The role of a Listing Agent comes with many responsibilities.
Your job is to provide the services that your sellers and buyers need. You must have marketing and research skills to consistently bring new clientele. It is an overwhelming job in many ways. But, it is a very rewarding profession if the initiative is there.
It is important to remember that not every day will be the same.
Your journey will be full of surprises. Much of this job is about doing and thinking “on the fly”. Your ability to be creative and adapt to any situation is what will differentiate you from the amateurs.
Ultimately, the duties of an agent will perform on any given day fall into one of these three categories…
1. Dealing with Sellers
2. Dealing with Buyers
3. Marketing & Research
For a better idea, check out the list below covers many of the tasks that a listing agent handles on a day-to-day basis.
Dealing with Sellers
You need a property to sell to make money. The real estate company you work at might be large enough to naturally attract sellers. If not, you must do the legwork and locate owners that are looking to sell. This process takes a combination of marketing and research expertise.
Identifying Targeted Leads
Running a general marketing campaign is not cost-effective. You do not need to pay for billboard space or radio ads. The best way to market your services is by finding those that actually need it. From there, tailor your marketing efforts toward those individuals.
How do you find targeted leads?
- Buy a list
This post goes over some of the many types of real estate lead lists that exist. Many services are available for agents looking to purchase leads. Here are six lead gen services that listing agents regularly use. You can expect to pay approximately $20-60 per lead or $300-600 a month.
- Generate a list
ProspectNow provides the research tools to find targeted leads. The software includes a built-in residential and commercial database, detailed property records, and more. Agents can search and find likely sellers and refinances in any area. Reaching out to the lead is easy as their contact information and some marketing tools are built into the software.
- Door knocking
You have nothing to lose by going door-to-door to promote yourself. Many listing agents use this marketing technique. The frequent rejection is disappointing but it will pay off. The big appeal of the door knocking strategy is that you can limit your services to one area.
Figure out what the market is like in the neighborhood before you start. Have a business card or pamphlet to leave the homeowner. Reference any properties nearby that you sold for clients in the past. Have sales comps ready. Make it known to the prospect that you are serious and ready to make it a stress-free experience.
Read here for more advice on how to do this successfully.
- Direct mail
You should have a good idea of what neighborhood you want to target. You can advertise through direct mail based on the recipient’s street, zip code, etc. You will pay a bit more since your conversion rate will be lower. But, you can always limit your direct mail marketing to your targeted leads. For example, send out your mailers after building or buying a list.
Many lead generation tools—including ProspectNow—provide a direct mailing feature. You will be able to easily promote your services to your targeted leads. Check out these six direct mailing services if you prefer a standalone tool with extra functionality.
- Networking
Many real estate-related professionals have more insight than you. The city and county inspectors are two great examples. These people often know when a property is likely to sell and stands a good chance of going far below market value. For example, it’s a “likely sell” (highly targeted lead) if the owner’s property has liens and needs repairs.
Local attorneys can also help you out. Deal with lawyers that practice family, real estate, or bankruptcy law. Also, work with estate/probate attorneys. These professionals know when a property needs to be sold. Whether it’s due to a divorce, death, or otherwise—a property needs to be sold and the attorney will want to act fast.
You stand a good chance to find lucrative investment opportunities through your networking efforts. You might profit more from wholesaling the property because of the margin between market value and asking price.
Want more ideas? Read “Ten Best Practices to Find Find Motivated Sellers Now”
Closing on a Lead
You find your leads, you market your service, and now you must close the deal. The last piece of business in your negotiation is figuring out an appropriate listing price. After that, you can work on making the arrangement official.
Setting a Price
You are responsible for determining a fair listing price and getting the approval from the seller. Your recommendation is made after completing a comparative analysis of similar properties. Some variables you need to consider include recent sales prices, location, and how fast properties are selling in the area.
You need to suggest a price that is fair for both the buyer and the seller.
The health of your city’s real estate market will also be a factor. How fast are places selling in your area? How are the prices trending on a year-to-year basis? Did anything change in the area to increase or decrease demand?
All these factors, and more should be brought into consideration.
More tips on setting an asking price.
Getting under Contract
You and your client need to work through the terms of sale together. This information will play a fundamental role in how your lawyer writes your listing agreement. Your agreement conditions will not vary too much from client to client.
Some common variables in a listing agreement include:
- Commission charge
- Exclusive right to sell
- Duration of contract
- Duties of the agent
- Sales clauses
Check out this article for more info on what a listing agreement might include.
Marketing the Property
You are responsible for marketing the property to potential buyers. The two most important steps here are photographing the property and creating the listing. You will want to look for alternative means of getting attention to the property as well.
For example, you might promote it on Facebook Marketplace or a local classifieds website. You may also want to run a PPC ad campaign to your website and target buyers by their desired neighborhood.
Want more ideas? Check out “35 Easy & Effective Real Estate Marketing Ideas”.
Photographing the Property
You should enlist the help of a professional photographer in your area. Quality pictures make a major difference. The camera plays a big role but an expert photographer will know what angles to take. The cost of paying an expert will vary by location. For example, photographers in Georgia start at $100 but the entry level cost is $250 in Miami.
The only argument against hiring a photographer is if it impacts your bottom line. A property in an undesirable market might sell for $30,000 which pockets you a $1,800 at a 6% commission rate. Your expenses are taken off of this amount. In this situation, you might prefer doing the photography work yourself. But, leave it to the professionals when you are selling a $500,000 home and stand to earn $30,000 in commissions.
List the Property
You need to list the property where potential buyers are likely to find it. Some of the most popular real estate websites include Zillow, Reatlor.com, Redfin, and Trulia. View this list of real estate websites to get a few more ideas. You will need to create an MLS listing as well. Read this page you want to learn more about how the MLS works and why it matters.
Build Awareness
You need to put up a yard sign on the front lawn of any property you are trying to sell. You might want to put some signs up on a busy nearby street to direct traffic toward the property. Standard signs indicating a house for sale down the road are fine. But, you should also put up “Open House” signs for the week leading up to an open house viewing.
You should also be active over social media. Build a Facebook page and promote your new listings. Provide general insight into the local market and new developments in your city. Tailor your page to the neighborhood you work in if you are specific to one area. Post new listings and encourage others to share. You can always offer a “finder’s fee” of $250-500 if the buyer is referred by one of your followers.
Dealing with Customers
You spend a fair bit of time working with the seller. After that, you focus on promoting the property. Some of that effort will translate to buyers approaching you. But, it’s important to be proactive and try to find buyers as well.
Building a Buyer List
A buyer list takes time to build but it’s incredibly valuable for your business. Your list should consist of both retail buyers and investors. Your best case scenario is having a range of potential buyers that are interested in one specific neighborhood. You can approach sellers and confidently say that “I might already have a buyer for your asking price”.
Your retail buyers are one-off investors. These people might bring more sales through word-of-mouth but that’s rarely the case. You should be automated with how you bring in potential buyers. For example, running ads like “Planning to move here? Get first dibs on fresh listings!” Your goal is to get these prospects onto your mailing list so you can promote properties that suit their needs when they go up for sale.
Your investors are long-term partners. These people could be looking for homes in despair to renovate and flip. Many investors are looking to accumulate properties that have positive cash flow so they can increase their net holdings. You should read about building a buyer list to better understand this subject.
You might also have selling agents in your list. What’s the difference between a listing and selling agent? The listing agent helps the seller while the selling agent helps the buyer. Both parties are charging their clients a fee. Networking with selling agents makes sense because both of you have the same ultimate goal.
Showing the Home
Listing agents are responsible for showing their properties to prospective buyers. Private viewings are common but so are open houses. You need to schedule 1-2 hours for this viewing. Your MLS sheet needs to be on-hand and you must be fully prepared to answer any question. Your competence can make or break the deal.
You will find yourself bouncing between properties on the weekends. These viewings are time-consuming, especially when you have a handful of properties up for sale. You should be selective about which listings you promote this way. Your highest value deals should get priority. An open house serves as a great way to stir up competitiveness in a seller’s market—and get a bidding war started if interest is skyhigh.
Closing the Sale
You need to be enthusiastic and confident when closing on a sale. Many buyers let go after initially committing to a deal. You need to be supportive and happy for their choice. This level of positivity should be the same whether it’s a mansion or a property that needs a lot of repairs. This post focuses on the psychology factor when closing on a deal.
You must help finalize the transaction. The purchasing agreement is the last step in closing the deal. Some buyers fall through after this contract is done up. If this happens, it’s back to trying to sell the property. If the sale goes through, you will receive your commission.
How ProspectNow Helps Listing Agents
ProspectNow offers listing agents a platform built on machine learning that helps to find properties that are likely to sell or refinance. This software contains information for over 100 million homes, 40 million commercial properties, and 30 million companies. The predict analytics is proven to work and provides dependable results. This tool also provides the contact info for the property owners which helps to further streamline the lead generation process.
You will find more helpful features too. ProspectNow provides listing agents with more than just the lead generation components. In the same tool, you can manage both your digital marketing campaigns and your sales comparison analysis.
Get started with our free trial to see how beneficial our product is for you!