Is becoming a real estate agent right for me?
The first step to choosing a career is to make sure you are actually willing to commit to pursuing the career. You don’t want to waste your time doing something you don’t want to do. If you’re new here, you should read about:
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How to become a Real Estate Agent
People who love people are drawn to becoming real estate agents because of the social aspect of the job. However, matching happy buyers up with their dream homes is only a small piece of what agents have to do in this career.
There are other players that real estate agents must be comfortable dealing with, such home inspectors, property assessors, bankers, lawyers, and competing real estate agents. They must also be able to deal with buyers and sellers who are often under stress and not always happy.
Great interpersonal skills and a positive attitude are two of the most important qualities needed to become a real estate agent. Excellent people and communication skills are also extremely important, not only when dealing with clients but also when building contacts within the industry. A quality not to be forgotten is empathy, as it is needed in order to understand people's situations and needs in order to serve them best.
An increasingly large job role for real estate agents and brokers is the use of computers and databases. Real estate agents should be comfortable inputting data and photographs of land and property on to databases and using them to find suitable matches for their client's needs.
Virtual tours are also now a feature of many modern real estate companies. These allow a potential buyer to tour a property or piece of land electronically by viewing video or 3D mapped photos of a place. This is a great tool for the agent to increase customer interest in properties, particularly with busy clients or for properties that are not local.