A Career in Estate Agency – Is It For You?

Posted by Property Personnel on 5th July 2021 -

The purpose of this section of our website is to help you to establish whether or not a career in Estate Agency is the right one for you. All those with a driving licence, read on!

Qualifications

Not the most important requirement for the job, although many of our clients are keen to recruit graduates as they very often have the ability to progress quickly within Estate Agency. Some clients offer specific fast-track graduate schemes towards management.

Personality

Estate Agency is a people industry, therefore, you need to be good with people from all walks of life. You should be confident without being arrogant, have the ability to remain calm under pressure, and possess excellent interpersonal skills. This is fundamentally a sales job, so it does help to have a persuasive but polite nature. Estate Agency is a dynamic, fast moving industry which requires a high degree of commitment and drive.

Hours

Estate Agency is a service industry, therefore you should be willing to provide one! This involves making yourself available to the public outside normal working hours. On average, the hours tend to be 8.30/9.00am through to 6.30/7.00pm Monday to Friday, with varying amounts of weekend work.

Salary

Salaries vary quite dramatically within Estate Agency, as what you earn will depend predominantly on how successful you are. When you start in the industry you will probably be given a guaranteed salary for your first three months; this figure will vary depending upon the employer concerned, the geographical location and how much they value you, but will probably be somewhere between £15,000 and £25,000. Once you come off this guarantee you can expect to earn a basic salary of somewhere between £12,000 and £15,000 (though this could be higher) with commission on top. This commission can either be based on your personal sales figures, or on the office sales figures, or on both. In total, you should earn somewhere between £18,000 and £25,000 in your first year, although many trainees have earned much more. Ultimately, you control how much you earn, as your sales ability will be reflected in your salary.

The job

You will be dealing with the public on a day to day basis, either on the telephone, or face to face. Your clients normally tend to fall into two categories; buyers (purchasers) and sellers (vendors). It is the vendor who will pay you a fee for selling his/her property. This fee is based on a percentage of the property price i.e. if you have sold the property for £200,000 and you are charging the vendor 2%, your office will have made £4,000. Subsequently, if you are being paid 10% personal commission you will have made £400. Getting to this stage can often be a bumpy, unpredictable ride and this is where you will need to call on all your resources to make it as trouble free as possible for both your purchaser and your vendor.

Perks of the job

The job of a negotiator is varied, and is not desk bound. A negotiator’s day is divided between the office, and taking prospective buyers out on viewings. A negotiator may also be given a company car or a car allowance. This will sometimes be given on the first day, although usually it is an incentive that can be earned with the first year. Some of our clients offer other incentives such as private health care, mobile phones, pension schemes and extended holiday entitlements. Many companies not only reward their high achievers with excellent bonuses and commissions, but also better quality cars, holidays abroad and other such prizes.

Progression

Career progression in Estate Agency is based on performance. Therefore, effort and success are not only rewarded by more commission, but also promotion. Whether you commence your career in Residential Sales or Lettings, you will normally be on probation for the first three months. Normally at this time you will have a review, and provided your performance has been satisfactory you will become a ‘Negotiator’. You will hold this position until you earn the promotion to a ‘Senior Negotiator’. Provided you have been successful up to this stage, you are now in a position to start thinking about running your own branch. It can take anywhere upwards of two years before you have enough experience to get to this level, and how quickly you achieve this will depend upon the company you are working for, and more importantly – your performance. Managers earn a percentage of the turnover of the branch and very often the profits as well, and depending on the company and the location, a Manager will normally earn in the region of £40,000 – £60,000 per annum, though some earn well in excess of £100,000!