Become A Real Estate Broker
About
Becoming a real estate broker requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.
If you're interested in how to sell brokerage services, or selling brokerage services online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.
Key stats
Startup Costs
| Min Startup Costs | Max Startup Costs | |
|---|---|---|
| Employee & Freelancer Expenses | $151 | $252 |
| Equipment & Supply Expenses | $500 | $5,000 |
| Website Costs | $303 | $7,015 |
| Business Formation Fees | $600 | $4,700 |
| Vehicle Expenses | $0 | $10,000 |
| Retail Business Expenses | $1,250 | $6,650 |
| Advertising & Marketing Costs | $75 | $3,986 |
| Software Expenses | $162 | $2,720 |
| Other Expenses | $0 | $800 |
| Office Space Expenses | $50 | $100 |
| Specific Industry Expenses | $0 | $500 |
Successful Businesses
| Business | URL | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Zillow | zillow.com | #123 |
|
Realtor.com | realtor.com | #320 |
|
LoopNet | loopnet.com | #6,179 |
|
StreetEasy | streeteasy.com | #7,149 |
|
Real Estate, Homes for Sale, Home Values, Agents and Advice | remax.com | #14,824 |
|
eXp Realty | exprealty.com | #18,926 |
|
Douglas Elliman | elliman.com | #37,713 |
|
Local Real Estate Expertise with a Global Reach: Engel & Völkers | evrealestate.com | #79,808 |
|
AceableAgent | aceableagent.com | #95,980 |
|
Howard Hanna Real Estate Services | howardhanna.com | #96,777 |
|
John L. Scott Real Estate serving home buyers and sellers in Washington, California, Oregon and Idaho. Your trusted name in real estate. | johnlscott.com | #102,438 |
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Description |
|---|---|
| Little startup costs required | The cost to start a real estate broker costs significantly less money than most businesses, ranging anywhere from 3,091 to 41,723. |
| Rewarding work | Starting a real estate broker can be really rewarding work. After all, you are solving an immediate issue for your customer and you're working on something you truly care about. |
| High customer retention rates | Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer. |
| Pick & choose the clients you work with | Real Estate Brokeres have the ability to choose the clients they work with. You have the freedom to work with only a few loyal clients or with hundreds of clients! |
| Control of workload | With becoming a real estate broker, you have the unique ability to choose how little or how much you want to work. You also have the freedom to decide which projects you want to work on, and can turn down the ones that do not interest you. |
| Gain exposure and experience | This career allows you to gain experience working for multiple different businesses - which will benefit your resume and also keep things interesting for you! |
| Cons | Description |
|---|---|
| Motivation of employees | If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees. |
| Longer Sales Process | A real estate broker can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers. |
| Work can be inconsistent | As a real estate broker, the amount of work assigned to you and schedule tends to be more inconsistent, which may make your income less stable. It's important to set boundaries and budget accordingly based on the amount of work you plan to have. |
| Lack of benefits | With a real estate broker, you are typically self-employed and responsible for finding your own insurance, which can be quite costly and time-consuming. |
| Taxes | As a real estate broker, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it. |
| No safety net | Typically, as a real estate broker, you do not receive a consistent pay-check and instead earn money based on your transactions each month. During the slow periods, you typically take away less since the job is based on commission. It's important to budget accordingly for the slow times. |
Marketing Ideas
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1
Direct Sales
Direct sales strategy implies a direct contact between a seller and a consumer without the involvement of any third party. Direct selling is popular in sectors where sellers communicate with their clientele personally. The sales technique occurs at non-store locations which include at home, work, or online.
For direct selling to succeed, hire a few (or many) salespeople to support the sales conversion process. It's critical that you assign them specific roles and responsibilities to nurture the client and provide excellent support.
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2
Word of mouth
Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.
Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.
According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.
Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.
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3
Social Media Advertising
Social media advertising is the use of social media platforms to connect with your audience with the objective to build your brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic.
According to Oberlo, approximately 48% of the global population use social media, and the number is ever-growing.
Therefore, social media allows brands access to cost-effective advertising by enabling them to interact with a large audience.
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