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Avery
Student
Rock Hill, South Carolina
3
Questions
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day in the life of a Real estate agent
what would the day in the life of a Real estate agent be? What kind of work is done before you sell a house and afterward?
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2 answers
Aaron Sims
Real Estate Broker
14
Answers
Birmingham, Alabama
Updated
Aaron’s Answer
That is the million dollar question. A Real Estate Agent's day is what they make of it.
The goal of a Real Estate agent is to help clients buy and sell homes, or closings. These on't happen without a lot of front end work. While HGTV would make you believe we show pretty homes to pretty people, that can't happen without having people to show a home to. So the main job of an agent is to talk to people. People you know, people you meet, trying to talk to people interested in buying and selling via the 1000 ways that agents lead generate. Conversations lead to appointments, appointments lead to sellers and buyers agreeing to hire you as an agent to represent them. From there, negotiating, and getting a contract to closing (easier said than done sometimes).
In a given day you may be calling people for 2 hours in the AM to set appointments for the rest of the week. You may be showing homes, or going on appointments in the afternoon/evening. you may be writing up offers, or responding to offers, negotiating offers, explaining to your clients about offers, advising clients in between all of those things. The only thing that you HAVE to do each day is Lead generate (conversations) and make appointments. If you consistently do that, you'll consistently have clients , which means you will have people wanting to buy and sell, and have the offers/contracts, and have closings.
No matter how busy you get, you can't drop the conversations or you'll find yourself having closed 2 or 3 transactions and have nothing lined up next.
So a successful agent will spend an hour to two every morning lead generating (online leads, following up with people from the week or month before, talking to people they know) then set out for the day. Showing homes, going on appointments (buyer or seller) , negotiating , etc.
It can be pretty flexible, though you have to protect your lead generation time, or you'll find yourself with a lot of time, and nobody to help.
The goal of a Real Estate agent is to help clients buy and sell homes, or closings. These on't happen without a lot of front end work. While HGTV would make you believe we show pretty homes to pretty people, that can't happen without having people to show a home to. So the main job of an agent is to talk to people. People you know, people you meet, trying to talk to people interested in buying and selling via the 1000 ways that agents lead generate. Conversations lead to appointments, appointments lead to sellers and buyers agreeing to hire you as an agent to represent them. From there, negotiating, and getting a contract to closing (easier said than done sometimes).
In a given day you may be calling people for 2 hours in the AM to set appointments for the rest of the week. You may be showing homes, or going on appointments in the afternoon/evening. you may be writing up offers, or responding to offers, negotiating offers, explaining to your clients about offers, advising clients in between all of those things. The only thing that you HAVE to do each day is Lead generate (conversations) and make appointments. If you consistently do that, you'll consistently have clients , which means you will have people wanting to buy and sell, and have the offers/contracts, and have closings.
No matter how busy you get, you can't drop the conversations or you'll find yourself having closed 2 or 3 transactions and have nothing lined up next.
So a successful agent will spend an hour to two every morning lead generating (online leads, following up with people from the week or month before, talking to people they know) then set out for the day. Showing homes, going on appointments (buyer or seller) , negotiating , etc.
It can be pretty flexible, though you have to protect your lead generation time, or you'll find yourself with a lot of time, and nobody to help.
Maria Lillis
Tax Accountant
1
Answer
Austin, Texas
Updated
Maria’s Answer
Thank you for asking this question, Avery - knowing exactly what your day to day may look like is a great way to assess if you want to go into a specific field, so I applaud you for considering this angle! I am married to a real estate agent, and I feel particularly equipped to speak to what my spouse's day to day looks like, as I watch it unfold every day!
It is important to note that real estate licensure is state specific, meaning that candidates from different states will face different requirements for acquiring and maintaining their license. Some states have reciprocity, meaning they will accept licensure from other states without issue, but this is not always the case. What's more, laws related to buying and selling homes can vary from state to state, so this can create additional variety across the United States; in states with stricter regulatory requirements, you may find yourself devoting more of your day to inspection related tasks, etc. Finally, the day-to-day of a real estate agent will vary depending on if you wish to go into commercial real estate, or into residential real estate. Businesses and individuals have drastically different preferences when purchasing real estate - you will find commercial real estate to be far more driven by practical considerations and numbers, while in residential real estate you may benefit from a more creative vision, and from investing in your personal relationship with your clients.
My spouse is a primarily buy-side residential real estate agent in a large city that experienced drastic growth during the years of 2020-2022. Above all, what I can say is that this form of real estate will rarely have you actually in the office - my spouse primarily "works from home," but working from home often involves driving 60+ miles a day while showing potential properties to clients. Often, these days occur either in the evenings or the weekends - a time which happens to work best for clients who otherwise are occupied by their 9 to 5 jobs. My spouse has to find other hours in the day to take care of clerical tasks related to the field - building specs of various properties for valuation purposes, hiring inspectors or other building professionals related to various items that come up in the process of a real estate transfer, putting in offers, negotiating contracts, educating clients on contracts and on loan options, etc.
The nice thing about real estate is that everything is on your own time - technically, you can do any of these tasks at any time you want so long as they get done in a timely manner. Another perk is that, because real estate is all about your relationships, networking is an inherent part of the job, so sometimes "work" for my spouse can look like attending networking events and building rich relationships with wonderful people. In fact, above all, my spouse would say the most fulfilling thing about real estate is being able to help wonderful people take a dream vision of a home and navigate a complex field to make that dream a reality.
But it important to keep in mind the flipside of this "on your own time" perk - if you want to go into real estate, you must be excellent at self-management. As Aaron mentioned when answering your question, you must always be pursuing new leads to ensure you continue to have client work. How much work is enough is up to you (and the bills you need to pay), but you must keep in mind that leads convert to sales at a very low rate for any field, so for every five leads you have, you may have one client, if you're lucky. Furthermore, your income is going to fluctuate month to month, so you need to be comfortable with that inherent uncertainty. Finally, as a real estate agent, you're going to file a Schedule C as a sole proprietor for taxes at the end of the year, so you will need to diligently track any and all expenses and miles related to your business in the day to day - and make sure you're saving up to pay quarterly estimated taxes, lest you get dinged with penalties and interest for not paying on time.
I hope this answered your question, and I wish you luck with your career considerations, Avery!
It is important to note that real estate licensure is state specific, meaning that candidates from different states will face different requirements for acquiring and maintaining their license. Some states have reciprocity, meaning they will accept licensure from other states without issue, but this is not always the case. What's more, laws related to buying and selling homes can vary from state to state, so this can create additional variety across the United States; in states with stricter regulatory requirements, you may find yourself devoting more of your day to inspection related tasks, etc. Finally, the day-to-day of a real estate agent will vary depending on if you wish to go into commercial real estate, or into residential real estate. Businesses and individuals have drastically different preferences when purchasing real estate - you will find commercial real estate to be far more driven by practical considerations and numbers, while in residential real estate you may benefit from a more creative vision, and from investing in your personal relationship with your clients.
My spouse is a primarily buy-side residential real estate agent in a large city that experienced drastic growth during the years of 2020-2022. Above all, what I can say is that this form of real estate will rarely have you actually in the office - my spouse primarily "works from home," but working from home often involves driving 60+ miles a day while showing potential properties to clients. Often, these days occur either in the evenings or the weekends - a time which happens to work best for clients who otherwise are occupied by their 9 to 5 jobs. My spouse has to find other hours in the day to take care of clerical tasks related to the field - building specs of various properties for valuation purposes, hiring inspectors or other building professionals related to various items that come up in the process of a real estate transfer, putting in offers, negotiating contracts, educating clients on contracts and on loan options, etc.
The nice thing about real estate is that everything is on your own time - technically, you can do any of these tasks at any time you want so long as they get done in a timely manner. Another perk is that, because real estate is all about your relationships, networking is an inherent part of the job, so sometimes "work" for my spouse can look like attending networking events and building rich relationships with wonderful people. In fact, above all, my spouse would say the most fulfilling thing about real estate is being able to help wonderful people take a dream vision of a home and navigate a complex field to make that dream a reality.
But it important to keep in mind the flipside of this "on your own time" perk - if you want to go into real estate, you must be excellent at self-management. As Aaron mentioned when answering your question, you must always be pursuing new leads to ensure you continue to have client work. How much work is enough is up to you (and the bills you need to pay), but you must keep in mind that leads convert to sales at a very low rate for any field, so for every five leads you have, you may have one client, if you're lucky. Furthermore, your income is going to fluctuate month to month, so you need to be comfortable with that inherent uncertainty. Finally, as a real estate agent, you're going to file a Schedule C as a sole proprietor for taxes at the end of the year, so you will need to diligently track any and all expenses and miles related to your business in the day to day - and make sure you're saving up to pay quarterly estimated taxes, lest you get dinged with penalties and interest for not paying on time.
I hope this answered your question, and I wish you luck with your career considerations, Avery!