Real estate jobs entail many other aspects as well. There are appraisals and offers and loans and of course, the commissions.
What Does a Real Estate Agent Do?
The typical real estate job is either an agent or a broker. The agent works from an office usually and the broker is the one who manages the real estate office. They help people find homes they want to purchase or they sell homes to people who are looking for their first home or property. The duties are many and to hold this type of job you must be a people person. A large amount of the work you will be doing will be dealing with the public.
The real estate agent will have to spend a lot of their time out of the typical office setting. There will be paperwork but a huge part of their job is showing houses. Whether it is selling or buying, the real estate agent will accompany the person who is interested in the home. Sometimes people want to look at many homes before they find the right one. Sometimes they want to go back and look at the same ones over again.
Real estate jobs will entail wearing many different hats because they must be an appraiser of sorts, they must know the real estate laws of the state in which they work, and they often must know which mortgage company or bank is the best for getting a loan. When selling a home for a client they must make sure it is advertised, show it to prospective buyers, and do everything they can to help sell the house.
What is the Training and Education For Real Estate Jobs?
When deciding to become a real estate agent, the requirements are:
- Must be at least 18 years of age
- Must pass a written test
- Depending on the state, some schooling might be required
- Must be a person who gets along well with others
- A good memory does not hurt and organization is a plus
- Some companies look for college graduates to hire
- Courses in real estate, finance, business administration, and related courses are desirable
The real estate agent must be licensed in the state in which they work. An exam must be taken which deals with typical real estate dealings and the current laws that are in effect for selling property.
Classroom instruction of anywhere between 30 and 90 hours is required in most states. The real estate broker has to have between 60 and 90 hours of training and selling experience for a certain amount of time before the broker's license can be issued. A bachelor's degree in real estate can often be substituted for the time spent selling.
How Much Do Real Estate Jobs Pay?
Real estate agents do not usually get a weekly paycheck; instead they make a commission from the houses they sell. The commission is basically a percentage of the price of the home that is agreed upon by the broker and the real estate agent. The more houses they sell, the more money they will make.
The earnings are reported between $26,000 and $65,000 for the middle 50% of workers. If you are lucky enough to be in the top 10% the income can exceed more than $111,000 per year.
Real estate brokers, on the other hand earn between $37,000 and $102,000 for the middle 50%. The broker is usually both salaried and earns commissions.
What is the Outlook for Real Estate Jobs?
The real estate jobs are looking up until 2016. The growth is expected to be about 11% however, the low interest rates that everyone is enjoying at the present may affect the number of sales and the real estate market may need more salespeople. The one thing that is cutting back on the need to go to a real estate agent is the availability of real estate sites online.
There are many people who find their own real estate using this method. With the increase of technology, this may affect the job market. The outcome depends on interest rates and other variables. The job market will not affect the full time real estate agents as much as it would the part-time because they already have invested in new innovative ways of taking care of customers. Part time will be the ones that may have to find other part time work due to the inability to compete.
On the other hand many of the real estate jobs are held today by older people who may be close to retirement which will open up jobs for others to step into.
Who Should Sell Real Estate?
When it comes to selling homes and other items that are really expensive, the response you're going to get is going to be addressed to the person that is representing the sale of the home, vehicle, or whatever.
The professional who is a holding real estate job should dress and act accordingly. This means no faded blue jeans and t-shirts. The professional real estate agent was not so formal in the past but today is expected to dress and behave in a manner that behooves the company they work for even if it is not a big name company.
This is even truer if you run your own real estate business. These are little things that customers pick up on. If you want to continue to have a profitable business and have everything going according to plan there must be some sort of an air of professionalism to be made believable.
