In this material we will take a closer look at how you can open your own real estate agency. As a rule, former employees of real estate agencies start their own business. This is not surprising, because over the years of work they have accumulated a decent database, they begin to have a good understanding of this market, understand its “cuisine”. In addition, over time, a person matures psychologically to work not for anyone, but only for himself.
In principle, only people with experience achieve success in this matter. If you have a sufficient amount of money and decide to invest it in the real estate business, we do not advise you to rush. Weigh everything and think carefully. The fact is that if the question of how to register a real estate agency can be solved by simply going to a lawyer and consulting with an experienced accountant (able to advise which form of ownership is best to choose in order to pay less taxes), then the problem with having a clientele is like this just don't allow it.
Therefore, it is best to start a business in which you understand something, are knowledgeable, or, in extreme cases, can organize a group of professionals who can effectively solve the problems facing the organization.
Is it that simple?
How to open a real estate agency? From a purely legal standpoint, registering such a company is not difficult. This does not require any colossal financial or time costs. It is much more important to have a good office (it must look representative so that clients do not have doubts about the reliability of your organization). It should contain furniture, computers and a telephone. But all this is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, if you are serious about entering the market, you need to dig deeper into this issue.
You need to seriously think about how to open a real estate agency. Today there is no decent barrier to entry into this business. This has led to the fact that there are a great many such organizations on the market. Moreover, they appear as quickly as they disappear. Such momentary flickering creates strong competition in this area. How to start a real estate business in such harsh conditions? What to do? Let's not get ahead of ourselves. First things first.
Agency premises
It is necessary to rent or purchase an office. The size of the premises depends on the number of employees. For a small company with a staff of 4-5 people, 15-20 sq.m. is enough. m. This may be an open space, but it is better to provide a separate office for meetings with clients - this will prevent the disclosure of confidential data and information leakage. The office should be located in a accessible place.
Some businessmen advise opening an office in densely populated residential areas, others - only in the city center. Which option to choose depends on the opening budget. The premises must have a separate entrance, and a noticeable sign on the facade. It is useful to learn how to properly organize a business in an office.
Natural selection
Of course, in such conditions it is extremely difficult for a start-up company to fight for its market share and place in the sun. Every client is worth its weight in gold. People usually try to seek services from large agencies, hoping for greater professionalism than in fast-growing fly-by-night companies. At first, your prospects will not be very rosy:
- lack of own big name, history;
- colossal competition from dozens, if not hundreds of ambitious firms.
The most desirable clients who need real estate services are people who purchase housing for themselves, and not with the aim of resell it profitably. However, it is they who most often go to the real “insiders” of the market, because they are fully aware of their inexperience and are afraid of getting into trouble when working with newcomers.
You will also have to spend money on staff. You simply need a great lawyer among your employees. And its content can result in a good sum. Otherwise (that is, if you don’t have such a specialist in your company), you may not only not make money on this business, but also seriously “get into trouble”, losing your little money. Do not think that the purpose of our material is to discourage you from starting this business.
We are simply drawing you one of the most unfavorable scenarios for the development of the situation so that you are prepared for it and can react to everything in a timely manner. If you have been working in this area for a long time, then you understand perfectly well what threats and difficulties for the company we are talking about.
So, now, if, knowing all this, you firmly and confidently decided to go to the end, then you need to pay special attention to advertising your company. It will attract your first clients, and you will be able to get your first money, which, of course, is simply necessary for a young organization.
How to open a real estate business without PR?
At this stage, a good investment of financial resources is necessary. Don’t think that you can get by with “little blood.” The fact is that if you choose only one channel to advertise your activities on a systematic basis (for example, only radio), it will still require a lot of money from you.
However, if this investment does not work out, then you will lose not only your potential clients (whom you planned to attract), but also those few advertising funds. So plan your campaign carefully.
Choose several advertising channels. For example, the TV + radio combination works very effectively. Pay attention to specialized newspapers or short line advertisements, creeping lines on channels. There is also a free, but very effective in modern realities, PR tool - social networks. Don’t waste your time, create groups, promote accounts. Systematic advertising (although it will require a slightly larger investment) will be very effective.
Step-by-step instructions for opening an agency
Registration
You can register an agency from scratch yourself, but then you will have to face many problematic issues, which will result in a lot of personal time being spent. Therefore, it is not recommended to save on this; it is better to contact a specialized office, whose employees will provide professional assistance. They will cope with this task much faster. A certificate of business registration, registration with a tax organization, and other documents will be available in a week.
Price list
To provide rental services, purchase and sale of real estate, you will need to create a price list of the services provided, their prices. It is not recommended to deliberately inflate/lower prices - this may scare away customers. People should go to an agency, realizing that they can be offered quality services for an appropriate fee. And dumping can negatively affect not only the reputation of an individual organization, but also the field of real estate activity as a whole.
Staff
It is better to immediately hire experienced professional realtors to work for a real estate agency. If you couldn’t find any, then it’s worth distributing advertisements on specialized sites on the Internet, in the media, or you can use the services of an HR company.
There is no need to recruit a large number of agents without experience in this field of activity, who will subsequently need to be trained. Several professional realtors with their own client base will bring more benefits and income.
In addition to realtors, a real estate agency must have the following employees:
- HR Specialist;
- Office Manager;
- Accountant;
- Site Editor;
- Advertising manager;
- Driver with his own car.
Renting premises
Most potential clients will come to the agency simply “from the street.” If, of course, the office is located in the city center, then there will be many times more such visitors. Customers can be put off by old, worn-out furniture, as well as by an unnecessarily expensive interior. The best option is new, but inexpensive office furniture and middle-class technical equipment. Of course, the office space should be cozy and clean.
How to avoid disappointments?
However, no matter how well a media resource works, it’s impossible without professional services. Imagine that you have solved a lot of questions, in particular about how to open a real estate office, which office is best to rent, and how to advertise more effectively. But if people come to you and they are not satisfied with your level of service, rest assured, there is no question of developing the company. In this sense, special attention must be paid to personnel composition.
In addition to purely professional qualities, employees must have communication skills, sociability, endurance, the ability to work in stressful situations, and adequately respond to complaints or suggestions from clients.
A person’s charisma and charm also play a significant role. Your employees must be good psychologists, since they will have to listen to many stories and witness many dramas.
Additional business points
The services of realtors are mainly required for property owners. Very rarely, agency agreements are concluded when searching for the necessary objects, both for purchase and for rent. Basically, the payer of the realtor's remuneration is the owner of the property.
Therefore, in order to provide the property owner with the service of finding a buyer or tenant, the head of the real estate agency must enter into an agreement with this owner.
We advise you not to work without concluding an agreement, as in this business they may “forget” to pay you a remuneration. No contract - no money.
Now there is a crisis on the street, so sometimes the owner says that he has given the property for sale to several agencies, and will enter into an agreement with the company that brings the buyer. This means we need to move faster, as they say, “He who gets up early, God gives him.”
But in the meantime, you should strive to conclude an exclusive contract for the sale of real estate. This means that the owner does not have the right to conduct independent advertising campaigns and cooperation with other agencies for his property, and only your agency will be able to sell or rent this property.
Therefore, the more such contracts an agency has, the more financially stable its position.
An important issue is the training of realtors and advanced training. Credit institutions, banks and the Russian or regional guild of realtors often conduct seminars on the topic of increasing sales in real estate. It is advisable to attend such events.
Personnel decides a lot
Let's talk in more detail about the issue we touched on above. How to open a real estate office without professionals? This is simply impossible. Finding good employees at reasonable wages is not an easy task. And if in Moscow or St. Petersburg this is solved relatively easily (due to competition), then in small and medium-sized cities the situation is more complicated.
The main problem here is low qualifications and endless staff turnover. It’s not uncommon to encounter agents who have not only worked for the company for a couple of months, but also took the time to take with them the databases that were formed with such serious investments. How to become a realtor with a capital “R” if you are being bled dry by your own employees?
About profit
If the issues with good employees are resolved and you start working to the fullest, then profits will inevitably start flowing to you. How to predict it? What calculations should be used to determine it? Everything is simple here. As a rule, commissions are considered the main source of profit for a real estate agency. They make up approximately 5-6% of the total cost of housing.
At the same time, one-room apartments are considered the absolute leaders in the real estate market. Due to their lower cost (relative to housing with two or three rooms), they are quickly sold and bought. Dozens of transactions with such apartments can be made per month.
Which room to choose for an office
A premises with an area of 55 square meters was chosen to house the real estate agency. m., located on the first floor of an apartment building. This is an elite area, with many new buildings, with good access roads and parking. The premises meet all sanitary and fire safety standards, and have also been transferred to non-residential status. The rent will be 35 thousand rubles. per month. It is planned to employ the following as personnel of the organization:
- Real estate specialist, 6 people, average salary – 18 thousand rubles.
- Sales department manager, 2 people, average salary – 20 thousand rubles.
- Mortgage lending specialist, 1 person, average salary – 18 thousand rubles.
- Lawyer, 1 person, average salary – 20 thousand rubles.
- Advertising specialist, average salary - 17 thousand rubles.
- Manager. 1 person, average salary - 30 thousand rubles.
- Accountant, 1 person, average salary – 18 thousand rubles.
Selection of office space
To conduct business, it is advisable to choose an office in the central part of the city (if the agency will be engaged in the rental and sale of real estate throughout the city) or in the area where the activities will be carried out directly.
The most optimal solution is an office on the ground floor with a separate entrance on the red line. The second option is an office in a large business center. An office may consist of several separate rooms.
The first room is the client waiting room and reception, the second is the place where real estate agents are located. A separate office for the manager should be organized, which can be combined with a place for paperwork if a lawyer is visiting.
If a lawyer works in the state on a permanent basis, you need to provide another office where he will work and draw up transactions.
Specific calculations
As we have already said, it is better to open a real estate agency with experience in this field. In this case, you can avoid many pitfalls. To enter the market (registering a company, paying for advertising, maintaining staff) you will need approximately $8,000 to $10,000. With less money it is better not to start anything at all. Otherwise, you will simply lose your savings.
How to organize work in a real estate agency?
After registration, choosing an office and running an advertising campaign (all three stages are available in parallel if you have enough finances). An important point is the correct work with clients, because how to organize work in a real estate agency is no less important than, in principle, starting to run such a business.
First of all, everyone who contacts should feel that the realtor is paying attention to everything he says, namely: problems, requirements, opportunities, emotions, etc.
In general, communication at every stage is a delicate psychological work. Another important point is gaining trust.
To obtain a complete portrait of a person and be able to choose an option that suits a specific client, it is necessary to collect the following information:
- The purchase is made on credit or in cash;
- What are the requirements in terms of renovation, floor, connection to a specific social facility, be it a school, kindergarten, or, for example, work.
All employees must understand that they should not put pressure on the client by using phrases that focus on: “highly qualified employees,” “place in the ranking of competitors,” etc. It is better to give preference to an emphasis on an individual approach and taking into account everything that is specified by the customer.
How to create a real estate agency with a capital “R”?
If you decide to devote your time to working as a realtor and are promoting your own agency, you will need to provide a number of services (in addition to knowledge about real estate). Your functions will include the collection and correct execution of documentation, knowledge of the legal intricacies of this business, and control of mutual settlements between the seller and the buyer.
It should be noted that companies in this area can rarely boast of their longevity. Often many do not live on the market even for one year. They are closing. You can consider your company successful if your monthly net profit is at least $10,000.
How to become a professional?
If you're thinking about becoming a realtor, there's a lot to consider. There are organizations in different directions, for example, those that try to specialize only in urban housing stock and do not have information about commercial real estate.
Therefore, at the very beginning, make up your mind and decide in which market segment you want to work, and only then think about how to open a real estate office, for example, for the regional housing stock. A lot depends on specialization.
Don't get distracted by everything at once. It is better to be an ace in one than to have superficial information about several areas of the market. How to become a realtor in the commercial real estate niche? Just like in any other. You just need to study it. View all objects in detail, understand their advantages and disadvantages in order to present them to the client in the right light and sell them profitably.
Algorithm for a real estate agency
Before you open a real estate agency from scratch, you need to study all the nuances of their work. The list of services provided by such companies is very diverse. You can work in only one area or combine residential and commercial real estate and work in them.
You can also resell housing or find clients for renting out apartments and houses.
Transaction support
Typically, the activities of any agent are as follows:
- Working with sellers - the agent prepares all the necessary documents, demonstrates the premises to everyone, handles paperwork and concludes the final deal.
- Working with the buyer - the agent is looking for apartment options that would fit the criteria specified by the client. Afterwards, he checks the premises from the legal side to ensure that everything is legal, shows the apartment to the client and accompanies the conclusion of the transaction.
Provision of information services
A real estate agency business plan must contain an exact list of services that will be provided in the future. One of them is an information service that helps clients figure out how to sell or buy housing on their own.
For a certain cost, the agency can offer the client to look through the database of homes that are for sale in order to choose the right one for themselves.
A company based on the provision of premises for rent works in approximately the same way: they look for clients, show a base, and make a deal for 50% of the rent.
Creation of an international agency
Creating an international agency is not difficult, because on the Internet you can find various companies offering services abroad. Usually they are happy to cooperate; they will need to conclude an agreement and start a partnership.
But it is worth considering that there will be significantly fewer clients for such services, so such activities should be organized in addition to the main one.
Recommended and earned
In addition to conducting specific transactions, you can also make good money from consulting. Their advantages are that you do not need additional costs to carry them out, and all previous work experience will work for you. You can control the process of secure settlement between the buyer and the seller, transfer residential assets to non-residential ones, and provide various repair services.
All this will give your company additional weight and image. In addition, all consulted clients can subsequently purchase or sell real estate through your company.
However, you shouldn’t get too carried away with consultations and focus on them. You won't earn much from this. It’s better to focus on how to open a real estate office that can quickly and profitably (for yourself and the client) sell housing. Then success will certainly await you.
Description of products and services offered
Our company plans to provide the following services:
- Purchase and sale of apartments, land, cottages, dachas, houses, apartments from developers.
- Legal services – representation in courts in family, housing, land and civil disputes. Drawing up statements of claim, transferring housing from residential to non-residential (and vice versa). Registration of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.
- Rental services – rental of residential and non-residential premises, rental of luxury housing.
- Sale of real estate under housing programs - young family, mortgage, housing certificate, military certificates.
- Comprehensive mortgage services - mortgages without certificates and guarantees, full support of mortgage transactions.
- Resolving issues related to obtaining maternity capital.
According to preliminary calculations, the profitability of the business for the first 12 months of operation will be no more than 100 thousand rubles per month (profit). The company will need to develop a customer base and gain customer trust. From the second year of operation, the company’s monthly profit will average 200 thousand rubles per month (this data is provided by the franchise owner).
