A Day In The Life Of A Realtor
Although there might not be a typical day for a realtor, there are some activities that are done daily or as a routine.
A typical day would start with the realtor looking at a hot sheet. This is a document which outlines the previous day’s events. It will inform you of the properties sold, the new listings, the price changes, among other market activities.
This is a crucial sheet as it will give you the direction as far as market is concerned. The hot sheet is a tool that every realtor should have as it will provide you with the information that you need as for making important decisions.
A realtor will then organize an office meeting where everybody is updated on the current events of the firm. This is done to ensure that everybody is on the same page. The morning meetings also help realtors discuss challenges that they may be facing on the job.
Apart from days that are already booked full of appointments with clients, this meeting usually takes a brief amount of time, so that it does not take out that much of the realtor’s day.
Everybody should come prepared with notes to talk about so that the meetings are quick and to the point.
As a realtor, you do not want to hold lengthy meetings as this only wastes money. It also wastes a lot of time when people come unprepared, not knowing what they are going to talk about, and they take longer than expected. This might interfere with the day’s activity and ultimately leading to poor performance.
Once the meeting is over, a realtor looks typically at his or her calendar for any pending issues or meetings. There might be some unfinished businesses from yesterday’s activities. These need to be attended to first.
When you keep a business pending for too long or procrastinate, you risk forgetting about it altogether, and this might cost you some deals.
This emphasizes the need to keep records and be organized. You should have a system in place, whether it’s on Microsoft Outlook or a notebook calendar, that will always keep you updated on the activities that are scheduled. Proper records will also give you the direction as far as the progress is concerned.
Some of the pending issues might be a call to a customer who would like to sell a property or a student who is looking for a place to rent, or a young couple that is searching for a family house.
You can only follow up on these customers if you had notes written somewhere. You need to look at your calendar and plan your day accordingly.
The realtor then checks the rest of their calendar for other activities which are supposed to be made today. There might be some customers whom you need to follow up. You may also need to check on repairs and renovations that are being done on a house you are about to sell.
When the realtor notes down activities which are supposed to be done on a given day, he or she can plan ahead.
After planning out their daily activities, the realtors make some calls to confirm the meetings, noting which one has been canceled for several reasons. He or she then prepare for these meetings by ensuring that they have the details which might be required during the meetings.
It is essential that you appear in a meeting with your client prepared. This not only gives you confidence but also assures the customers that you are the right person. When you attend the meetings unprepared, the customers will notice, and they will lose faith in you.
This is a quick way to lose a customer, and if you are starting out as a real estate professional, you might not see your first anniversary as a realtor.
It is even worse when you present your customer with incorrect information and get your facts wrong, because when they discover that you were making things up, they will lose trust in you, and that may be the end of the deal.
It is imperative to ensure that during those meetings, you are presenting the real facts. There should be no half-truths or inaccurate information.
Reputation is everything. Customers have a way of talking to each other, and once your name is mentioned as having attempted to give inaccurate or misleading information, your business will suffer.
If you are not sure about something, just tell your client so, but also assure them that you will get the facts about a property or area and get back to them. When you make such promises, follow up and give information that will help them make a sound decision.
The rest of the day will be hectic as the realtor moves from one meeting to another.
They will have a lunch meeting, followed by a viewing of property in the afternoon. There was a meeting with the financiers in the morning, followed by another one in the afternoon. A realtor will then retire for the day having ensured they have planned for tomorrow’s activities.
Some will also take home some work, and make a few calls when they get home. A realtor can work for long hours, depending on what is on the table. However, this does not always feel like work for real estate agents, since many of them enjoy talking to people and helping them get one step closer to their dream house.