In the beginning of your career, many “leads” for potential home buyers or sellers may be generated by the broker for you to follow up on. You may also be responsible for “floor time”, in which you are on call at the real estate office to assist walk-in customers. As you gain experience and a wider circle of contacts, you will generate many leads of your own.

Your initial job is to respond quickly and clearly to the needs of these potential customers, and to demonstrate the capability of your company and yourself to represent them. If they agree to work with you, you represent them as either the buyer or a seller in the purchase of a home.

How Does a Real Estate Agent Serve Buyers?
A large part of the work in helping buyers is assisting them in defining what they want in a home, what they can afford, and helping them to find and view homes that meet their needs best. You will also make them aware of the services that your company may provide in terms of mortgage, title, insurance and other home ownership services, to ease the home buying and home owning process.

Your job is not to “sell” a particular home, but to act in a consultative manner to help them buy the home that will give them the greatest overall satisfaction. After they’ve decided on a home, you will help them negotiate the best price, and work to ensure that any possible issues regarding the purchase of the home are worked about between your buying customer, the seller, and the agent representing them. Finally, you’ll work to facilitate the closing process, ensuring that all paperwork and financing is in order, and help them take ownership of their new home.

In the end, your job is to provide needed value and expertise in one of the most important decisions that anyone can make – the purchase of a home. By exercising and demonstrating your capabilities, you take much of the pressure off the new homeowner. If you perform well – which we take to the next level at GMAC Real Estate through Premier Service – it’s very likely that these buyers will turn to you when they plan to sell their house and buy a new one, and refer friends and relatives to you for new business.

How Does a Real Estate Agent Serve Sellers?
Home sellers need more assistance in marketing their homes than they might expect. A professional real estate agent can help home sellers in many ways, not least in determining the best possible price for a property, based upon the condition and nature of the property itself, its competition in the market, and the seller’s desired timeline for sale. Homes that are under-priced don’t maximize the home seller’s investment in their property. Homes that are truly overpriced linger on the market, creating dissatisfaction for the seller. You, through your experience and the tools your company makes available, can help the seller set
the best price for the timeframe in which they wish to sell.

Another important aspect of marketing is presentation. You can help the seller understand what they can do to improve the cosmetic appearance of their home, and if necessary, the investments required to make their home sell at a higher price and during a shorter period of time.

A great value you will bring to the table is making home buyers and their agents aware of the home’s presence on the market. This means far more than putting a yard sign out, though your company’s name – and your own – can go a long way in drawing attention. These days, “selling” a home is really about “marketing”, and taking full advantage of both online and offline media. You’ll ensure descriptive and compelling marketing copy is produced on the home for use in both online and print materials, arrange for photography, explore the use of virtual tours with the seller, and bring a full range of marketing opportunities to the seller to promote the home in the most effective manner.

Once an offer is made, you again act in a consultative manner, helping your customer weigh the offer, and to negotiate for the best value for the home. While indeed your job is to “sell” the home, its important to ensure that the seller’s desire to “close the deal” doesn’t compromise their overall needs, or cause them to make a rash decision – the real goal is long term satisfaction, not immediate gain. After the buyer and seller have agreed on a price, you will work to facilitate the closing process, ensuring that all paperwork and financing is in order, and help the seller transfer ownership of their new home.

As in the case of the buyer, in the end, your job is to provide needed value and expertise. The sale of a home is a major event in anyone’s life, with the potential for financial gain through the sale, but sometimes a sense of emotional loss. By exercising and demonstrating your capabilities, you help the seller to make the most of their investment of time and money in a property, and often help them to buy a new home as part of the process. If you perform well – which we take to the next level at GMAC Real Estate through Premier Service – it’s very likely that your customer will turn to you for assistance in all their real estate needs, and refer friends and relatives to you for new business.

How do Real Estate Agents Earn Money?
Generally, the agents for both buyer and seller are given a commission for their services, which is a percentage of the overall value of the real estate transaction. Generally, the commission is split 50/50 between agents.

While policies vary, depending upon the local company you work for, generally you would share a part of your percentage with the broker, in remuneration for the services and support that they provide to you to assist buyer or seller throughout the home buying process, the overall advertising and marketing they do to gain prominence in the market, which you gain advantage from through associating your name with the company.

Depending upon your broker, you may also have the opportunity to earn money if your customer takes advantages of any home ownership services the broker offers, such as title, home warranty, and more.

It’s important to remember that as an agent, you are not paid a salary. Your success is based upon your ability to successfully represent buyers or sellers. Depending upon the market, your ability, and the ability for both you and your company to gain new customers, you may have a very stable flow of income. Or, it may be affected by seasonality, with very busy periods of very high income, and slower periods with relatively lower income.

If you have conviction and are willing to invest time and effort in your real estate career, the rewards can be great, both in terms of the money you earn and the type of life you lead. If you want a job with fixed hours that pays a regular amount on a standard schedule, real estate may not be the best career for you.

Why Should I Work for a Real Estate Broker? Why Not Go
Independent?
While there are some independent real estate agents, most agents work for a real estate broker. Working for a real estate company, particularly one that affiliates with a national brand like GMAC Real Estate, offers many advantages.

Here are a few:

Brand Name Recognition
Working for a recognized and successful real estate brand name and broker gives you instant recognition and market awareness that leads to more prospective buyer and sellers.

Business Resources
In addition to offering a (strong and trusted) brand name like GMAC Real Estate, most real estate companies provide marketing tools, web sites, company resources, skill-enhancing training programs and tools and market promotion. This enables you to concentrate on representing home buyers and sellers..

Potential Customers
Particularly at the beginning of your career, a real estate broker is a strong source for potential customers. Even as you develop customers through referrals from past customers, your real estate broker can generate a significant number of leads for you through their Web site and ongoing marketing and advertising.

Increased Earning Potential
Your brokerage may offer many services for home buyers and sellers that an independent agent can rarely offer, such as title, home warranty and other homeownership services; you can earn additional income when a customer that takes advantage of these services.

Professional Training
Good real estate companies offer effective training and mentoring for their agents through live and online courses, seminars, and sales conferences. (Training Page).

Benefits
Group medical insurance and retirement programs not available to independent agents are often available through brokerages. GMAC Real Estate proudly offers the best benefits in the industry (Benefits Page).

Networking
Working for a broker puts you into close contact with other agents, offering more networking opportunities for real estate professionals and the synergy of being part of a team.

While we believe that almost anyone can succeed in real estate, it doesn’t mean that success comes automatically. You do have to put effort into your work, just like in any career, to become truly successful. The following advice will help you to think about what you need to do to better serve your customers, and to grow your real estate career.

Investing Time
You will probably work evenings and weekends. You can make your own hours to some extent, it’s important that you manage your customer’s expectations with regard to your time and availability. There will be many occasions when you can only show a home or take a listing appointment in the evening, or when a weekend is the only time you can write up an offer.

When all is said and done, many full-time agents often put in more than 40 hours a week, due to the time spent working on weekends and evenings. Even so, their schedules are more flexible than salaried workers. Part-time agents often spend the bulk of their time devoted to weekend and evening work, but serve a tighter circle of customers.

Regardless of whether you plan to be a full-time or part-time agent, you need to be aware that to be successful, you need to be available when potential customers can make time. If you’re committed to success, you’ll need to occasionally compromise your time, to best serve your customers.

Investing Effort
Success in any field comes to those that make an intelligent effort to succeed, and real estate is no exception. You need to make the most of the time you invest, by working to understand and assist buyers and sellers, staying on top of industry news and market conditions, thinking about new ways to reach potential customers, staying sharp through ongoing training and more.

Your real estate broker will assist you in many ways, complementing your efforts, supporting your work and providing direction. But you’ll need to be proactive in your work, particularly if you wish to provide Premier Service.

Investing Money
As an independent contractor, you will need to invest a certain amount of money in yourself to get started, and to maintain your business. Typical real estate agent expenses include:

• Real Estate Education and Licensing

• Real estate license education tuition and fees

• Licensing exam fees

• Optional training to increase your skill set or gain special certifications

• Real Estate Professional Fees

• Any local fees for business licensing

• Local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) fees

• Fees to join and maintain your status with a local Board of Real estate agents

• Real Estate Agency Fees

• Depending upon the local broker, agents may be charged monthly or “pay as you go” fees to defray the cost of technology, office services, postage, phone calls and more.

• Personal Business Expenses

• Expenses to own, maintain and fuel a vehicle suitable for carrying potential buyers and sellers (qualified GMAC Real Estate Agents can take advantage of the GM Supplier Car Discount program).

• Additional auto insurance to cover increased liability for business passengers

• Depreciation on your vehicle through Increased mileage

• Errors and omissions insurance coverage, to help protect you from claims if your client holds you responsible for errors, or accuses you of failing to perform as specified in a contract.

• Cell phone, computer, software, and other “home office” expenses

Plus, don’t forget that you’ll need to invest in maintaining a professional appearance. While “business casual” or even shorts and sandals are accepted real estate attire in some markets, you can’t go wrong by having a well maintained professional wardrobe, and the accessories (portfolio, planner, writing utensils) to go with it.

California Department of Real Estate also has information on their Web site. For your convenience, we’ve provided the link to California Department of Real Estate. www.dre.ca.gov

GreatWest Online Real Estate School
Our real estate school will allow you to complete the first step in the licensing process – your Principles of California Real Estate course. We offer an online course that will allow you to complete the requirements of Principles, as well we have a Cram course that has a passing guarantee.

We’re so confident that we have the best exam prep course that we’ll guarantee your success. If you pass all of the practice exams found in our Cram Course with a score of 80% or higher, but fail the state exam, we’ll refund $100-which is more than the cost of retaking your exam.

Minimum requirements:

• 18 years of age or older

• Honesty – must be honest and truthful; conviction of a felony or crime involving moral turpitude may result in a denial of a license.

• Residence – see www.dre.ca.gov

• Successful completion of a college level course in Real Estate Principles

Applying for a License:

• Sign up for the State Exam – Complete an Examination Application (RE 400A) provided by the CA Dept. of Real Estate (DRE Application)

• Finish your Real Estate Principles course (Real Estate School)

• Get fingerprinted

• Pass the License Exam

• Apply for your license – When you pass the exam the state will send you the application for licensing.

Your Life Experience Pays Off
Some of the highest producers at GreatWest GMAC Real Estate are mature agents who have years of work experience outside the real estate industry. Even if you have no previous real estate training or experience, you have valuable life experience, a wide circle of contacts and usually, the experience of buying and selling several homes. This can be a major asset in understanding the needs of customers, and getting quickly up to speed in your real estate career.

Stay Involved, Stay Independent
Earning a real estate license is well worth the time and surprisingly affordable. Once you’ve become an agent, you’ll find that unlike being cooped up at a desk or working behind a retail counter day after day, real estate offers flexibility and personal freedom. And, real estate provides a channel for staying involved, and building contacts and friendships in your community.