’s objective is that once you are trained from EduMark you should be able to provide all related services to your clients under one roof and that you should not loose any clients because of lack of knowledge. Therefore, EduMark also teaches you about other but related areas such as home loans, tax advantages of home ownership, transactions related to NRIs and PIOs, title insurance, property management etc.

Formation of Company and Government Approvals:

Second, EduMark guides you about the process and relative merits and demerits of various types of companies such as proprietorship, partnership and private limited companies. You get complete knowledge about availability & registration of names as well as registration of companies. EduMark further helps you in registering with various Government authorities such as service tax, income tax etc. among others.

Starting property broking activities:

You have now knowledge of the property market and have established company. Now you want to start the actual activities. Therefore, EduMark now helps you associate with and get agency of leading property developers. It helps you join network of leading consultants. Mentors at EduMark helps you plan your marketing and promotion activities and use technology in actually promoting reaching upto your clients-the home buyers. Mentors further help you recruit and train suitable employees for your organisation. EduMark and its mentors further help you network with different players in the market.

Overall, EduMark’s ‘Planning and Starting a Property Consulting Business’ is a program that offers hand holding service to those who want to start their own property consulting business. To know more about this course, please visit www.edumarkindia.in or mail to :edumarkvet@gmail.com