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The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Business Plan

Do you have your own real estate agent business plan?

Let’s be honest, starting a career in real estate is like launching a new business. As an agent, you are your own brand. You have to find your own leads and nurture your own clients. And ultimately, you’re responsible for the production and financial success of your business.

The problem is that standard real estate courses don’t teach agents how to be business owners. Did your real estate courses help you craft your own real estate agent business plan? Mine certainly didn’t!

And that’s a real shame because business planning is key to being a successful real estate agent! This isn’t an industry you can muddle your way through. You need to create a roadmap to success. A path to show you the way forward when business gets tough.

And that’s what this post is all about: creating The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Business Plan to help your real estate business succeed!

Quick note: this article was originally published in 2019; this is the new, updated version.

Before You Jump Into Your Real Estate Agent Business Plan

Before we get started, you should decide how you’re going to document your real estate agent business plan.

• A physical notebook: Putting pen to paper can be a powerful motivator! If you’re a notebook-keeper, grab that notebook and start writing.
• A doc: Of course some of us prefer the paperless route. You can just open a blank Google Doc or Word Doc and start typing.
• A ready-to-use template: You can find inexpensive business plan templates on Etsy. If you’re looking for a template that perfectly mirrors the steps in this post, check out The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Business Plan by Key Real Estate Designs .

There’s no right or wrong way to document your real estate agent business plan. The important thing is to pick whatever method feels natural to you so that you can complete this critical business planning process.

Word of warning: this is going to be a longgggggggggggg post! We have a whole lot of ground to cover. For easy reference, here is an outline of what to include in a real estate agent business plan:

Branding Know Your Client Get Clear on Your Offer Transform Your Offer into a Vision Finance Performance from the Past Year Projections for the Upcoming Year Income Goal Tracking Long-Term Planning Marketing Know Where Your Leads are Coming from Schedule Your Marketing Activities Add New Marketing Activities Each Year Track Your Results Operations Services Supplies and Vendors Your Team Lead Follow-up Building Referrals

Let’s get to it!

1. Branding

The branding chapter of your real estate agent business plan consists of three main sections:

• Knowing Your Client
• Getting Clear on Your Offer
• Transforming Your Offer into a Vision

1. Know Your Client

Step Number One is all about knowing your audience. Starting the branding process from your clients’ perspective will help keep your real estate agent branding focused on your clients’ needs. So let’s pinpoint your ideal client first, and then we’ll figure out how to attract them with branding.

Choose Your Niche

Don’t be that agent who tries to appeal to all buyers and sellers in your area. By trying to appeal to everyone, you’ll never stand out to anyone. You need to niche down so that you are a perfect fit for the clients you most want to attract.

Many agents are hesitant to choose a niche because they don’t want to leave potential clients on the table. But there’s a big problem with being open to all clients: you’re competing with all agents.

But, if you niche down, you’re only competing with a handful of other agents in your niche. Yes, the pool of potential clients is smaller, but the odds of securing those clients are far greater. Would you rather catch 1% of 1,000 fish or 25% of 250 fish? Go for the higher conversion rates by sticking to a niche and becoming the go-to agent for that group.

To be clear, choosing a niche doesn’t mean you don’t work with other clients; it just means you’re targeting your marketing efforts to resonate with a specific group. If a lead outside your niche falls into your lap, by all means, convert that lead into a client and closing!

There are lots of ways to niche down, and you can combine several of them to carve out your unique niche. As you consider niches, ask yourself what type of client you most enjoy working with. Here are a few ways to niche down:

• Buyer or Sellers: You should specialize in one or the other, but stay flexible when your sellers are also looking to buy and vice versa. By the way, buyer/seller is not a niche by itself; it’s just the starting point of focusing on your niche.
• Specific Neighborhoods: If you have a geographic farm, that’s your niche.
• Specific Price Points: Do you focus on luxury estates, starters/fixer-uppers, or somewhere in between?
• Life Events: You could help first-time buyers, downsizers, or people looking for their “forever home”.
• Occupations: If you have a military base nearby or a large employer in town, you could specialize in helping those members/workers get settled in a new home.
• Property Type: How about focusing on agricultural land, condos, or multifamily?

Not sure which direction to go? Learn more by exploring 5 profitable niches for real estate agents .

This goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway: protected classes are not niches. It’s never acceptable to niche by race, religion, age, etc.

Create Your Client Avatar

Once you determine your ideal niche (like first-time military vet buyers, for example), you want to learn everything you possibly can about that group. Remember, these aren’t just clients. They’re real people with very real dreams, fears, preferences, and motivations.

Creating an avatar (an imaginary persona of your typical client) forces you to focus on what your ideal clients need from you and how you can best serve them. This will also help you understand how to appeal to them through your real estate agent branding.

There are lots of factors to consider when creating your client avatar. Here are some of the most important:

• Goals (by the way, buying or selling are never the goals; consider why they want to buy or sell)
• How much your clients know about real estate (transactions in general, and the local market in particular)
• General demographics (age, gender, familial status, profession, annual income, formal education, etc. – again, you’re not filtering clients by any protected class, but you do need to have an idea of your average client’s demographics because that will factor into some of your real estate agent branding decisions)
• Where your client hangs out, online and offline

Just to reiterate, saying that your client avatar is a 30-year-old, unmarried female buyer doesn’t mean you’d ever discriminate against families with children. This avatar is simply an amalgamation of your typical client for the purpose of appealing to your target market with your branding efforts.

2. Get Clear on Your Offer

With your client clear in your mind, you can start to clarify your image, tailoring it to meet the needs of your client avatar.

Your Origin Story

We all know real estate agents are just superheroes without capes. And every good superhero has a solid origin story. What’s yours?

How did you come to be a real estate agent? What hurdles have you overcome to get to this point in your life? Which accomplishments are you most proud of? And how does that fit your client avatar’s expectations?

If you’re a native local, great! Part of your origin story is that you were born and raised in the area, so you know everything and everyone.

If you’re a transplant, great! San Diegan by birth, Angelino by choice. Still a great start to your story.

Write down your origin story. It’ll make a great addition to your professional bio !

Your Mission

Why are you doing what you’re doing? What drives you to hustle every day? And, again, how does that fit your client avatar’s expectations? Your personal mission should be meaningful to your clients.

Your Differentiator

Now’s the hard part: verbalizing your uniqueness.

Which of your prospective clients’ needs can you meet better than your competitors? That’s your differentiator.

Here are a few differentiator ideas:

• Best list-to-price ratio in your niche
• Best online presence
• Biggest professional network of investors
• Most experience with VA loans
• Only local agent who speaks Spanish

And if you’re really struggling to find your differentiator, how about offering something no one else is offering? Consider offering services like:

• Professional staging for all sellers,
• New home photo shoots for all buyers, or
• Complimentary annual property tax reviews to make sure your clients are never over-taxed (and if they are, you can offer your property tax appeal services on a contingency fee basis!).

There are a million ways to differentiate yourself. Figure out what’s going to make the biggest difference to your prospective clients.

Your 5 Magic Words

To fully cement your professional image, choose five magic words that best describe you and your brand. These magic words will guide all your real estate agent branding. If you look at your business cards, website, or marketing materials, and they don’t SCREAM these five words, then you’ll know something needs to be changed.

Your differentiator may immediately bring a word or two to mind. So might your client avatar.

Then you’re looking for words that convey an idea or emotion you want to resonate with your target audience.

These are going to be your five magic words. So own them and live them!

3. Transform Your Offer into a Vision

Now that you have a better understanding of your offer, you can turn it into a vision.

In this step, your unique real estate agent branding will really start to take shape!

Choose Your Brand’s Name and Tagline

Naming your brand is harder than most agents expect, mostly because many of the best names are already taken. You need a name that you can “.com” for your website, but that name also has to be available across all social media platforms. Here are a few pointers to simplify the process:

• Keep it under 15 characters. Otherwise, you’ll have to abbreviate your X (formerly Twitter) handle, which dilutes your branding.
• Think lifestyle and location .  MB Luxury, Venice Living, or Living in the OC for example. These all focus on the lifestyle of your target audience.
• Never incorporate your Broker’s name. Because 1) it’s probably trademarked and 2) you don’t want to tie your brand to your broker because that creates complications if or when you decide to part ways.
• Check to see if the domain name is available for your website. If you type your idea into Bluehost’s domain search , it will tell you if the name is available.
• Then check to see if the name is available on social media platforms. Is there already an @VeniceLiving on Insta?

If you’re struggling with this step, don’t let it prevent you from moving forward. When in doubt, use your name. If you have a unique name, it could be your brand name by itself. Otherwise, you could incorporate your name with your lifestyle or location. OC Estates by Sarah, Sean Sells Santee, or Lilly’s Life in LB.

Then you can craft your tagline. Skip the cheesy rhyming taglines of the last century. Instead, explain your differentiator in just a few words. That’s a much more powerful tagline.

Create a Mood Board

The best way to start visualizing your brand is to create a mood board. A mood board is basically just a collage of images with a cohesive look that reflects your idea of your brand. These could be patterns, lifestyle photos, design elements, and color swatches.

Here are a few examples:

Your mood board should be a visual reflection of your offer. If you offer fun and fresh service for first-time buyers, your mood board should scream fun and fresh with bright colors and trendy designs. And if you offer home-grown expertise in agricultural properties, your mood board should whisper farmhouse chic with natural colors and materials.

Want a shortcut?

If you don’t have time to scour the Internet looking for mood board images, just enter “Mood Board” or “Branding Board” on Pinterest. You’ll find tons of professionally curated boards to inspire your personal mood board.

But one quick word of caution: you could get stuck at this stage for weeks because there are so many engaging boards to see. My recommendation is to set a timer for 20 minutes. Browse away, pinning the images that really speak to you. Then use 10 additional minutes to narrow down your selections until you have a brand board you love.

Choose Your Official Brand Colors

One of the reasons I love the Mood and Branding Boards on Pinterest is that they usually come with a beautifully coordinated color palate.

Choosing colors is difficult for most of us because there are so many shades and it’s hard to know which colors best complement each other. Using the colors from a professionally designed board ensures that your colors all work together perfectly.

If you see a color you love, but can’t figure out exactly what color it is, here’s a quick and easy way to find out:

1. Save the image to your computer.

2. Upload that image to imagecolorpicker.com .

3. Click anywhere on the image to get the details for the color you want from the image.

You’ll be able to use the HTML code or the RGM code to get your colors just right on your website, marketing materials, and social media posts.

So you’ll always have perfectly matched brand colors!

Decide on Your Font(s) and Any Design Elements

It’s generally best to stick with two fonts: one bold, and one for easy readability. Your bold font will go on your headers, titles, and logo, and your readability font will be everything else.

Like with colors, you want your fonts to complement each other. There are lots of resources online to find font pairings. Here’s an example of some front combinations from Inkbotdesign.com :

Just make sure you have access to your chosen fonts on all the platforms you use (your website, your marketing design software, etc) as some platforms only offer limited font selections.

If you’re going to have any custom design elements (stripes, brush strokes, patterns, etc), now is also the time to select those.

Create Your Logo

Finally, it’s time to choose your logo.

This is another step that stalls lots of agents. But we have a shortcut to help you get this done quickly and easily.

Head to Etsy . They have lots of personalized logo packs at great rates.

Some Etsy sellers even offer custom-designed logos. If you don’t see an existing logo pack, you can just contact those sellers with your fonts, colors, brand name, and any of your unique design ideas, and they’ll get you set up in no time.

Before long, your target audience will start to recognize your unique real estate agent branding. They’ll know what you and your brand stand for. And they’ll know how to reach you when they’re ready to buy or sell!

The finance chapter of your real estate agent business plan consists of the following sections:

• Performance from the Past Year
• Projections for the Upcoming Year

Income Goal

• Long-Term Planning

1. Review Your Performance from the Past Year

To know where you’re going, it helps to know where you’re coming from.

Reviewing your financial performance from the past year will give you an idea of what to expect (in terms of income and expenses) for the coming year.

A quick note about expenses: As an independent contractor, you have more than just personal expenses to consider. You also need to consider business expenses. We’ll discuss both.

If this is your first year in real estate, your prior year’s data won’t include relevant business expenses or reliable income figures. You’ll just need to spend more time researching average income and expense data in Step 2. But you will still benefit from reviewing last year’s personal expenses so you’ll know how much to budget in those categories for the coming year.

Most agents find it helpful to look at the expenses first when reviewing their financials. When your income is uncertain, starting with your expenses lets you know exactly how much income you need to make to cover all your needs. So we’re going to follow that method by listing expenses first.

Now, I like to start with personal expenses since many of these are essential to your life, regardless of the current state of your business.

Personal expenses include:

• Personal Vehicle
• Personal Care
• Debt Payments
• Savings and Investments
• Charitable Giving

All you need to do is list all your personal expenses and assign an amount to each. You may find it helpful to list both the annual total amounts and the average monthly amounts .

Then you can move on to your business expenses.

Business expenses include:

• Work Vehicle
• Work Cell Phone
• Office Space (if not covered by your Broker)
• Website Hosting
• Membership Dues
• Client Gifts
• Federal and State Income Taxes

If you’re new to real estate, you’ll need to account for a few start-up costs as well:

• Licensing fees
• A real estate website ( a must for today’s serious agents )
• Any onboarding fees charged by your broker
• Business cards
• Initial self-promotional marketing

Do you feel like your expenses are too high in any category? Ask yourself if it’s reasonable to cut back on that expense in the coming year. If so, great! And if not, at least you’ll know to budget enough for that category in the coming year.

The bulk of your income will, in all likelihood, come from real estate transactions. But this shouldn’t be your only source of income.

Savvy agents are diversifying their income streams to recession-proof their businesses and reach financial independence. Check out our massive list of 55 Ways to Make Money in Real Estate for some income ideas that will complement your real estate business.

Just like you did with your expenses, list your income sources from this past year and the amounts earned from each source.

Your income minus your business expenses equals your profit.

How did you do last year? Are you satisfied with last year’s profit? Or do you need to lower your business expenses, increase your income, or both to reach a profit you’re happy with in the coming year?

Your income minus your total expenses (personal and business) is your cash flow. This shows how much more money you make than you spend.

As long as you’re including savings and investments in your expenses (which you absolutely should be, otherwise those will end up neglected!), your cash flow number doesn’t need to be large. You just want to be sure you’re making more than you’re spending.

If there’s anything you don’t love about your financials from the past year, don’t panic. Instead, focus on what you want to do differently in the next 12 months. That’s what we’ll do in Step 2.

2. Plan Your Financials for the Coming Year

Now it’s time to create your real estate agent financial plan for this coming year.

• How much do you plan to spend?
• And how much do you plan to earn?

Using last year’s expenses as a guide, write down your estimated expenses in each category for the coming year. You may have to do a little research to get estimates on some figures if this will be your first year incurring that particular expense.

The most important thing when estimating your expenses is to be as accurate as possible. Many of us have a tendency to think our numbers should be lower, so we underestimate our expenses, and subsequently end up breaking our budget.

A good rule of thumb is to budget high. If you come in under budget, great! You’ll have more money at the end of the year to invest in business expansion.

With your expenses calculated, you now know exactly how much money you need to make this year to cover all your expenses.

How does that number line up with last year’s income?

Do you expect this year’s income to be similar?

Again, accuracy is key. Your income goal should be achievable , but it should also be difficult enough to really make you work.

By the way, in the next step, we’ll create a plan to make your income goal a reality. That step will be a good litmus test to see if your income goal is reasonable.

Assuming you hit your planned expense and income figures this year, what will your profit be? Again, it’s just income minus business expenses.

How does this projected profit compare to last year’s profit? Are you happy with this profit? If not, now’s the time to review your projected expenses and income to see if you need to make any adjustments.

When you subtract your total expenses from your projected income, are you still at a positive number? Because you need to be!

3. Create a Plan to Meet Your Income Goal

Now that you have an income goal in mind, we need to create a bulletproof plan to hit that goal.

To do this, we need to answer two questions:

• How many homes do you need to sell this year to meet your income goal?
• How many leads do you need to reach to sell that many homes?

Let’s look at each question in turn.

How Many Homes Do You Need to Sell?

Here’s the formula to calculate the number of homes you need to sell:

————————————————————————————————

(Average Home Price x Your Average Commission Percentage x Your Commission Split)

For anyone not algebraically inclined: we’re just figuring out your after-broker commission from an average sale, and then dividing your income goal by that number.

As an example:

If the average home price in your niche is $250,000, the average commission per agent is 3%, and your split with your broker is 50%, you would need to sell 27 average homes to generate $100,000 in gross income. ($250,000 times 3% = $7,500 x 50% = $3,750. So you make $3,750 on each average transaction. And $100,000 divided by $3,750 is 26.666 houses, rounded to 27.)

So, what’s your magic number?

Now, how are you going to meet that sales goal?

How Many Leads Do You Need to Reach?

First, let’s break down your home sale goal by month so it’s less daunting. Divide your magic number by 12 to figure out how many homes you need to sell each month on average.

Now, how many leads do you need to reach each month to sell that many homes?

To figure this out, you need to know your conversion rate. How many leads does it take on average to close a single deal? For seasoned agents, this is a matter of tracking your leads and your closed deals to know your personal conversion rate. For new agents, 100 leads for every 1 closed deal is a safe estimate in most markets. This number will improve as you gain sales experience and establish yourself in the market.

Here’s the formula for calculating your monthly lead requirements:

number of deals needed x number of leads required to make one sale

That number may seem high. But let’s make it more manageable by figuring out how many leads you need to generate each day. To do that, divide your required leads per month by 16. Why 16? Because life happens, and you can’t reasonably expect to prospect every single day of every month. So we’re figuring 4 workdays for 4 weeks per month.

As long as you commit to hitting your prospecting target 4 days per week, there’s no reason you shouldn’t hit your income goal!

4. Tracking Your Finances

This is one of the most often ignored steps in creating a real estate agent financial plan: tracking.

How will you know if you’re on track to stay on budget and meet your income goal if you don’t track your finances through the year?

Unexpected expenses and sales droughts can completely derail your financial plan. It’s important to catch these in real-time so you can adjust your plan as needed to get back on track as quickly as possible.

Keep a monthly log for expenses, and one for income. And actually use them! That’s the tricky part. It’s a good idea to schedule 15-30 minutes each week specifically to log your income and expenses from the previous week. Put this recurring appointment in your calendar to remind you to build this financial habit.

5. Long-Term Planning and Tracking

The final step to creating your bullet-proof real estate agent financial plan is to create a long-term financial plan.

Long-term financial planning is difficult for real estate agents. It’s hard enough to plan for a single year. How are you supposed to plan 5-10 years (or more!) into the future?

No one expects you to accurately forecast your income and expenses for the next 10 years. But there are some long-term financial plans that wise agents track. Btw, if you want to learn more on this topic, check out Financial Planning for Real Estate Agents for a comprehensive overview.

Planning to retire as a real estate agent is tough. You don’t have a 401(k) or a pension plan. So you have to plan for retirement on your own.

A Solo 401(k) is a great option because it allows you to contribute more each year than IRAs.

The key to retirement savings is to start early and save consistently. Compound interest will work its magic from there.

Aim to set aside a full 10% of your gross income for retirement. But start slowly if 10% sounds like too much for you to spare. Start with 3% of every transaction for the first year. Then 5% the next year. And keep increasing until you hit 10%. If you’re starting retirement savings later in life, you may need to save more. If you have other income-generating assets, like rental properties, you may be able to save less. Talk to a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) if you need help figuring out your retirement plan.

Your Dreams

It’s sad that most of us put such a low priority on our dreams.

How many of us desperately want to travel or open our own brokerages or start a non-profit for the community? And how many of us never do these things because we just don’t have the money?

Make your dreams a priority by building them into your financial plan every year. And tracking your Dream Fund finances over the long term.

Your Legacy

What do you want to leave for the next generation?

You certainly don’t need to leave an inheritance for your children, but you may want to help your children and/or grandchildren with education expenses as your legacy. Maybe you want to create a family business to leave behind? Or build a community park for future generations to enjoy. Or establish a non-profit to assist those who come after you.

If you want to leave a legacy like these, you’ll need to include them in your long-term financial planning.

Your Net Worth

Tracking net worth year-over-year is one of the most rewarding financial exercises you can do!

Net worth is the best indicator of overall financial health. It’s a comparison of your debts to your assets. Think of it like this: if you sold everything you owned and paid off all your debts today, how much would you have left?

To calculate your net worth, start by listing all your assets and their present-day values:

• Checking Accounts
• Savings Accounts
• Retirement Accounts
• Investment Accounts
• Real Estate Holdings
• Collectibles

Now, list all the current balances on all your debts:

• Student Loans
• Credit Cards
• Business Loans
• Personal Loans

And finally, subtract the debts from the assets. The result is your current net worth.

The more assets you accumulate, the more your net worth will skyrocket. Especially if you acquire assets that appreciate, like real estate and financial investments (stocks and bonds).

Invest the time in calculating your net worth just once or twice per year. The motivation to improve your finances lasts long after you complete this small task. And as your net worth grows, you’ll find that you’re actually excited to calculate your new net worth and see how much your financial health has improved since the last check.

3. Marketing

Marketing builds on some of the foundation work you did in the branding and finance sections of your real estate agent business plan. With your financial goals and target market in mind, you can build a marketing plan to suit your audience and earn you enough leads to hit your goal.

The marketing chapter of your real estate agent business plan consists of:

• Knowing Where Your Leads are Coming from
• Scheduling Your Marketing Activities
• Adding New Marketing Activities Each Year
• Tracking Your Results

1. Know Where Your Leads Are Coming From

Do you know where your leads are coming from?

Online? Geo-farming? Cold-calling the Expireds? Somewhere else?

To know where your marketing dollars are making the most bang, you need to know which marketing methods are working for you.

If you don’t have a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system that automatically tracks the return on investment for your leads, you can create a basic spreadsheet to handle this task. Just list your marketing methods in a column on the far left, then add columns for the:

• annual cost of each marketing method
• number of leads generated every year by each method
• cost per lead (annual cost divided by the number of leads generated)
• number of closed deals
• net profit from those closed deals
• ROI of each method (net profit divided by the annual cost)

(By the way, The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Business Plan on Etsy includes a ready-made template for you.)

If you’re brand new to the business and don’t yet have any data to analyze, don’t worry. Start your marketing strategy with three to five cost-effective marketing methods. My recommendations for most new agents in most markets are:

• Social Media Marketing.  You can create professional profiles and post for free (check out How to Create a Lead-Generating Social Media Calendar for tips). And if you don’t have the time or design skill to create your own social media posts, sign up for DRIP by Key Real Estate Resources.  You’ll get fresh social media posts and a new social media calendar delivered to you each month!
• Content Marketing.  Add blog posts to your website to boost your search engine rankings so buyers and sellers can find you online.
• Calling FSBOs and Expireds. T hese people are actively trying to sell! Get out there and talk to them. In fact, consider hosting a FSBO seminar where you give  real information about the home selling process. When sellers see what’s required to get top-dollar, they’ll probably list. And they’ll choose the agent who gave them the real info they were looking for! No time for a seminar? Offer a free FSBO guide instead.
• Mailers. Mailers may be old school, but they’re still a low-cost way to generate leads in many markets.
• Open Houses. While open houses aren’t effective for selling in all markets, they’re often effective at generating new leads .

2. Schedule Your Marketing Activities

Armed with your chosen marketing methods, it’s time to decide exactly when you’re going to take action.

You know that if it isn’t on your calendar, it won’t get done. Other tasks, like showings and inspections, will inevitably take priority because they are more urgent. Don’t let the urgent tasks keep you from the important tasks. And since your business doesn’t exist without a client pipeline, marketing is possibly the single most important task you can complete to keep your business growing. So schedule it!

Grab your calendar now and decide when you’ll:

• Launch your website (if you don’t already have one)
• Write and publish your blog posts (one per week is ideal)
• Post to social media (several times per week on your focus platforms, and at least once per week on the other major platforms). By the way, if you don’t have time to create your social media content, consider a service that creates the posts for you. DRIP by Key Real Estate Resources offers plans starting at just $9/mo.
• Call Expireds and FSBOs (daily! – so what time will you carve out every day for distraction-free phone marketing?)
• Send mailers (at least quarterly)
• Attend networking events
• Order any print media ads
• Launch any social media ad campaigns
• Etc, etc, etc

3. Add a New Marketing Activity Every Year

The real estate industry is always changing. What works one year might not work so well the next. And next year, you may find new marketing opportunities you weren’t even aware of this year.

Innovative agents experiment with new marketing technologies to keep their businesses growing.

In a hot market, you want to target FSBOs. When homes sell quickly, people think they can save on commission by selling themselves. So you need to show them what it takes to sell for top dollar.

And in a down market, you have a few options. One effective marketing activity to add in a down-market is to target renters. Home prices are lower than average, interest rates are favorable, and rents are increasing. Show these renters how to get a low down payment FHA or VA loan so they can use the market to their advantage! To really boost your leads, try creating your own Renter-to-Homeowner Program .

Another great example (albeit a more ambitious one!) of a new marketing plan for a down-market is to expand your services to include the property tax appeals service we mentioned in our discussion about your Differentiator. Most agents don’t even know this service exists, but it can provide you with a whole new income stream while simultaneously generating new leads and nurturing your relationship with past clients. And it’s far easier than you might imagine!

All you have to do is explain to the county that your client’s home is worth less than the value on their tax bill (which is  very often the case in a down market). You do this by running comps, like you already know how to do. If the county agrees, they’ll lower your client’s property taxes, and you get a cut of that reduction. You’ll be able to pitch this service to all homeowners in your niche and gain some serious exposure for your real estate business! Learn more by reading How to Make Money With Property Tax Appeals .

There are tons of creative marketing strategies that most agents never consider. Trying a new marketing activity each year will keep your business growing in any market!

4. Track Your Results

To know what works you need to track your results.

Back in Step 3, we looked at where your leads are currently coming from, as well as the return on investment for each marketing method. Without tracking your leads, you’ll never have this valuable data to help guide your next marketing move.

Every time a new lead comes in, record the marketing source that drove them. If you have a fancy CRM database, you can record the information there. If you’re just keeping your leads in a simple spreadsheet, no problem! Just make sure you have a column to record the source. And if you don’t currently have a system, consider spending a few bucks on a done-for-you CRM template .

4. Operations

Last section! The operations chapter of your real estate agent business plan consists of five parts:

• Supplies and Vendors
• Lead Follow-up
• Building Referrals

Let’s take a closer look at each…

1. Services

Here’s a question most agents never think to ask themselves: What services should I offer?

Most agents think the answer is obvious. You sell real estate, right? What’s to ask?

This is a HUGE missed opportunity.

There’s so much more to real estate than sales. What other services could you offer to 1) diversify your income, 2) recession-proof your real estate business, and 3) best serve your clients?

Not sure what I mean? Here are a few examples of services that would complement your existing real estate practice:

Property Tax Appeals

We’ve mentioned property tax appeals a few times already. It’s just such a perfect fit for real estate agents (who already have about 95% of the knowledge and skills required to make money in property tax appeals), but surprisingly few agents are capitalizing on this homeowner need! Again, to learn more, check out How to Make Money With Property Tax Appeals

New Home Photo Shoots

If it isn’t on Instagram, it didn’t happen. Millennials and beyond want to show off their new home on social media. And they’re willing to pay for quality photos of themselves in their new place.

If you have photography skills (or you partner with a professional photographer for your listing photos), you can easily add this service to your real estate business.

Offer photoshoot packages to your buyer clients. But don’t stop there. Ask your colleagues if you can reach out to their buyers as well. Then promote your photoshoot services online. Before you know it, you’ll have a healthy new income stream!

And the best part: your clients’ social media pics become free advertising for you. Not only will this boost your photography services, but it can also bring you new buyers and sellers!

Read more about the benefits of offering new home photoshoots .

Property Management

If you want to land more investor clients (and wow them with your services!), offer property management services.

You know, tenant screenings, rent collection, maintenance requests, renewals, etc.

In most markets, property managers can command a 10-20% commission on the monthly rent for property management. It doesn’t take many units to add up to a substantial income stream.

Not interested in taking on ongoing property management work? Simply helping property owners screen new tenants can earn you a commission of around 50% of the first month’s rent, and then the day-to-day management can be handled by the property owner until they need new tenants. It’s an easy way to land a quick paycheck!

Other Services

There are tons of other ideas for additional income streams you can add to your real estate business. Check out 55 Ways to Make Money in Real Estate for more ideas!

2. Supplies and Vendors

Once you know what services you will offer, you can plan for your supply and vendor needs.

As a service business, your supplies should be minimal. Here are a few supplies to consider:

• Marketing Materials
• Software Subscriptions

Not much to it!

Depending on the services you offer, you may need to utilize the services of several vendors.

On the real estate sales side, you have the standard players:

• Escrow Officers
• Transaction Coordinators
• Marketing Publications

Then consider your other income streams. If you’re offering property tax appeals, you may want to hire a virtual assistant during appeal season to research assessed values and handle your data entry. If you’re offering new home photoshoots, you may want to partner with a professional photographer.

Ask yourself two key questions:

• Would a vendor boost the quality of my business?
• Is it worth paying someone to complete certain tasks so I can focus my energy where it will have the greatest impact?

If the answer to either question is yes , you should absolutely use a vendor.

3. Your Team

For many real estate agents, you’re a team of one! You do everything yourself. But many agents want to grow a larger team: admin, buyer’s agents, listing specialists, etc.

Technology has opened many opportunities to help you grow your team. For example, your first team addition might be an inexpensive virtual assistant. You can hire a real estate assistant to take care of all your data entry, social media engagement, appointment setting, and even blog writing! And you don’t have to pay a full-time salary or offer benefits to a freelancer.

Tech has also introduced new challenges. Managing a virtual admin is very different from having an assistant in your office. You don’t get the face-to-face communication, and you don’t have the level of control that you would have over a full-time, in-office employee.

What works best for you? You can always try hiring a freelance VA for a short time to see if you’re comfortable with that arrangement. And if not, you can post a job ad on Craig’s List for a part-time (or full-time!) in-office assistant. This position is generally paid hourly. Depending on your market, this could be a $12-$20 per hour position.

Then you can branch out into specialists. The order of your hires will depend on your personal strengths and preferences. If you love listing and you’re great at it, you don’t need a listing specialist; focus on getting a buyer’s agent, marketing coordinator, and operations manager instead.

Be honest with yourself about which tasks you just don’t enjoy, and which tasks you struggle with, then hire people with those as strengths!

Just remember to give yourself time to grow. You don’t need to go from 1 person to 10 people this year. It takes time to build an effective team. Give yourself 6-12 months between each hire to avoid the worst of the growing pains.

Here’s an example of an org chart for a full real estate team (the numbers indicate a recommended order of hire):

4. Lead Follow-Up

First, schedule time every day for your lead follow-up. Every workday, you’re going to sit down at a designated time, open your CRM (Customer Relationship Manager), and follow up with your leads. Statistically, the best times to reach people are 8-10 am and 4-6 pm. So for the best chances of success, your follow-up should take place during those hours.

Studies have repeatedly proven that you don’t convert a lead to an active client in a single follow-up. It typically takes 7-8 touches for a lead to become your client. But that’s just an average. If you really want to boost your production, you need to follow up with every lead until they become your exclusive client.

What if your lead ends up listing with another agent? They’re still a lead. Contact them every few weeks to make sure they’re satisfied with their agent’s performance. If that listing expires, who do you think is going to land the new listing?

Here are some tips to increase your conversion rates from leads to clients:

• Put every single lead in your CRM. Every seasoned agent has been surprised by a lead they thought was low-quality. If you don’t log the lead, you lose them.
• When a new lead comes in, aim to reply to them within five minutes. The sooner, the better! Auto-responders can buy you a little time.
• Schedule your next follow-up immediately after every follow-up.

5. Building a Referral Business

What is your plan for after the deal closes? Is your current plan resulting in repeat business and referrals? If not, it’s time to re-think your post-close plan.

Lucky for you, I have a tried-and-true plan, ready for you to implement today!

Here’s a simple 3-step process for building a referral business:

Step 1: Showing Genuine Gratitude

Some agents are bucking the trend of closing gifts. They have already provided quality service, so they don’t see the need to spend part of their hard-earned commission on a closing gift.

But failing to give a closing gift is a huge missed opportunity.

First, many clients expect a closing gift because of the tradition of closing gifts. And your goal is always to exceed expectations, never to disappoint your clients.

Then there’s also the fact that closing gifts give you the opportunity to express your appreciation for your clients’ business. Without their business, you don’t survive as a real estate agent. So cultivate that attitude of gratitude and show your thanks with a thoughtful closing gift.

Lastly, closing gifts are an opportunity to make a lasting impression. A thoughtful closing gift helps your clients remember you. And a carefully selected closing gift can even generate referrals! Check out our list of 20 affordable closing gifts guaranteed to impress your clients .

Step 2: Providing Ongoing Value

Most agents consider the job done when the deal closes. Savvy agents know that a little ongoing effort pays off HUGE in referral and repeat business.

How can you help your clients after the sale? First-time homeowners are pretty clueless when it comes to home maintenance. Maybe you can send them a friendly list of home maintenance issues to tackle each season.

Offering property tax appeal services is a great way to provide value to your clients every year! Surprise and delight your clients by conducting a “complimentary property tax assessment review” every year. All you have to do is compare the assessed taxable value to the market value.

• If the assessed taxable value is lower than the market value, you can send the client a letter to let them know that you’ve confirmed that their property taxes for the current year are fair and ready to be paid in full.
• If the assessed taxable value is higher than the market value, you can let your clients know that your calculations indicate they are being over-taxed, and you’re happy to file a property tax appeal on their behalf to try to lower the taxes for them. (you can download a done-for-you letter template from our post on property tax appeals).

You should also send custom value estimates to your clients every 6-12 months to let them know how much their home has increased in value (just in case they’re thinking of selling).

Step 3: Maintaining the Personal Relationship

Don’t just rely on blanket marketing to stay in touch with your former clients. Schedule some personal touches as well to make sure your personal relationship is maintained.

Here are a few examples of effective personal touches:

• Send a Happy Housiversary Card every year. And maybe a small gift for that first year (if you really want to wow your clients!)
• Host an annual appreciation event , and invite all your formal clients. A simple party at home is nice and personal. But it’s certainly not the only option. Hosting an outdoor movie night is perfect for families. Offering a “Hidden Gems” tour of your city is great for areas with lots of non-natives. And renting out a boat for a sunset cruise with drinks and live music would be ideal for luxury market clients.
• Check in out-of-the-blue. Send a quick text just to say, hey I was just thinking about you and wondering how you’re doing. Is anything new and exciting going on? These messages are great because there’s no agenda. You’re just reaching out to an old friend to see how they’re doing.

With these personal touches, you’re not just staying in front of clients, you’re building on your personal relationships with them!

Congrats on Completing Your Real Estate Agent Business Plan!

Whew…I know that was a long read (or a long scroll, anyway).

But if you follow the steps outlined in this post, you’re going to end up with a complete real estate agent business plan to provide direction and accountability to your real estate business.

You owe it to yourself to complete your real estate agent business plan and set yourself up for a career full of success.

All the best to you and your business!

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How to Be a Part-Time Real Estate Agent: Tips and Requirements

Updated: August 12, 2022

Published: September 21, 2021

Real estate provides an excellent avenue for a potentially lucrative, extremely gratifying side hustle. If you have the patience, diligence, personability, and time-management skills to build a career in the field around your current job, you can put yourself in a position to generate a steady stream of supplementary income.

How to Be a Part-Time Real Estate Agent

• Get your real estate license.
• Join a brokerage.
• Put a business plan together.
• Invest in relevant technology.
• Find ways to generate leads.
• Figure out a schedule that works around your current job.
• Plan your marketing strategy.

1. Get your real estate license.

Becoming any kind of real estate agent always starts with getting a real estate license — even if you're just part-time. You can't breach the industry and start selling properties if you're not legally qualified to do so, so be sure to make the right strides to iron out the legal and educational requirements behind the practice before you start working.

Those include:

• Figuring out your state's licensing and educational requirements
• Completing pre-licensing coursework
• Passing a state licensing exam
• Filing a real estate application
• Joining the National Association of Realtors (NAR)

For more information on what this process typically looks like, check out this article .

2. Join a brokerage.

You can't be a real estate agent without joining a brokerage — an overarching agency that employs real estate agents — regardless of whether you're working full- or part-time. It's a fact of real estate life, but unfortunately for aspiring part-time real estate agents, finding one willing to bring you onboard is easier said than done.

Unsurprisingly, a part-time agent — working limited hours while making their main career their priority — is practically bound to generate less income than a full-time one who dedicates all their time to real estate.

That trend usually makes for a stigma surrounding part-time agents, and brokers are often wary of bringing them on. But not every brokerage fits that mold, so you shouldn't let that stigma detract you.

It will likely take more patience, persistence, and proactive outreach, but you should be able to find a broker willing to let you join — and once you're on board, be sure to give it your all within the limited hours you can put in.

3. Put a business plan together.

You need to have a firm grasp on where you want to go with your part-time real estate career and what to expect as it progresses. That includes understanding elements like your current financial circumstances, your projected income, your sales and marketing strategies, and the legal strictures you'll be operating within.

The best way to get there is by creating a business plan — a formal document that offers actionable insight and a concrete vision for your part-time real estate hustle.

This step's value is twofold. For one, it gives you a clearer picture of what you want out of your real estate career, and secondly, it gives you a concrete reference point for your potential clientele to look over.

4. Invest in relevant technology.

If you want to make your part-time real estate career as lean, efficient, and productive as possible, you need to support it with relevant technology. That typically starts with investing in a CRM . You can also consider using  digital business cards  that easily integrate with your CRM and save you the effort of manually recording client information.

It can aid with key responsibilities like tracking where your clients are in the buying process, organizing prospect information, and quickly responding to prospect inquiries. Other key resources you should consider looking into include marketing automation tools, email scheduling software, and website designers.

5. Find ways to generate leads.

A solid stream of leads gives life to a productive part-time real estate career. Ignoring lead generation is one of the quickest ways to stall your side hustle and ultimately drive yourself out of the industry.

Lead generation in real estate can come from a wide variety of sources and tactics. Sometimes, online advertising provides the best avenue. Other times, in-person networking and generating referrals from previous customers are most effective. Regardless of how you get there, you need to make sure you have a steady supply of interested, engaged contacts.

6. Figure out a schedule that works around your current job.

A part-time real estate career should be exactly that — part-time. That means your main job should take precedence over your real estate side hustle. Still, if you want to succeed in the field, you can't ignore the responsibilities that come with a part-time real estate career.

You have to strike a balance between your full-time obligations and your part-time pursuits — that starts with putting together a hard, well-crafted schedule that allows you to see your clients, work on lead generation, and market your services effectively while still making good on your full-time job's responsibilities.

While that might be easier said than done — and this particular point often weeds out the halfway-committed from the ultimately successful — it's far from impossible.

7. Plan your marketing strategy.

A part-time real estate career is virtually pointless and inevitably fruitless if no one knows who you are. You need to build some degree of brand awareness around yourself, and that starts with a solid real estate marketing strategy .

Make some sound investments in thoughtful, well-targeted marketing plays. That starts with pinning down a target market — decide whether you want to pursue business with renters, sellers, first-time home buyers, or any other kind of potential clients. From there, set both short- and long-term SMART marketing goals.

Then, decide on a unique value proposition — pin down how you can separate yourself from your competition. From there, decide how you're going to project yourself as a particularly credible resource who can provide the kind of service your peers can't, and figure out what kind of materials will help your case.

Set a budget, and determine whether you'll roll with something like traditional advertising media like billboards or print, a well-crafted website, social media profiles, business cards , branded swag, or any other kind of collateral that puts you top of mind with prospects.

As I said, you can't get far in real estate if no one knows who you are — so take the proper strides to amplify your expertise and personality.

Part-Time Real Estate Agent Salary

A survey from Allied Real Estate Schools found that the average salary for real estate agents who work less than 30 hours per week is $24,566 per year — but that figure might vary from state to state and the amount of time you're willing to put in.

How to Be a Successful Part-Time Real Estate Agent

1. be frank with clients about your availability and commitment..

One of the cardinal sins of an unsuccessful part-time real estate career is overcommitting to prospects and clients. If you don't have the time to help them out, you need to let them know explicitly.

There needs to be a clear-cut understanding between you and them about the degree of commitment you can offer. If you consistently over-promise and underdeliver, you'll stress yourself out and damage your reputation enough to undermine your business potential.

2. Set time aside for focused lead generation.

As I mentioned in the previous section, lead generation is the lifeblood of a successful part-time real estate career. You can't develop relationships and ultimately close deals if you don't have anyone to connect with. If you sincerely want to pursue a real estate side hustle, you need to set blocks of time aside, strictly geared towards generating leads.

3. Thoughtfully and strictly dedicate time for facetime with clients.

Real estate is an inherently customer-centric business. It involves a lot of close, consistent interpersonal interaction with your clientele. So if you want to make the most of your part-time career, you need to set aside some facetime with your base.

This part of the process plays into the one listed two points above — it's all about time management and setting clear, mutually understood expectations with your buyers and sellers.

If you can set firm timeframes for meetings and always show up on time and engaged, you can put yourself in a good position to thrive as a part-time real estate agent.

4. Seek out relevant, technical training.

If you want to get the most out of a part-time real estate career, your training has to extend beyond the initial coursework you take as a part of the real estate licensing process. Being the best agent you can be is an ongoing process — one that can be aided and enhanced by resources like continuing education programs.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) offers a wide variety of educational resources and certifications that part-time real estate agents can pursue as a part of their professional development.

By bolstering your knowledge, skillset, and reputation with this kind of insight and training, you'll put yourself in the best position possible to serve as a trustworthy advisor to your clientele and win referrals as a result.

5. Specialize and highlight your skills to stand out.

Being a part-time real estate agent is already an uphill battle, and trying to be a jack-of-all-trades doesn't really help that case. If you want to make the most of your real estate side hustle, you need to carve out a niche for yourself.

As I mentioned in the previous section, your real estate marketing strategy needs to be targeted — so pick a target. That could mean developing expertise in helping categories of buyers like renters, specific demographics like seniors, or types of properties like condos.

You're bound to spread yourself thin if you try to cover too many bases — and as a part-time real estate agent, you only have so much time to dedicate to your side hustle. Set yourself apart and set yourself up for success by picking a lane and committing to it.

Can you be a part-time real estate agent?

The short answer? Yes.

The long answer? Also yes — but you need to commit, have patience, persist, understand the risk, and keep your chin up.

A lot of part-time real estate agents find themselves in an awkward, difficult, compromising position early on in their careers. It can be hard to find a brokerage that's agent-centric and accepting enough to take on real estate agents that aren't in a position to bring in full-time revenue.

Beyond that, potential clients can be wary of someone they don't think has the bandwidth or interest to completely commit to their unique situations. If you truly want to be a successful part-time real estate agent, you have to know what you're getting into and put everything you can into the limited time you designate to your side hustle.

As I said, being a part-time agent is very possible — but it's a difficult course to navigate. If you want to pursue this kind of position, you can't do it halfway and expect to see results automatically.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Use this free template to plan the marketing, sales, and growth for your real estate business.

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• Designations & Certifications Acknowledging experience and expertise in various real estate specialties, awarded by NAR and its affiliates.
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• Writing a Business Plan

Writing a business plan may seem a daunting task as there are so many moving parts and concepts to address. Take it one step at a time and be sure to schedule regular review (quarterly, semi-annually, or annually) of your plan to be sure you on are track to meet your goals.

Why Write a Business Plan?

Making a business plan creates the foundation for your business. It provides an easy-to-understand framework and allows you to navigate the unexpected.

Quick Takeaways

• A good business plan not only creates a road map for your business, but helps you work through your goals and get them on paper
• Business plans come in many formats and contain many sections, but even the most basic should include a mission and vision statement, marketing plans, and a proposed management structure
• Business plans can help you get investors and new business partners

Source: Write Your Business Plan: United States Small Business Association

Writing a business plan is imperative to getting your business of the ground. While every plan is different – and most likely depends on the type and size of your business – there are some basic elements you don’t want to ignore.

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Defining Your Mis​sion & Vision

Writing a business plan begins by defining your business’s mission and vision statement. Though creating such a statement may seem like fluff, it is an important exercise. The mission and vision statement sets the foundation upon which to launch your business. It is difficult to move forward successfully without first defining your business and the ideals under which your business operates. A company description should be included as a part of the mission and vision statement. Some questions you should ask yourself include: 

• What type of real estate do you sell?
• Where is your business located?
• Who founded your business?
• What sets your business apart from your competitors?

What is a Vision Statement ( Business News Daily , Jan. 16, 2024)

How to Write a Mission Statement ( The Balance , Jan. 2, 2020)

How to Write a Mission Statement ( Janel M. Radtke , 1998)

Using a SWOT Analysis to Structure Your Business Plan

Once you’ve created a mission and vision statement, the next step is to develop a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.” It is difficult to set goals for your business without first enumerating your business’s strengths and weaknesses, and the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Evaluate by using the following questions:

• Do you offer superior customer service as compared with your competitors?
• Do you specialize in a niche market? What experiences do you have that set you apart from your competitors?
• What are your competitors’ strengths?
• Where do you see the market already saturated, and where are there opportunities for expansion and growth?

Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) ( Investopedia , Oct. 30, 2023)

How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis for Your Small Business ( SCORE , Apr. 28, 2022)

SWOT Analysis Toolbox ( University of Washington )

Setting ​Business Goals

Next, translate your mission and vision into tangible goals. For instance, if your mission statement is to make every client feel like your most important client, think about the following:

• How specifically will you implement this?
• Do you want to grow your business?
• Is this growth measured by gross revenue, profit, personnel, or physical office space?
• How much growth do you aim for annually?
• What specific targets will you strive to hit annually in the next few years?

Setting Business Goals & Objectives: 4 Considerations ( Harvard Business School , Oct. 31, 2023)

What are Business Goals? Definition, How To Set Business Goals and Examples ( Indeed , Jul. 31, 2023)

Establishing a Format

Most businesses either follow a traditional business plan format or a lean startup plan.

Traditional Business Plan

A traditional business plan is detailed and comprehensive. Writing this business plan takes more time. A traditional business plan typically contains the following elements:

• Executive Summary
• Company description
• Market analysis
• Organization and management
• Service or product line
• Marketing and sales
• Funding request
• Financial projections

Lean Startup Plan

A lean startup plan requires high-level focus but is easier to write, with an emphasis on key elements. A lean startup plan typically contains the following elements:

• Key partnerships
• Key activities
• Key resources
• Value proposition
• Customer relationships
• Customer segments
• Cost structure
• Revenue stream

Creating a Marketing Plan

You may wish to create a marketing plan as either a section of your business plan or as an addendum. The Marketing Mix concerns product , price , place and promotion .

• What is your product?
• How does your price distinguish you from your competitors—is it industry average, upper quartile, or lower quartile?
• How does your pricing strategy benefit your clients?
• How and where will you promote your services?
• What types of promotions will you advertise?
• Will you ask clients for referrals or use coupons?
• Which channels will you use to place your marketing message?

Your Guide to Creating a Small Business Marketing Plan ( Business.com , Feb. 2, 2024)

10 Questions You Need to Answer to Create a Powerful Marketing Plan ( The Balance , Jan. 16, 2020)

Developing a Marketing Plan ( Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation )

Forming a Team

Ensuring the cooperation of all colleagues, supervisors, and supervisees involved in your plan is another important element to consider. Some questions to consider are:

• Is your business plan’s success contingent upon the cooperation of your colleagues?
• If so, what specifically do you need them to do?
• How will you evaluate their participation?
• Are they on-board with the role you have assigned them?
• How will you get “buy in” from these individuals?

How to Build a Real Estate Team + 7 Critical Mistakes to Avoid ( The Close , May 17, 2023)

Don’t Start a Real Estate Team Without Asking Yourself These 8 Questions ( Homelight , Jan. 21, 2020)

Implementing a Business Plan and Reviewing Regularly

Implementation and follow-up are frequently overlooked aspects to the business plan, yet vital to the success of the plan. Set dates (annually, semi-annually, quarterly, or monthly) to review your business plans goals. Consider the following while reviewing:

• Are you on track?
• Are the goals reasonable to achieve, impossible, or too easy?
• How do you measure success—is it by revenue, profit, or number of transactions?

And lastly, think about overall goals.

• How do you plan to implement your business plan’s goals?
• When will you review and refine your business plan goals?
• What process will you use to review your goals?
• What types of quantitative and qualitative data will you collect and use to measure your success?

These items are only a few sections of a business plan. Depending on your business, you may want to include additional sections in your plan such as a:

• Cover letter stating the reasoning behind developing a business plan
• Non-disclosure statement
• Table of contents

How To Write a Business Proposal Letter (With Examples) ( Indeed , Jul. 18, 2023)

How To Implement Your Business Plan Objectives ( The Balance , Aug. 19, 2022)

The Bottom Line

Creating a business plan may seem daunting, but by understanding your business and market fully, you can create a plan that generates success (however you choose to define it).

Real Estate Business Plans – Samples, Instructional Guides, and Templates

9 Steps to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan + Templates ( The Close , Apr. 3, 2024)

How to Write a Real Estate Business Plan (+Free Template) ( Fit Small Business , Jun. 30, 2023)

The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Real Estate Business Plan + Free Template ( Placester )

Write Your Business Plan ( U.S. Small Business Administration )

General Business Plans – Samples, Instructional Guides, and Templates

Business Plan Template for a Startup Business ( SCORE , Apr. 23, 2024)

Guide to Creating a Business Plan with Template (Business News Daily, Mar. 28, 2024)

Nine Lessons These Entrepreneurs Wish They Knew Before Writing Their First Business Plans ( Forbes , Jul. 25, 2021)

How to Write a Business Plan 101 ( Entrepreneur , Feb. 22, 2021)

Books, eBooks & Other Resources

Ebooks & other resources.

The following eBooks and digital audiobooks are available to NAR members:

The Straightforward Business Plan (eBook)

Business Plan Checklist (eBook)

The SWOT Analysis (eBook)

The Business Plan Workbook (eBook)

Start-Up! A Beginner's Guide to Planning a 21st Century Business (eBook)

Complete Book of Business Plans (eBook)

How to Write a Business Plan (eBook)

The Easy Step by Step Guide to Writing a Business Plan and Making it Work (eBook)

Business Planning: 25 Keys to a Sound Business Plan (Audiobook)

Your First Business Plan, 5 th Edition (eBook)

Anatomy of a Business Plan (eBook)

Writing a Business Plan and Making it Work (Audiobook)

The Social Network Business Plan (eBook)

Books, Videos, Research Reports & More

As a member benefit, the following resources and more are available for loan through the NAR Library. Items will be mailed directly to you or made available for pickup at the REALTOR® Building in Chicago.

Writing an Effective Business Plan (Deloitte and Touche, 1999) HD 1375 D37w

Have an idea for a real estate topic? Send us your suggestions .

The inclusion of links on this page does not imply endorsement by the National Association of REALTORS®. NAR makes no representations about whether the content of any external sites which may be linked in this page complies with state or federal laws or regulations or with applicable NAR policies. These links are provided for your convenience only and you rely on them at your own risk.

Real Estate Agent Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Business Plan Outline

• Real Estate Agent Business Plan Home
• 1. Executive Summary
• 2. Company Overview
• 3. Industry Analysis
• 4. Customer Analysis
• 5. Competitive Analysis
• 6. Marketing Plan
• 7. Operations Plan
• 8. Management Team
• 9. Financial Plan

Real Estate Agent Business Plan & Example

You’ve come to the right place to create your real estate agent business plan.

We have helped over 100,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their real estate agencies.

Real Estate Business Plan Example

Below are links to each section of your real estate agent business plan template:

• Executive Summary – The Executive Summary is the most important part of your business plan. It is a brief overview of your real estate agency, its products and services, niche market opportunity, and competitive advantage.
• Company Overview – In the Company Overview, you will provide a detailed description of your real estate agency, its products and services, company structure, management team, and Founders.
• Industry Analysis – The Industry Analysis is a critical part of your real estate business plan. Here, you will provide an in-depth analysis of the industry in which your real estate agency operates. You will cover topics such as industry trends, major players in the industry, market size and growth, and profitability.
• Customer Analysis – In the Customer Analysis, you will identify your target market and provide insights into their needs and buying habits. You will also segment your target market and discuss your marketing strategy for reaching them.
• Competitive Analysis – In the Competitive Analysis, you will identify your competition and provide insights into their strengths and weaknesses. You will also discuss your competitive advantage and how you plan to stay ahead of the competition.
• Marketing Plan – In the Marketing Plan, you will discuss your marketing strategy and tactics. You will also provide a sales forecast and budget for your marketing activities.
• Operations Plan – In the Operations Plan, you will discuss your business’s day-to-day operations. You will also provide business milestones that you plan to achieve and a budget for your operational expenses.
• Management Team – In the Management Team section, you will provide an overview of your management team and their experience in the real estate industry.
• Financial Plan – In the Financial Plan, you will provide a three-year financial projection for your real estate agency. This will include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.

Next Section: Executive Summary >

Real Estate Business Plan FAQs

What is a real estate business plan.

A real estate business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your real estate business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can  easily complete your real estate business plan using our Real Estate Business Plan Template here .

What Are the Main Types of Real Estate Businesses?

The most commonly known type of real estate business is residential real estate sales. This involves the sale and purchase of homes. The other type of real estate business is commercial real estate, where businesses focus on commercial properties.  Other types are real estate investors, lease companies and property management.

What Are the Main Sources of Revenues and Expenses for a Real Estate Business?

The main source of revenue for a real estate business are commissions earned from client real estate sales and rentals fees. Other revenue generated in this business are profit income, interest income and dividend income.

The key expenses for property management companies are salaries and wages, advertising, travel and supply costs for each transaction.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Real Estate Business Plan?

Real estate businesses are typically funded through small business loans, personal savings and credit card financing.

What are the Steps To Start a Real Estate Business?

Starting a real estate business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Develop A Real Estate Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed real estate business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast.  

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your real estate business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your real estate business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Real Estate Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your real estate business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws. 

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your real estate business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms. 

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations. 

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events. 

7. Acquire Necessary Real Estate Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your real estate business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation. 

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your real estate business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

Learn more about how to start a successful real estate business:

• How to Start a Real Estate Business

Where Can I Get a Real Estate Business Plan PDF?

You can download our free real estate business plan template PDF here . This is a sample real estate business plan template you can use in PDF format.

• Sample Business Plans
• Real Estate & Rentals

Real Estate Agent Business Plan

A real estate agent business is one of the best ways of getting paid for your expertise in the real estate industry.

If you have a thorough knowledge of the market, are a brilliant negotiator, and can think on your feet then being a real estate agent might be the right career for you.

Industry Overview

Research says the global real estate agent and brokerage market are expected to grow from $960.12 billion in 2020 to $1008.95 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1%. Also, the market is expected to reach $1351.1 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 8%.

The above figure suggests It is a great market to be in, but you need a well-designed business plan to succeed as a real estate agent. A business plan can help you in having a clear strategy and also in keeping a track of your progress.

But what else can a business plan do for your brokerage firm, and how to write one? Read on to find out.

Say goodbye to boring templates

Build your business plan faster and easier with AI

Plans starting from $7/month

Things to Consider Before Writing a Real Estate Agent Business Plan

Find a way to get leads.

The majority of your leads, at least at the beginning of your career, would come from constant effort and a variety of sources. So before getting started you’ll have to figure out all the possible ways of generating leads.

Make a networking plan

Having a network comprising of your customers, businessmen, and even your competitors is necessary for a real estate agent. Because you never know where you’ll get your next big client.

Hence, figuring out a networking strategy is important.

Set up your website

Nowadays, a lot of people look for real estate services online. Hence, it makes it important for you to set up a website for your business.

Making a website also contributes to building your credibility and brand image. Hence, building an optimized and active website can do wonders for your business.

Be prepared for changes in the industry

The real estate agent is changing at a rapid pace. Everything from changes in the economy to people’s buying behavior, and income has a major impact on the real estate market. Hence, it is important for you to have a strategy to deal with such changes.

One of the simplest ways to do so is to have a dynamic and customizable real estate business plan. It helps you deal with changes in a smooth and effective way.

How a Business Plan Can Help You?

As a real estate agent, clear business goals and a constantly evolving way of doing business can be extremely profitable for your business. Apart from that, networking is a key aspect of a real estate agent’s business.

A professional business plan can help you manage all of the above efficiently without any hassles.

Having a plan makes managing your business easier and lets you focus on the more pressing concerns of a business.

Moreover, it gives you a competitive edge over those who jump right in, without any plan.

Real Estate Agent Business Plan Outline

This is the standard real estate agent business plan outline which will cover all important sections that you should include in your business plan.

• Products and Services
• Management Team
• Success Factors
• 3 Year profit forecast
• Startup cost
• Funding Required
• Our business offering is listed below:
• Industry Analysis
• Market Trends
• Target Market
• Sales Strategy
• Targeted Cold Calls
• Publications
• Pricing Strategy
• Management Summary
• Hiring Plan
• Important Assumptions
• Brake-even Analysis
• Profit Yearly
• Gross Margin Yearly
• Projected Cash Flow
• Projected Balance Sheet
• Business Ratios

How to Write a Real Estate Agent Business Plan?

A business plan should be clear-cut and ever-changing. It should have goals, but also be flexible at the same time.

Moreover, it should be customizable as per your target market and location. You can write such a plan in many ways.

Although there are several changing and fixed aspects of a real estate agent’s business plan, there are certain essential areas that should be included to write a good business plan.

They are as follows:

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary section sums up what your entire business idea stands for. It is a brief overview of all of your business’s functions, including finances, target audience, operations, marketing, sales, etc.

This section, if written properly, can help you get funded as it presents your idea to the investors in a precise way and helps you gain their confidence.

2. Company Summary

This section basically consists of all the information about your agency’s history, its current situation, the idea behind its existence, and also the finances and funding it requires for becoming profitable.

3. Products and Services

In this product and services section, you’ll define your niche. Having a niche in real estate helps you get a better knowledge of the market and better deals in return. It also helps you meet the right people and the right customers.

As a real estate agent, you can decide whether you’ll deal with office spaces, residential spaces, rentals or buying, selling, etc. Working with a specific set of customers most of the time helps you stay at the top of your game in the real estate market.

4. Market Analysis

A thorough and ongoing market analysis helps you know the market trends and your target audience better. It helps you stay updated with the demands of your customers and how you can fulfill them in the best way possible.

Not just that, it also helps you in knowing where you stand in the market when you need to change your business model with a changing market, and when you need to upskill to stay relevant as a real estate agent.

5. Strategy and implementation

After you are done analyzing the market, writing this section would be a cakewalk. As you are familiar with the market you can formulate the best strategy to thrive in it.

As a real estate agent, having a good advertising strategy, sales strategy, and essentially a good pricing strategy is of utmost importance.

6. Operations Plan

The operations plan section in your business plan includes the day-to-day functioning of your company, as well as your goals and strategies to achieve them.

It is an ever-changing section and has to be tweaked as per the demands of the industry. Breaking your goal down into smaller milestones in this section is an effective way of writing it.

7. Financial Plan

A financial plan decides whether your agency would succeed or not. It prevents you from having mismanaged finances, and a dearth of funds and also helps you in managing the cash inflow of your business.

Download a sample real estate agent business plan

Need help writing your business plan from scratch? Here you go; download our free real estate agent business plan pdf to start.

It’s a modern business plan template specifically designed for your real estate agent business. Use the example business plan as a guide for writing your own.

The Quickest Way to turn a Business Idea into a Business Plan

Fill-in-the-blanks and automatic financials make it easy.

Business Plan Summary

A business plan can not only help you with the management of your business but also work as a road map to success.

A real estate agency’s cash inflow is on the irregular side, but a business plan can help you thrive with that too. Having a plan gives you a clear idea of the functioning as well as the spending of your business.

After getting started with Upmetrics , you can copy this sample real estate agent business plan template into your business plan and modify the required information and download your real estate agent business plan pdf or doc file.

It’s the fastest and easiest way to start writing your business plan.

So, what are you waiting for? Start planning

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About the Author

Vinay Kevadiya

Vinay Kevadiya is the founder and CEO of Upmetrics, the #1 business planning software. His ultimate goal with Upmetrics is to revolutionize how entrepreneurs create, manage, and execute their business plans. He enjoys sharing his insights on business planning and other relevant topics through his articles and blog posts. Read more

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The 8 Steps in Creating a Real Estate Agent Business Plan + FREE Checklist

• 02 Sep 2020
• Real Estate Marketing ,  Real Estate Social Media

Whether you’re a freshly licensed real estate agent or a seasoned one, you’re an independent contractor who is responsible for overseeing and taking care of the inner workings of your business.  That’s why a real estate agent business plan is crucial if you want to organize and grow your real estate business.

What’s a real estate agent business plan exactly? Think of it as your roadmap to success. It includes your short-term (think 12 months) and long-term (more than 12 months) goals, your niche and what services you can offer within your niche, your target market/ideal client, all the finances, and your marketing plan.

Yes, it seems like a lot to think about. But don’t run away from this opportunistic job just yet — we’ve created an eight-step plan that will help you create your personal real estate agent business plan.

Step 1: Define Your “Why” for your Real Estate Agent Business Plan

Your “why”, or reason for creating this business and pursuing this career will be the foundation for how you run your business. Think of this as your mission and vision. Without this step, you risk losing a vision and purpose, which will in turn confuse and deter clients.

A couple of questions to think about are “why do you want to become successful with your business?” and “what problem do you solve for your clients?”

In times of stress, during interviews, when speaking in casual conversation, and establishing your brand, your “why” is what will keep you motivated to push forward and stand out from the crowd.

Step 2: Define Your Short-Term and Long-Term Real Estate Goals

Short-term is considered 12 months or shorter. Long-term is considered over 12 months. These will, of course, be revised with time. But creating these real estate goals and having them easily accessible will help you focus your efforts on the parts of your real estate business that need the most attention.

Important note: make sure that they’re specific, realistic, and achievable.

Some examples of short term real estate goals might be: create a real estate marketing calendar, create your personal branding, give out your business card to 10 people per day, schedule 10 showings per week, etc. 

Ideas for long term real estate goals may be: close 20 transactions per year, make the top 10% in your brokerage, build a team, increase your closings for the year by 20% year over year, etc. 

Step 3: Find Your Niche

Don’t all real estate agents just want to sell houses? Well, not exactly. If all real estate agents did the same thing, then there wouldn’t be such fierce competition, a large market, or even real estate Instagram influencers. For example, some real estate agents choose to focus on luxury condos, while others have honed in on being a waterfront property expert. What will be your real estate niche?

Here are some questions to think about when choosing your niche:

• What kind of demographic do you want to serve?
• What types of living spaces can you not get enough of?
• Are you a luxury real estate agent, or a more humble suburbs one?
• What kind of services do you offer that no one else does?
• Do you have extra certifications?

These questions will help you get the gears turning in your brain as you establish your unique brand.

Step 4: Market and Competition Research

It’s important to get an assessment of what you’re up against and which areas you want to serve.

First, do some market research to figure out what kind of clientele you are dealing with. Neighborhoods can range drastically in demographics and sales activity, so make sure you do some research to find which neighborhood around you fits with your interest and niche.

After you’ve established an area (or a few areas) you want to conduct your real estate business in, do some competition research on real estate agents in that area. Make a list of what you like about their business, what you don’t like, and how you can “corner” the market — in other words, how your business is different than theirs.  Look for opportunities to enter this market and compete with the other agents.  Analyze their transactions and marketing. Do they offer digital marketing, professional photography, staging services, years of experience, etc.  Focus on what your target demographic would expect in your chosen market, and if you can identify any opportunities to present them uniquely and standout!

Step 5: Develop Methods for Generating Real Estate Leads

So you have your mission in place, your goals, your niche, and you’ve researched and cornered your market. Now it’s time to focus on how you’re actually going to attract clients. This will vary and change as you grow your business, but starting out with the basics lays a good foundation.

Places where you can generate leads are social media, newsletter flows, word-of-mouth, in-person networking, creation of business material , landing pages, courses, hosting open houses for other agents, holding seminars,  free informational material, real estate websites with idx ,  etc.

You’ve identified how ways to generate real estate leads to sell houses, now it’s time for you to prove you can also sell your brand.

Step 6: Real Estate Branding and Marketing

After figuring out the methods in which you can generate real estate leads, now it’s time to come up with a real estate marketing and branding plan.

Branding is how you want your prospective clients to perceive your brand. Here are some questions to think about:

• What brand voice do you want to have?
• Which colors do you want associated with your brand?
• What are some of your brand fonts?
• What do you want clients to feel when they encounter your real estate brand?

Marketing is the strategy in which you will present your brand to the public, and how you will retain clients and audiences. It helps to have a real estate marketing schedule or real estate social media content calendar   laid out in order to do this to prevent overthinking and overworking yourself every single day.

Questions to get you thinking about your brand:

• Where are you going to promote your brand?
• How are you going to price your services?
• What kind of promotions will you have in place?
• What steps will you take to stay consistent in your real estate marketing efforts?

This step will require you to get a little more into the nitty-gritty of your brand. But don’t feel too pressured to make final decisions. While it’s important to be consistent, as you develop and grow, so will your brand, which means changes are usually inevitable.

Step 7: Budgeting

Especially as an independent contractor, keeping track of your finances and budgeting out your expenses is critical to understanding how to keep running your business. Categorize and keep record of dates so you know exactly where your money is going and where your money is coming from.

Some items to consider when developing your real estate agent business plan budget are: 

• What is my commission split?
• How much will I spend on marketing each listing? 
• What is the average sales price in my niche? 
• How many homes have I sold over the last 6 months?
• Do I need to hire a transaction coordinator?
• What are my car expenses?

Make sure to include expense reviews every month so you become familiar with your finance sheets.

This way, as you progress, you can become aware of how to be more efficient with your time and money.

Step 8: Have a Real Estate Agent Business Plan Checklist That Reminds You to Periodically Review Your Business Plan

Every part of your real estate agent business plan plays a key role in making your brand grow and thrive. But with everything that is going on and will be going on in your real estate business, it’s easy to neglect one aspect of the plan.

That’s why we recommend having a checklist to remind you to routinely check up on every aspect of your plan to make sure every cog in the wheel is attended to.

Check out the free Real Estate Agent Business Plan Checklist that we created so you don’t have to worry about this step! You can go ahead and get started on the first step of creating your real estate agent business plan.

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Real Estate Agent Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Real Estate Agent Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 10,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their real estate agencies. On this page, we will first give you some relevant information with regard to the importance of real estate business planning. We will then go through a real estate agent business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Real Estate Agent Business Plan Template here >

What is a Real Estate Agent Business Plan?

A business plan is a living document that provides a snapshot of your real estate agency as it stands today and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for a Real Estate Agent69

A business plan can help you stay up-to-date on market trends, stay ahead of your competitors, and helps you set measurable goals But most importantly, it will force you to think through every step of starting and growing your real estate agency so that you can avoid potential roadblocks along the way. This also helps you monitor the effectiveness of the campaign over a given period.

If you’re looking to become a realtor or grow your existing real estate agency business you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your real estate agency in order to improve your chances of success. Update your business plan regularly as your agency grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Real Estate Agencies

With regard to funding, the main sources of funding for a real estate business are personal savings, credit cards, and bank loans. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable. But they will want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to write a business plan for a real estate agency.

Below is an example of a real estate plan template:

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of real estate agency you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a real estate agency that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of real estate agencies?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the real estate agent industry. Discuss the type of real estate agency you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target market. Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.  

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of real estate agency you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types:

• Residential Sales and Rentals : this type of real estate agent specializes in serving the private residential market.
• Commercial Sales and Rentals : this type of real estate agent specializes in commercial, industrial, medical, etc. properties

In addition to explaining the type of real estate agent you operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include sales goals you’ve reached, new contracts, etc.
• Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the real estate business.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the real estate industry educates you. It helps you understand the niche market or focus area in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy particularly if your research identifies market trends. For example, if there was a trend towards aerial videos of the listed property, it would be helpful to ensure your plan calls for a drone or drone operator.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section:

• How big is the real estate business (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• How much growth is expected for the industry over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your agency? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your realtor business plan must detail the prospective clients you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: residential, office space, retail space, etc.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of real estate agency you operate. Clearly, homeowners would want different services and would respond to different marketing promotions than manufacturers.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most real estate agents primarily serve customers living in the same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other real estate agents.

Indirect competitors are other options customers have that aren’t direct competitors. This includes For-Sale-By-Owner and similar DIYers. You need to mention such competition to show you understand that not everyone who sells or purchases property uses the services of a realtor.

With regards to direct competition, you want to detail the other real estate agents with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be agents who cover the same target market.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses or analyze using a SWOT Analysis. Unless you once worked on other real estate teams, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What services do they offer?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regard to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you provide superior services?
• Will you provide services that your competitors don’t offer?
• Will you make it easier or faster for customers to engage your services?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.  

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a real estate agency, your marketing plan should include the following:

In the product section, you should reiterate the type of real estate agency that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to listing properties, will you offer home staging on those property listings?

Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price subsections, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.

Place refers to the location of your agency. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your real estate agent located next to a heavily populated office building, gym, etc? Discuss how your location might provide a steady stream of prospective clients.

The final part is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some marketing efforts you might consider:

• Cold calling
• Direct mail and flyers
• Making your real estate agent’s storefront extra appealing to attract passing customers
• Social media marketing
• Advertising in local papers, magazines, and websites
• Reaching out to local bloggers and websites
• Local radio advertising
• Banner ads at local venues

Developing a marketing strategy and implementing it helps you identify and locate your current value proposition in the real estate market with specific time frames to execute. This strategy will be included in your business strategy and plan as well as establishing your overall objectives. It can also involve referral marketing strategies, retention strategies, and ways of gaining new clients.

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your realtor business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two key elements as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your real estate agency such as prospecting for new customers, advertising listings, going on showings, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to sell your 100th house, or when you hope to reach $X in average sales price. It could also be when you expect to hire your Xth employee or launch a new location.

Management Team

To demonstrate your agency’s ability to succeed as a business, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in the real estate business. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in real estate agencies and/or successfully running small businesses.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

While balance sheets include much information, to simplify them to the key items you need to know about, balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. For instance, if you spend $100,000 on building out your real estate agency, that will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $100,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a real estate agent:

• Location build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
• Cost of equipment like signs, software, etc.
• Cost of advertising materials and maintaining an adequate amount of office supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Taxes and permits
• Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your location lease.

Putting together a business plan for your real estate agency is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the real estate business, your local competition, and your potential clients. You will have developed a marketing strategy and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful real estate agency.

Real Estate Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my real estate business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Real Estate Business Plan Template  allows you to quickly and easily complete your Real Estate  Business Plan.

What Are Some Common Lead Generation Strategies For a Real Estate Agency?

Lead generation strategies can increase sales and increase the customer base. Lead generation can be conducted through organic and paid marketing campaigns to reach potential customers.

A successful lead generation program will help an agent generate leads, nurture leads through the process, and renew contacts in order to maximize potential. It can take several steps for leads to be cultivated using multiple-pronged approaches. Using organic strategies includes organizing a meeting or networking event in your field or interacting with people.

How Can I Write a Mission Statement For My Real Estate Agency?

All real estate business plans must include the mission statement. It will help you realize your business goals. When you have crafted an influential mission statement, all other components of your realtor marketing efforts should fulfill this statement. You should list the target audience, the products/ services you offer, and the uniqueness of your own business. Typically, if your mission statement is short and simple it should summarize a business objective.

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10 Steps to Being A Successful Part Time Real Estate Agent

• Maijia Donovan
• May 30, 2022

Becoming a successful part time real estate agent doesn’t happen over night. Furthermore, it takes an entrepreneurial mindset, dedication and consistent work to developing your business. Let’s take a look at these 10 steps to building your successful part time real estate business.

Step 1: Successful Part Time Real Estate Agents Create A Business Plan

Create a business plan for your successful part time real estate business. This keeps you focused and holds you accountable on your WHY. Why are you building this business? Is it for financial freedom? To build generational wealth for your family? An additional source of income? These are all questions that you will be answer in your business plan. Furthermore, a well thought out real estate business plan shows you:

• Where your business is today and your mission statement (your WHY)?
• What are the 1 year, 5 year, 10 year, etc. future goals for your business?
• How will you achieve your goals?
• What are the key performance indicators (KPI) that will measure your progress towards your goals?
• When and how you will recognize when a change is necessary? Should you stay with your current goals or change them?

Step 2: Successful Part Time Real Estate Agents Have a Lead Management

Learning how to successfully gain and manage your potential clients can be a daunting task. Most successful part time real estate agents utilize a customer relationship management (CRM) tool. This will keep you organized, connected with all of your clients, and grow your relationships. Most brokerages will offer their in house CRM system to use, but you can also purchase one on your own. These systems can be costly, so utilizing your brokers CRM system may be more cost effective to start with. Here are a few examples a CRM can be used as a powerful tool for your real estate business:

• Send automatic personalized email marketing and monthly newsletter campaigns.
• Set up re-engagement campaigns.
• Keep track your referrals.
• Set up gift campaigns for birthdays, special occasions or memorable events such as closing on your house.
• Keep in constant contact with leads and past/current clients on new products or events.
• Powerful automated follow up messages based on previous activity from your prospective clients.

On more ways to generate leads as a new real estate agent, click here.

Step 3: Successful Part Time Real Estate Agents Create a Routine That You Can Stick With

One of the benefits of becoming a part time agent is for the time freedom to work around your schedule. However, developing a routine for building and cultivating meaningful leads is key to becoming successful part time real estate business.

A successful part time real estate agent’s daily schedule generally consists of:

• A morning routine that puts you in the right mindset. Examples include, read a book, mediation, exercise, or anything else that gets you pumped up for the day.
• Schedule tasks aimed at achieving your daily, weekly and monthly goals, while developing future business planning and accountability.
• Prospecting and nurturing leads.
• Completing transaction paperwork necessary for closing deals.
• Blocking time for showings, buyer and seller appointments, and marketing.
• Education and training. Setting aside blocks of time, above all will keep your real estate business always moving forward and improving.
• Scheduling YOU time. Juggling a full time job and launching a successful part time real estate business requires you to be on your A game all the time. Consequently, if you don’t schedule daily time for self care, your physical and mental health will suffer greatly. Daily tasks such as a daily walk, mediation, naps, exercise, nourishing yourself with healthy meals, etc will help you keep crushing it both in your full time job and part time real estate business.

Step 4: Successful Part Time Real Estate Agents Become a Lifelong Learners

The pre-licensing coursework is just the beginning of your educational real estate journey. In order to stay up-to-date with the latest in real estate, you must be continuously educating yourself. A successful part time real estate agent will:

• Constantly review and keep in the know of any changes in the market and neighborhoods you serve.
• Keep up to date with current mortgage rates.
• Review any changes to the current real estate laws and practices. Furthermore, check in with your state requirements for continuing education requirements .
• Keep up with any new technologies and tools that may help grow your business.
• Equally important, attend any relevant trainings that will help you build your business and personal brand.

Step 5: Successful Part Time Real Estate Agents Get the Training and Experience

The training you need to become a successful part time real estate agent is crucial. Furthermore, learning from other agents or brokers who have years of experience can help you avoid costly newbie mistakes. Here are some examples of the training and experience you need to be a successful part time real estate agent:

• Learn your brokerages rules and policies. This will help you avoid any issues down the line and making any costly mistakes. Additionally, attending your brokerage’s weekly meeting will keep you up to date with any changes in the real estate industry.
• Attend trainings on a weekly basis. Even though we touched on this in the last section, it is worth mentioning this again. Take advantage of all of the training programs your broker offers. Likewise, other ways to find training is to search for podcasts, YouTube videos or read books.
• F ind yourself a mentor. Preferably one who is currently a successful real estate agent as they are going to have the most relevant information. Also, finding multiple mentors may be beneficial to you. They bring different knowledge and opinions that could give you different insights and aspects of growing your business.
• Put in the reps. Just like going to the gym and putting in your daily reps for building your stamina up, you will need to do the same as a real estate agent. The best way to do this is to gain experience by hosting open houses, filling out the real estate paperwork until your are comfortable writing and understand them or shadowing other agents on their listing and buyers appointment.

Step 6: Successful Part Time Real Estate Agents Build a Referral Network

Building a referral network is a powerful source of lead generation that is key to becoming a successful part time real estate agent. As part time agents, we don’t have the time to field every lead that is generated through traditional pay-for-play lead generation techniques. We have to be intentional of our time and building a strong referral network is one way to do it. Here are some tips of building a strong referral network, especially when your time is limited:

• Provide service above and beyond when working with your clients.
• Keep in contact with your clients, even after the deal is done. For example, one way to do this is to provide gifts on special occasions, birthdays, anniversaries, life-changing evens (like a new baby on the way), etc. Keeping in contact with your past clients will not only show your clients how much you value them but it will keep your name top of mind, especially if they know some one in need of your services.
• Have a good working relationship with other agents on the other side of the deal. If they remember how great an experience it was working with you, they may be more likely to refer a client to you.
• Be involved with your community. Attending conferences and events will keep you top of people’s mind and will show that you are a contributing member of the community you serve. Hosting food trucks, block parties, and working with local charities are just a few ways you can give back to the community.

Step 7: Successful Part Time Real Estate Agents Keep a Budget

Have a budget is important for any business, but it is especially important if you want to run a successful part time real estate business. You should be planning for no guaranteed income for the first 60-90 days and that you will need to pay for your expenses up front. The good news, since we are still holding our full time job, your main expenses are being covered as before, but we need to now budget in our real estate expenses as well.

It is also a good idea to have about 3-9 month cash reserve set aside, just in case any out of the ordinary expenses come up. Here are a few examples of expenses that you may incur for your real estate business:

Education, training and real estate conferences: This will vary greatly, but if your current broker does not offer these for free, you may be expected to spend $100-$1,500 per year or more, depending on which activities you choose.

Marketing and advertising: You could spending anywhere in the area of $100-$500 per month for a website, social media, flyers, postcards, and other marketing expenses. Often times when starting up, you are putting more of your time into the marketing aspect of your business, but as you get busier, you may need to start allocating a larger budget.

Managing your cash flow and building a budget that works for your business is key. You should strongly consider purchasing a business data base, such as QuickBooks, to manage your daily, monthly, and yearly expenses. Also opening a separate business bank account and business credit card will help you keep your business expenses separate from your personal expenses, which will help your tax accountant file your taxes and keep you out of IRS hot water.

Step 8: Successful Part Time Real Estate Agents Treat Your Clients They Way You Want to Be Treated

A large part of becoming a successful part time real estate agent is learning how to engage with your clients and provide value. One of the best ways of doing this is to follow the golden rule: Treat others the way you would like to be treated. Here are a few attributes that will serve you well when you serve others:

• Trustworthy
• Polite and respectful
• Respects personal value
• Positive reputation in the community

Think back to a time when you were working with an individual in sales and had a great experience. What did that encounter entail? You may have walked away and experienced all of the above attributes from that salesperson, all of which had nothing to do with the sale itself. At the end of the day, people want to do business with people who they know, like and trust.

Step 9: Successful Part Time Real Estate Agents Build Your Presence Online

Building your online presence is so crucial to becoming a successful part time real estate agent. Your potential clients are already on various social media platforms, so you need to be where your clients are at. Regularly updating your website and social media platforms with informative content that provides your clients value – is a great way to become successful.

• Build a website. Whether you utilize a website offered by your brokerage or if you build your own, keeping your website updated with search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, informative blog posts, provide multiple ways of getting in touch and clear calls to action is a great way for your site to be found, and used by your clients.
• Develop a social media strategy. Sharing market updates, listings, creating ads that target clients, engaging with your social media connections and providing valuable shareable content like real estate articles, and blog posts will help you build a better online presents. Also, keep in mind that there is no way you can be on all the social media platforms, nor that you should. Do only the ones that you like and what you are currently on and this will come across naturally to your social media connections.

Step 10: Successful Part Time Real Estate Agents Communicate Effectively

Learning how to communicate effectively with your potential and current clients is trait of successful part time real estate agent. You will need to become masterful on all of these modes of communication:

• Text messaging. Text messages can get a quick response and can be used to prompt further communication with your clients via other modes of communication. This is becoming increasingly preferred by both buyers and sellers.
• Phone calls. A phone conversation is a great way for your clients to hear your personality come through. It is also vital to setting up future appointments and converting leads.
• Email. Sending an email is often the most preferred method of communication, especially if you need to establish a paper trail with your client and allows your customer time to digest information. It can also be your lowest form of communication, because it is least personable. None-the-less it is still a great way to follow up with clients and generate leads as it keeps you in top of find fairly easily.
• Video messages an d virtual meetings. Especially considering the world we live in today, video messages and virtual meetings are become the best way of communication with clients. It allows you to not only convey your personality and tone, but also your expressions and feelings.
• Meet your clients face to face. This is still one of the best ways to communicate with your clients, especially if you are trying to build a genuine report with them and continued referral business. This is the best way to build trust and establish a relationship with your clients that will be with you for years.

In conclusion, embarking on a journey as a part-time real estate agent can be a fulfilling and rewarding endeavor if approached with dedication and strategic planning. The 10 steps outlined in this blog post provide a comprehensive guide to set you on the path to success in the ever-evolving real estate industry.

By thoroughly researching and meeting state requirements, investing in quality education, and aligning yourself with a supportive brokerage, you can lay a solid foundation for your part-time career. Building a robust network, establishing an online presence, and leveraging technology will help you reach a broader audience and enhance your professional credibility.

Effective time management, goal-setting, and a commitment to continuous learning are crucial elements for sustained success. Providing excellent customer service and staying attuned to market trends will contribute to client satisfaction and, in turn, generate positive referrals.

Remember, success in real estate is a journey, not a destination. Regularly assess your goals, adapt to industry changes, and embrace new opportunities for growth. Whether you’re supplementing your income or exploring a passion, being a successful part-time real estate agent in 2024 is within reach with the right mindset and a well-executed plan. Best of luck on your journey to becoming a thriving part-time real estate professional!

For more articles, tips and data on how to be a successful part time real estate agent, visit our blog homepage .

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Blog Becoming a Real Estate Agent Part Time Real Estate Agent – How does it work? (2024 Updated!)

Part Time Real Estate Agent – How does it work? (2024 Updated!)

The schedule of a real estate agent can be flexible enough that you may be able to do it part time. This is a great option for new parents and people who want to pursue other interests outside of their primary career. But becoming a part time real estate agent takes some doing. It’s not always easy if it’s not your main focus, but there are some ways you can make your side hustle count.

Read on for some tips that will help you get started with a part time real estate career.

Getting Started as a Part-time Real Estate Agent

If you’re fired up to begin your new side hustle, this section is for you. Here are the five steps you’ll need to take to get started as a part-time realtor.

Step 1: Get Your Real Estate License

The first thing you’ll need to do is get your real estate license. This is the case no matter how many hours a week you plan to be focusing on real estate.

The requirements for getting a license vary from state to state, but they basically involve taking a pre-licensing course, passing the course tests, passing the state and national portion of the licensing exam, getting your license and finding a sponsoring brokerage to work for. You will also have to pay some fees and you may need to take a background and fingerprint test depending on where you live.

You can’t be a real estate agent unless you join a brokerage – an overarching organization that hires real estate agents — whether you work full-time or part-time. It’s a reality of life in real estate, but unfortunately for aspiring part-time real estate agents, finding one ready to hire you is easier said than done. Unsurprisingly, a part-time agent who works restricted hours while prioritizing their primary career will earn less than a full-time agent who devotes all of their time to real estate. Part-time agents are typically stigmatized as a result of this tendency, and brokers are often hesitant to hire them. However, not every brokerage meets that description, so don’t let it put you off. It will most certainly require more patience, persistence, and aggressive contact, but you should be able to locate a broker willing to let you join — and once you’re on board, make sure to give it to you’re all within the limited hours you have available. (from Sep Niakan, Licensed agent for 13+ years)

There are many things to think about when choosing a real estate school and going with a quality choice can make all the difference when it comes to getting off on the right foot with your career.

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Step 2: Decide What Your Schedule Will Be

Working real estate part time is doable, but it’s also challenging. There may be times when a client calls wanting to see a home, ‘right this minute, before it goes away’. If you have other obligations, it will be impossible to make the time to do the showing.

There’s no perfect way to get around this but deciding on a set schedule will be helpful. Figure out what times you can be available for real estate and what times to set aside for your other responsibilities.

This will help you minimize your stress level. You will know when to step into your ‘agent shoes’ and when to step out of them. Share this schedule with your clients and the people you work with so they will know what to expect.

It’s best to keep your weekends open as this is the time when most open houses take place. It will also be the main time clients want to see homes. Be prepared to be flexible if something comes up last minute.

And remember, your schedule shouldn’t be divided strictly between your responsibilities. Be sure to work in some time for fun and games as well if you don’t want to get burnt out.

Although I spent most of my career as a full-time agent, in the last 4 years I’ve transitioned to part-time. The things I find most important are: Even though it’s not your full-time job you should still treat it as if it is as important as your full-time job.  You have a fiduciary responsibility to your clients and they wouldn’t be very happy knowing that they’re low on your priorities list. Don’t treat it like a side-hustle. Staying organized is key, I’ve used the best real estate CRMs in the past, but honestly, since I’m part time now I just use google calendar to make sure I’m getting everything done in a timely manner.  When you have two jobs it’s easy to forget things. Even though you’re part time you still need to keep up with your marketing.  If people don’t hear from you in years, they are unlikely to think of you as their best choice for their next Real Estate transaction. (from Jonathan de Araujo, Licensed Broker)

Step 3: Let Your Bosses Know

It’s important to let both your bosses know about your part time schedule. You will want the manager of the brokerage to know you are doing real estate part time. This will help them adjust your income expectations accordingly.

If you have a job and are doing real estate to supplement your income, you should also let your boss at work know about your new career path. This way you won’t feel like you have to sneak around if you need to take a real estate related phone call at break time.

Assure your boss that your new gig won’t get in the way of your current responsibilities. And who knows? They may just end up sending some referrals your way.

Step 4: Make a Business Plan

It doesn’t matter if you plan to be a part time real estate agent or a full-time agent. A business plan will be necessary. Here are some things you will want to consider when creating it.

• Costs and Income: You will need to figure out what you will be spending on operating and marketing and what your projected income will be.
• Choose a Customer Relationship Management System (CRM): The right real estate CRM (even a free one ) will help you manage interactions with clients, leads and prospects. It will be worth its weight in gold when it comes to keeping you organized.
• Lead Generation: You will need to generate real estate leads to bring in business. Your brokerage may help with real estate lead generation and marketing strategies. You may also want to integrate a paid lead generation service like Zillow.
• Marketing: Marketing is an essential part of the real estate business . It can include everything from social media posts to billboard and bench signs and more. Sometimes it takes a bit of trial and error to find the best marketing strategies for your business.

Step 5: Focus on Operating Costs

Now let’s revisit our first category, costs and income. It’s essential to understand the various costs that go into being a real estate agent. These are as follows.

State and Local Licensure Memberships: As a real estate agent, you will need to renew your license each year. This may be accompanied by continuing education courses. All in all, you may be looking at spending an average of $250 annually. If you are considering joining a Realtors Association, it could be a great boost for your career, but it can set you back as much as $600 a year.

Desk Fees: It’s not unusual for a brokerage to charge you desk fees. These cover the cost of the supplies and marketing materials you use as well as any educational resources. And just because you’re a part time real estate agent, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get part time desk fees. Some brokerages charge more than others, but they can add up to as much as $600 annually.

Operating Expenses: Your operating expenses include all marketing costs like paid real estate ads , lead generation tools, business cards, postcards, outdoor advertising, a CRM platform, an email marketing platform, yard signs, real estate flyers , and more. Car maintenance and fuel are other expenses to consider. You’ll also want a reliable cell phone plan so you can communicate with buyers and sellers. All and all, you may be looking at a good $2500 a year.

Invest in appropriate technology: If you want to make your part-time real estate profession as lean, efficient, and effective as possible, you must use appropriate technologies. Typically, this begins with the purchase of a CRM. It can help you with important tasks like tracking where your clients are in the purchase process, managing prospect information, and responding rapidly to prospect inquiries. Other important resources to investigate are marketing automation tools, email scheduling software, and website designers. (from Tyler Martin, Licensed agent for 20+ years)

Broker Split: You will be required to split the money you make for every sale with your broker. A 60/40 split is typical, but some brokerages can ask as much as 50%. Others may charge much less. Once you meet your cap amount, which is the maximum amount you’ll be required to pay your broker each year, you may keep all your earnings.

Do some careful calculations to ensure your projected income is greater than your costs.

Going from Part Time to Full Time

After doing real estate for a while, you may find that you want to take it from a part time position to a full-time position. This is a good move to make if your real estate is making more money than your existing job and you are finding it hard to keep up.

The business plan you create should provide a smooth transition going from part time to full time. Here are some tips to keep in mind.

Save Money from Your Existing Job: If you decide to go from part time to full time, it’s likely you feel confident that your real estate career is going in the right direction. But it’s still a good idea to build a safety net from the income you are making on your current job. You can save even more by skipping on unnecessary expenses. It’s advisable to have enough money to last you 3-6 months when transitioning to a commission-based career.

Build Multiple Income Streams: When you are trying to balance two jobs, it may seem crazy to try and take on even more responsibilities. But if you gain skills for multiple income streams, you will be in a better position to keep a steady line of income once you transition. Here are some services real estate agents off that help them bring in extra money.

• Property Tax Appeal Service: These services ensure that clients are not overpaying on property tax. This side hustle is also a great way to attract clients.
• Property Management Service: if your client list consists of owners renting properties, you can offer to make life easier with property management services. These can include collecting rents, scheduling repairs and performing maintenance on their property while they sit back and enjoy their passive income.
• Home Photo Shoots: Everyone knows how important it is to have great photos when it comes to selling a home. And after multiple photo shoots, you should know what it takes to get the right shots. Offer your services to sellers to fatten up your wallet.

Tips for Balancing Your Career as a Part Time Real Estate Agent with Your Full Time Job

Balancing your career as a part time real estate agent with a full-time job can be stressful. Here are some tips that will make life easier.

Join a Real Estate Team: A real estate team consists of various agents that are all active in the buying and selling process. If you’re not available for a showing, it may be possible to get another agent to cover for you.

Automate Your Marketing: Marketing can take up a lot of time, but it will be easier to deal with once you have it on an automated system. A CRM will make marketing tasks easier. It will help you schedule email campaigns and social media posts so you can be sure your campaigns are working for you with out needing to spend hours on the phone or at the computer.

Choose the Days of Week to Devote to Real Estate: If you take out little windows of the day to devote to real estate, you will find yourself taking a lot of extra time with face-to-face interactions that can last longer than planned and throw you off schedule. You are better off dedicating certain days of the week to real estate chores like showings, listings and consultations. This will keep your part time gig from eating into your other responsibilities.

Let Clients Know What to Expect: Motivated sellers and nervous buyers can be challenging when you are trying to balance a job and a real estate career. But you can manage them by letting them know when you’re available and when you will be calling them back. Be sure to stick to your commitments so they don’t end up freaking out!

Get Help: As a part-time agent, you probably don’t have a lot of extra revenue to hire a staff. But you may be able to get friends and family to help. If you have older kids that can lend a hand, it will provide them with valuable job and lifetime experience.

The most important thing for anyone looking to start a part-time real estate career is to understand the industry and the market. It’s also important to be well-organized and have excellent time management skills, as this type of work can be very demanding. My best tips for those looking to get started in part-time real estate are to shadow an experienced agent, get involved in local industry events, and take courses to learn more about the business. If you’re interested in a career in real estate but aren’t sure if it’s the right fit for you, consider working as a part-time agent. This will allow you to get your feet wet and see if the industry is a good fit for your skills and interests. There are many different ways to get started in real estate, so it’s essential to do your research and find the right path. (from Paul Corazza, Licensed agent for 27+ years)

Focus on Sellers: if you work with buyers, you may spend hours driving from place to place only to find out they are no longer interested in buying. When you work with sellers you are under contract as their listing agent. This gives you some amount of protection from wasted time and no paycheck.

Find a Niche: Identify your favorite client category and go with it. The more streamlined your approach is, the better chance you have of it not taking up all of your time.

To stand out, specialize and highlight your skills: Being a part-time real estate agent is already difficult, and attempting to be a jack-of-all-trades doesn’t help matters. You must build out a niche for yourself if you want to make the most of your real estate side hustle. I believe your real estate marketing plan must be focused, so choose one. This could include gaining expertise in assisting specific buyer groups like renters, demographics such as seniors, or property types such as condos. If you try to cover too many bases, you’ll end up spreading yourself too thin — and as a part-time real estate agent, you only have so much time to devote to your side hustle. Set yourself distinct and set yourself up for success by committing to a lane. (from Matt Weidle, 17+ years of experience)

Tips for Competing with Full Time Agents

As a part time real estate agent, you may find it difficult to keep up with full-time agents. Full time agents are more available. So why should clients choose you over someone who can dedicate more hours of their week to helping them find the perfect property or buyer?

The secret here is to find out what your strengths are. Sure, other agents may have more time to devote to their clients. But do they have your negotiating skills? Do they have dynamic personalities? Can they come up with unique marketing campaigns?

Figure out what your strongest real estate characteristics are and build on them to beat out other agents.

If no one knows who you are, a part-time real estate career is virtually meaningless and inevitably fruitless. You must create some level of brand awareness for yourself, which begins with a great real estate marketing strategy. Make some wise investments in well-thought-out, well-targeted marketing campaigns. That begins with deciding on a target market – whether you want to work with renters, sellers, first-time home purchasers, or any other type of potential customer. Set both short- and long-term SMART marketing goals from there. Then, decide on a distinct value offer — determine how you will differentiate yourself from the competition. Decide how you’re going to present yourself as a particularly credible resource capable of providing the kind of service your colleagues cannot, and figure out what kinds of things will support your case. Set a budget and decide if you’ll use traditional advertising media such as billboards or print, a well-designed website, social media profiles, business cards, branded swag, or any other type of collateral that keeps you at the front of prospects’ minds. As I have said, you can’t advance in real estate if no one knows who you are – therefore take the necessary steps to highlight your skills and personality. (from Sarah Jameson, 6+ years of experience)

Blogging can also be helpful. If you write engaging blog articles that establish you as a thought leader in your industry, your reputation will be set in stone. Statistics show that only 2% of agents have blogs with unique content. By writing just one blog article a week, you’ll have a leg up on 98% of the competition.

Working as a part time agent comes with its share of challenges, but it’s a great way to make money while following your passion. You will also be able to determine if the industry is right for you.

Now that you have the tips to get you started, you can set out on your path. Here’s wishing you the best of luck with your endeavors.

About the Author

Chris Heller brings 27 years of experience in real estate. Chris serves on the AgentAdvice Editorial Board and is the Chief Real Estate Officer at OJO Labs. Chris brings deep expertise having held influential industry positions including CEO of mellohome and former CEO of Keller Williams Realty International.

Last Updated: 12/29/2023

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How to Create a Foolproof Real Estate Marketing Plan for 2024 (+Template)

An effective real estate marketing plan is crucial to the success of your business. My 12-step process will help you create a foolproof plan for 2024.

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Creating a real estate marketing plan can be harder than it sounds. It’s important to be intentional and choose strategies that give you the highest likelihood of meeting and connecting with your ideal clients. If your marketing isn’t aligned with your niche, personal brand, and skills, you’ll waste time, money and effort pursuing it.

I put together this guide to help you find your niche and create a real estate marketing plan aligned with your brand, personality, and local market. I’ll explain why a detailed plan is crucial for every agent in 2024, and I’ll walk you through the actionable, step-by-step guide I’ve used with hundreds of agents to help you create your own unique plan. Finally, I’ll wrap up with the three marketing tools every agent needs to hit the ground running in 2024.

In this article

• Why every agent needs a strategic real estate marketing plan

How to create your real estate marketing plan 

The 3 marketing tools every agent needs, the full picture: creating a real estate marketing plan that works, why every agent needs a strategic real estate marketing plan .

With so many possible ways to find business, many agents (myself included in my first few years!) fall into the same pattern: trying too many things at once, not doing any of them at a high level or consistently enough, not seeing results, and then feeling like a failure. The most successful agents have a marketing plan that’s specific and focused.

Here are four reasons why a specific and focused real estate marketing plan will set you up for success in 2024 and beyond:

1. The compound interest effect

Focusing on fewer marketing activities (and those that are proven to work) allows you to use your time more wisely, strategically, and effectively. Rather than wasting time and money trying many different tactics to find clients, a detailed plan allows you to focus on just a few. I usually recommend sticking to no more than two or three.

2. You can use your time more strategically

If you’re familiar with compound interest, you know that it scales exponentially and builds on itself over time. The same applies to agents who put effort into one to three marketing strategies. Consistency is key, of course. The compound effect happens over time, yet if you don’t have a concrete marketing plan in place, you won’t see the results you hope for.

3. The freedom to say “no” to everything else

Most of us default to saying “yes” to too many things. If you’ve ever walked through a vendor hall at a real estate conference, you know what I mean. We say “yes” to any new shiny object we find, and that typically leads to wasting time, money, and energy. Instead, use your real estate marketing plan as a guide. Ask yourself if this tool you’re considering buying or tactic you’re about to try is aligned with your plan. From there, the decision is made for you!

4. It will help you choose your ideal client and build your ideal business

We all say we want to work with any client who’s willing to hire us. But the reality is most of us prefer working within a specific niche. Your niche could be anything from first-time buyers to downsizers or investors. By identifying your ideal client before you create your plan, you can tailor your activities to your audience. Doing so will help you build your ideal business, working with clients you enjoy, in the niche you love.

NAR reports that in 2023, 19% of homebuyers were single women and 16% were unmarried couples. A strategic real estate marketing plan will help you target these growing niches in the industry.

Now that you understand why it’s so critical to have a concrete marketing plan for your real estate business, let’s dive into the tactical steps to creating your unique plan.

1. Carve out time and change up your physical space

Planning time usually doesn’t occur naturally in a busy real estate agent’s calendar. In my experience, planning doesn’t happen at all unless it’s purposefully scheduled and protected. This means saying no to other things to allow yourself the time to plan. 

How much time you’ll need varies from person to person, but I’d generally allocate anywhere from a few hours to two days to work on your real estate marketing plan.  My two-day approach looks like this:

You complete all the steps listed here and create a rough draft of your plan. Then sleep on it.

Revisit it and make any adjustments. Sometimes, stepping away from a project for a bit helps you see it even more clearly.

Why where you work on your plan matters

I always recommend changing your physical location. A quiet spot to think, analyze, and plan will make a huge difference. I like to take myself on a short retreat once or twice each year. Creativity and clarity flourish when we aren’t in our everyday spaces (home, office, etc), and even one night in a hotel (even in your own city!) can provide the space you need to create your marketing plan.

2. Audit your past marketing strategies and results

Once you have the time and space to create your plan, start with an audit of everything you’ve tried in the past. Write down every lead generation and marketing strategy you’ve tried. Then, write down how much time, money, and energy each strategy took. You’ll also want to keep in mind how much you enjoy each strategy! Finally, write down the results from each one. You can do this on paper or with a simple Excel or Google Sheet. You can download the real estate marketing plan template I use with my coaching clients here:

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Here’s an example of an audit one of my clients recently completed for their Chamber of Commerce membership:

Example marketing strategy audit

Marketing Strategy: Annual Chamber of Commerce membership Dues: $360 Time investment: 2 hours per month Energy investment: tiring but fun Results (units): 5 referrals, 3 closings Results (GCI): $30,000

Analyzing the results 

If you were this agent, would you continue your membership with the chamber? Is the return worth it? For me, I’d say absolutely yes! The financial ROI is incredibly high, and the time ROI is also very high; it breaks down to $1,250/hour ($30k divided by 24 hours). The energy expended takes a toll, yet the agents are still having fun even if they find it a bit tiring.

Completing this exercise for all of your marketing strategies can be time-consuming and tedious (not all of us love the data collection and math involved here; it’s not the sexiest task), yet it’s vital for your success going forward if you want to maximize your results. 

3. Decide which marketing strategies to delete, delegate, or double down on     

Now that you have a clear picture of your past marketing activities, it’s time to make some decisions about which specific marketing strategies you’ll focus on this year. I call this the 3 D’s: delete, delegate, or double-down. For each activity, you’ll decide if you want to: 

Delete  

Get rid of it entirely. If the marketing strategy is not working at all or costing more than you’re making, delete. Eliminate this strategy from your new real estate marketing plan. And give yourself permission to get rid of it without feeling guilty! I’m telling you now: it’s ok to stop doing anything that’s not working as long as you’ve given the strategy enough time. 

I know this sounds extreme and maybe a little scary, but remember: you can always return to a deleted strategy at a later point in your career when you have more time or money to invest or when you can hire someone else to do it for you.

Delegate  

If the marketing activity is bringing results but you can’t stand doing it, then delegate. Pay someone else to do it for you. This can be structured as an hourly rate or a referral fee on closed business. Or you can hire another company to help you streamline your efforts.

Example 1: Hire an ISA to make cold calls and set appointments for you. This is a great task to delegate to another agent in your office who’s awesome on the phone.

Example 2: Hire a graphic designer or marketing company to help you with your social media content. I see a lot of agents struggle with this, and the convenience of having access to pre-designed templates is usually worth the cost.

If you can’t afford to hire a designer or marketing company, Coffee and Contracts is an excellent option. They offer gorgeous templates (like the one above) and done-for-you viral content for Instagram posts, Reels and stories. The best part is they’re all created by top-producing agents and designed to actually generate leads and build your brand.

Double-down

For everything that is generating a positive ROI (and that you enjoy), double-down. This is where the best results are found! By deleting and delegating everything else, you’ve created more time, money, and energy to pour into the right strategies for you. This is what alignment looks like, and this is where I see agents really find their greatest success. 

Not sure what to delete? As I’m coaching agents, I notice many of them yield positive results from cold calling — but they dread every second of it. If reading that sentence just now resonated with you, I can confidently say that’s a glaring signal that cold calling is not aligned with your personality. Be careful not to commit to any marketing strategy that’s too much of an energy-suck! You need to reserve enough energy to serve your clients well. If you’d like some help brainstorming your marketing strategies, check out The Quiet Success Club . We meet twice a month via Zoom and mastermind various marketing ideas to help you find more business.

There are some marketing strategies that take more time to see results than others. Farming a neighborhood with direct mail is a good example. In general, I recommend giving each strategy 6 months to one year before deciding to delete it.

4. Determine your goals  

Every real estate coach and training company has their own advice about goal-setting, and there’s no right or wrong way to set goals, as long as they are specific and measurable. I advise agents to set several goals: how many people you want to help (units), how much money you desire to earn (GCI), and how much you want to work (days off). Maybe your goal is to sell 20 properties, make $150,000 this year, and work five days per week. That’s specific and measurable, so as the months pass, you can track whether you’re on pace to meet your goals. 

5. Define your ideal client and niche  

Think about who you’d like to work with, who you naturally encounter in your personal life, and where you live. It’s also worth considering the latest trends. The more narrow your niche, the better. You can be very strategic here.

I know It sounds counterintuitive, but think about it: if we met at a real estate conference, and I told you I work with buyers and sellers in the Boston area, you may or may not remember that in a few months. But if I said, “I work with retired seniors who don’t want the hassle of maintaining a large property anymore, who want more time and freedom to spend with their grandchildren, and who would appreciate having the entire downsizing process managed for them. I specialize in Newton, MA and cover the greater Boston area,” — that would be much more memorable.

Exercise: Look at your calendar from the past month. Where have you spent time? Where are you meeting with and talking to other people who might be close to buying or selling a home? It could be a social group, somewhere you volunteer, other parents at your kids’ school, church, another job you’re working, or simply your neighbors you run into when you’re out for a walk. Maybe you have a strong college alumni network or a large extended family who would be happy to refer you some business. Chances are you’re talking to more people every day than you realize! Now you’ll have some data to work with, and you can choose a niche that makes sense. Example: For almost a decade, millennials have been the largest demographic group buying homes. That changed in 2023, though. According to NAR , baby boomers purchased more homes than any other group last year — making up 39% of all home sales! This would be a smart niche to work with if you live in an area heavily populated by baby boomers.

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6. Brainstorm marketing strategies that are best suited to that audience     

When creating your real estate marketing plan, be intentional and strategic about which strategies give you the highest likelihood of meeting and connecting with your ideal clients. If it’s not aligned with your niche, don’t waste your time, energy, and money on it. Consider:

• Where they spend their time: golf courses, local parents’ groups, church, etc.
• Hobbies and interests: hiking groups, gardening, book clubs, etc.
• Social media channels: the person who’s on TikTok all day is likely not the same person who’s on Facebook or LinkedIn
• Life stage : Are they young families who have kids in school and are part of the local parents’ groups? Are they active seniors who spend time at the senior center? 

Here are some examples of marketing strategies that are aligned with each audience:

• New buyers: Use Instagram reels or TikTok videos to find new buyers, as it’s typically younger people using those social media platforms
• Baby boomers: Run Facebook ads offering a home valuation to find baby boomers looking to sell, as they’re the majority of homeowners, and many still use Facebook daily
• Buyers trading up: Join a parents’ group to find clients who are outgrowing their starter home and need a larger property  

7. Make sure your strategies are aligned with your personal brand and skill set

I see agents make this mistake all the time: they learn about a marketing strategy that worked well for someone else and decide to give it a try. After a few months, they’re discouraged and frustrated. They ask themselves: why did this work for them but not for me?

It’s all about alignment. When considering different marketing strategies (and there are literally hundreds of options out there), be sure whichever ones you choose make sense for your personality and your brand. If you enjoy networking more than cold calling, create your marketing plan around networking events. If you love writing, start a blog. Being aligned will make everything so much easier and generate much better results. 

8. Choose your budgets: money, time, and energy 

Usually the word “budget” is synonymous with money alone. I’d encourage you to set a financial budget, of course, but also set budgets for your time and your energy. Each of these is a valuable resource that needs to be tracked and measured to determine if they yield the desired results.

A note on energy management: Many agents don’t think about the importance of energy management. In my experience, managing energy is critical to avoiding burnout, staying healthy (physically and mentally), and enjoying your day-to-day life.

A quick way to assess the energy you expend working on a marketing strategy is to give yourself a score of one to 10, both before and after each marketing activity. Ask yourself before you walk into that networking event: “How’s my energy right now, from one to 10?” then ask the same question when you leave. This is simply data collection to help you start to see trends. So, when you do your next marketing strategy audit, you’ll be able to make better decisions about which strategies are worth keeping. 

9. Break down your marketing activities into monthly, weekly, and daily tasks  

Okay, now you have your marketing activities chosen, your goals set, and your budget determined. Now, it’s time to get into the action part of the plan! Start with the month — what will your monthly tasks be to get you to your goal? Then break those down into weekly and daily tasks, keeping in mind your vacations and days off (don’t forget to take time off!).

Remember to start small, with manageable daily tasks. It’s like starting any new habit. When you start small, you set yourself up for success — for an easy win. That win will motivate you to do more. Momentum will build, and over time, you’ll get into a steady rhythm with your new habit. 

10. Put your daily tasks in your calendar  

The calendar is key! This is your accountability and your reminder to do the tasks you’ve planned to do — and do them consistently. You can use a paper calendar, Google calendar, or any other tool that works for you. To stay on track, consider setting a daily, recurring reminder in your phone or using your CRM to alert you to your daily tasks (most CRMs have a task functionality with alerts).

I like to color-code my calendar, and I use green for all money-making activities.

11. Systematize tracking your output and results  

Tracking data isn’t sexy, I know. Yet it’s one of the most important parts of a solid marketing plan and will set your business up for success in future years, as you collect more and more of your own data. It’s the key to understanding at a high level what’s working and what’s not. It will allow you to save money, time, and energy down the road, as well!

My real estate marketing plan template includes a section where you can track your results. And yes, I made it simple on purpose. The simpler the tracking tool, the more likely you are to keep it updated. Remember, just like the best CRM, the best tracking tool is the one you will actually use.

12. Assess your results and tweak as necessary 

I’d recommend reviewing your results tracker quarterly, but definitely review it once per year at a minimum. Again, the goal is to save time, money, and energy and to maximize results. Don’t be afraid to pivot and adjust as you go along. 

In deciding when to pivot and adjust your marketing plan, ask yourself the following questions:

• How much time, money, and energy have I invested so far?
• What’s the return been?
• Have I given it enough time to see results? Keep in mind some things take longer than others. Geographic farming tends to take longer when you’re building a database and working by referral, whereas cold-calling and door-knocking tend to generate results faster.
• Am I enjoying this enough to continue, or is it making me miserable?

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No matter which marketing strategies you choose to include in your plan, there are three crucial tools that you’ll need. Your tools will evolve as your business evolves, of course, but these three will get you started on the right path: 

1. A scalable CRM that’s easy to use

Most brokerages provide a CRM, but you can usually purchase your own if you prefer. When selecting the right one for you, consider how easy it is to navigate (if it’s too complicated, you likely won’t use it) and whether it provides the functionality you need.

Most agents don’t need a CRM to do anything but provide a way to communicate with their database, set up task reminders, and host a website. I’ve always used KW Command, but I’d also recommend Sierra Interactive, as it offers a powerful CRM, as well as custom-designed, SEO-driven websites.

2. Graphic design and social media tools 

I love Canva for all things design. It’s what I use for my coaching and real estate businesses. The ability to upload my brand colors and fonts for easy access makes creating social media content, Eventbrite banners, and all my marketing pieces so easy. 

For an even more comprehensive tool, Coffee & Contracts is an excellent choice for a suite of social media marketing tools that’s easy to use and also incredibly beautiful. Agent Image is one of the top website builders used by luxury agents; plus, it allows you to own your website and bring it with you if you ever change brokerages.

3. A powerful end goal and a “why” to fuel your daily grind  

To keep you going through the mundane and frustrating days, your end goal should be your ultimate dream life — how you wish to spend your days, the freedom you want, and the work you’d most enjoy. Marketing to find business to make that dream come true can be mundane, and there will be frustrating days. If your real estate marketing plan includes cold calling, there will inevitably be times when you simply don’t want to deal with another irate expired seller who’s already been called 20 times that morning.  

When your “why” is powerful enough, though, you stick with it. A “why” is that strong gut feeling, that ultimate motivation to get to your dream life. Vision boards are powerful tools to help you articulate your end goal and keep it top-of-mind. The easiest way to create a vision board is to collect words and images from magazines or printed from online that capture your goal, your “why.” Then, paste the images and words on a poster board and keep them in front of you, maybe on a wall in your office or bedroom. It’s a little old school, yes, but it works!

Creating an effective real estate marketing plan can be challenging, but if you focus on strategies that are aligned with your personal brand, skill set, and niche, you can create a plan that will carry you through your entire career.

About Ashley Harwood

Ashley Harwood began her real estate career in 2013 and built a six-figure business as a solo agent before launching Move Over Extroverts in 2018. She developed training materials, classes, and coaching programs for her fellow introverts. Beginning in 2020, Ashley served as Director of Agent Growth for three Keller Williams offices in the Boston metro area. She’s now the Lead Listing agent for the Fleet Homes team in Massachusetts and a regular contributor to Vetted by HousingWire. She created The Quiet Success curriculum and has taught thousands of real estate agents nationwide. She has also been a guest speaker at top industry events and has been named a leading real estate coach by prominent industry publications.

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USD 61.5333 Rub. ↓-0.04 EUR 68.5358 Rub. ↓-0.12 CNY 8.97105 Rub. ↑+0.03 city, Analysis of real estate market in Moscow Oblast, Russia:   ,   ,   ,   RUB: USD: /m² EUR: /m² USD: /ft² GBP: /ft² CHF: /m² CNY: /m² JPY: /m² Change of cost per square foot in per week (USD): Change of average apartment cost in rubles per week, 906 apartments $49.14 million 49.0 thousand m² 527.5 thousand ft² flats/apartments in secondary housing market 1 bedroom apartments 27.3% 247 $9.00 million 8.67 thousand m² 93.4 thousand ft² 2 bedroom apartments 37.4% 339 $17.08 million 17.3 thousand m² 186.3 thousand ft² 3 bedroom apartments 31.0% 281 $19.48 million 19.4 thousand m² 209.2 thousand ft² multi-bedroom apartments 4.3% 39 $3.58 million 3.59 thousand m² 38.6 thousand ft² average apartment cost per square foot/meter 1 bedroom apartments 2 bedroom apartments 3 bedroom apartments multi-bedroom apartments flats/apartments cost on 06.01.2020 1 bedroom flat 35.1 m² 378.0 ft² 2 bedroom flat 51.1 m² 549.7 ft² 3 bedroom flat 69.1 m² 744.3 ft² 4+ bedroom flat 92.0 m² 989.8 ft² | | | and date of original publication. Liability limitation: the owner and administration of website RLT24.com are not responsible for the interpretation and consequences of using the materials from this website. Need to file a Beneficial Ownership Information Report? Many companies are required to report information to FinCEN about the individuals who ultimately own or control them. FinCEN began accepting reports on January 1, 2024. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today issued its Year in Review for Fiscal Year 2023 . The Year in Review is intended to help stakeholders gain insight into the collection and use of Bank Secrecy Act data, including FinCEN’s efforts to support law enforcement and national security agencies. The Year in Review includes statistics from fiscal year 2023 on BSA reporting and how it is queried and used by law enforcement agencies. WASHINGTON—As the nation recognizes World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) reminds financial institutions to remain vigilant in identifying and reporting suspicious activity related to elder financial exploitation (EFE). EFE-related losses affect personal savings, checking accounts, retirement savings, and investments, and can severely impact victims’ well-being and financial security as they age. FinCEN has previously published resources to help stakeholders combat EFE. TUCSON and PHOENIX, Ariz.—On June 11 and 12, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Director Andrea Gacki and senior FinCEN leaders traveled to Arizona where they participated in two beneficial ownership reporting outreach events and led a counter-fentanyl FinCEN Exchange. Learn About Reporting Requirements MSB Registrant Search and MSB Registration Electronic Filing System for Bank Secrecy Act Forms Interactive Suspicious Activity Report Statistics Resources for Financial Institutions Connect with FinCEN FinCEN is the U.S. Financial Intelligence Unit Information on U.S. Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Regulations FinCEN Data Has Played a Significant Role in Successful Prosecutions FinCEN Supports Local, State, Federal, and International Law Enforcement Investigations Crash of an Antonov AN-24 in Moscow 187 IMAGES Ultimate Guide: 11 Points to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan Writing a Business Plan Business Plan For Real Estate Agents Template Real Estate Business Plan Template How to Write a Real Estate Business Plan (+ Free Template) Best 10 Step Real Estate Agent Business Plan Template [FREE] VIDEO Is being a part-time real estate agent worth it? #realestateagenttips Real Estate Success Tips for Part-Time Investors How A Part Time Real Estate Agent Sold $5,000,000 Her First Year How to Earn Extra Money as a Part-Time Real Estate Agent What You Need To Know About Doing Real Estate Part Time Wholesale Real Estate for Beginners COMMENTS Can You Be a Part-Time Real Estate Agent? A part-time real estate agent typically spends less than 30 hours per week on the job. You'll be competing against those who work 40, 50 or even 60-plus hours a week. To become a successful part-time real estate agent, consider: Creating a monthly business plan; Using a customer relationship management (CRM) tool to segment your leads; The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Business Plan If the average home price in your niche is $250,000, the average commission per agent is 3%, and your split with your broker is 50%, you would need to sell 27 average homes to generate $100,000 in gross income. ($250,000 times 3% = $7,500 x 50% = $3,750. So you make $3,750 on each average transaction. Real Estate Agent Business Plan Best of all — you can get started today! Just download our free real estate business plan template and add your own goals, projections, expenses and data. 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Write Your Mission Statement. Every real estate agent's business plan should begin with a mission statement, identifying your values and why your business exists. Your mission statement serves as the guide to achieving your ultimate business objective. Writing a Business Plan Creating a business plan may seem daunting, but by understanding your business and market fully, you can create a plan that generates success (however you choose to define it). Real Estate Business Plans - Samples, Instructional Guides, and Templates. 9 Steps to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan + Templates (The Close, Apr. 3, 2024) 7 Steps to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan (+ Template) Community: Building strong, vibrant communities and giving back. Clearly defining your mission, vision, and values lays the foundation for a strong and purposeful real estate business that will help you positively impact your clients' lives and your community. 2. Analyze Your Real Estate Market. Ultimate Guide: 11 Points to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan For example, if you plan to work part-time as an agent in your first year but need to close 20 transactions to meet your goals, you are unlikely to have enough time. 10. Create a Personal Development Plan. A personal development plan is an essential tool for any real estate business. By taking the time to assess your strengths and weaknesses ... Best 10 Step Real Estate Agent Business Plan Template [FREE] Download your free 10 step real estate agent business plan template PDF. This simple step-by-step process will guide new real estate agents and growing agents. In this business plan for real estate agents, you will reverse engineer your goals down to the number of people you need to meet on a daily basis, you will focus on streams of business ... How To Crush It as a Part-Time Real Estate Agent 1. Set a Schedule (& Stick To It) This isn't just for people who like routine. This is for every part-time real estate agent who wants to avoid burnout and maintain a healthy work-life balance. At the same time, defining your work hours prevents your part-time endeavor from slowly becoming a full-time preoccupation. Real Estate Agent Business Plan Template (2024) Real Estate Business Plan Example. Below are links to each section of your real estate agent business plan template: Executive Summary - The Executive Summary is the most important part of your business plan. It is a brief overview of your real estate agency, its products and services, niche market opportunity, and competitive advantage. Real Estate Agent Business Plan: Guide & Template (2024) Research says the global real estate agent and brokerage market are expected to grow from $960.12 billion in 2020 to $1008.95 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1%. Also, the market is expected to reach $1351.1 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 8%. The above figure suggests It is a great market to be in, but you need a well ... The 8 Steps in Creating a Real Estate Agent Business Plan Step 2: Define Your Short-Term and Long-Term Real Estate Goals. Short-term is considered 12 months or shorter. Long-term is considered over 12 months. These will, of course, be revised with time. But creating these real estate goals and having them easily accessible will help you focus your efforts on the parts of your real estate business that ... Real Estate Agent Business Plan Template Real Estate Agent Business Plan. Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 10,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their real estate agencies. On this page, we will first give you some relevant information with regard to the importance of real estate business planning. 10 Steps to Being A Successful Part Time Real Estate Agent Prospecting and nurturing leads. Completing transaction paperwork necessary for closing deals. Blocking time for showings, buyer and seller appointments, and marketing. Education and training. Setting aside blocks of time, above all will keep your real estate business always moving forward and improving. 12 Steps to Creating the Best Real Estate Business Plan 12 Steps to Create The Best Real Estate Business Plan. 1. Determine Your Business Model. There are a few ways to go when embarking on your real estate journey. You may decide you want to start or join a real estate team. Or you may decide you want to start or join a brokerage. How to Write a Real Estate Agent Business Plan Most real estate agents are part of a real estate team. If you will be working with a team, make a list of all members of your team. This includes their personal information, skills, education, experience, and their different roles. These are the people who will help you implement your real estate agent business plan and ensure success. 3. Part Time Real Estate Agent Last Updated: 12/29/2023. In order to be successful as a part-time real estate agent, you'll need to: 1. Decide What Your Schedule Will Be; 2. Let Your Bosses Know; 3. Make a Business Plan; 4. Focus on Operating Costs. How to Create a Real Estate Marketing Plan for 2024 (+ Template) An effective real estate marketing plan is crucial to the success of your business. My 12-step process will help you create a foolproof plan for 2024. June 7, 2024, 7:02 pm By Ashley Harwood 23 Clever Real Estate Marketing Ideas Use some of these realty marketing ideas to score more listings in your real estate business. 14. Improve Curb Appeal on a Shoestring Budget. Many listing agents I know ignore curb appeal. But you owe it to your sellers to learn how to improve it—even if you only have a tiny budget to work with. MKU 'MFTS G.O. ELEKTROSTAL'', Moscow Oblast MKU MFTS G.O. ELEKTROSTAL - 144006, Moskovskaya Oblast', g. Elektrostal', pr-kt Lenina, d. D.11 - INN 5053033947 - OGRN 1135053000400 - Extract from EGRUL, accounting report 4395 Capstone Ct, Roswell, GA 30075 The listing broker's offer of compensation is made only to participants of the MLS where the listing is filed. 4395 Capstone Ct, Roswell, GA 30075 is pending. Zillow has 43 photos of this 4 beds, 4 baths, 3,300 Square Feet single family home with a list price of $1,059,900. Moscow Oblast Apartment for Sale by Owners and Agents offers View International listings of Apartment for Sale offers in Moscow Oblast Russia by Owners and Agents. Add your property. International Properties - luxury, commercial and residential properties listings, offers and demands by private individuals and real estate related companies from around the World. × Real estate in Elektrostal, Moscow Oblast, Russia RLT24 - information resource about Russian real estate. Real estate in Elektrostal, Moscow Oblast, Russia. Main Price analysis Advert: Русский(RU) Average apartments price in Russia Moscow : 4 234 $/m² ↓-1.96%: Saint Petersburg: 2 157 $/m² ↓-0. ... FinCEN.gov June 07, 2024. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today issued its Year in Review for Fiscal Year 2023. The Year in Review is intended to help stakeholders gain insight into the collection and use of Bank Secrecy Act data, including FinCEN's efforts to support law enforcement and national security agencies. Best Real Estate Company to Work For in 2024 1. Redfin: Best for Relocating to a New Market. Pros. Cons. Salary-based creates a stable income stream. Low salary and minimal transaction bonuses compared to independent agents. Access to medical/dental benefits package. Insufficient training for a new agent. Company-generated lead source. Crash of an Antonov AN-24 in Moscow Date & Time: Jul 29, 1962 Type of aircraft: Antonov AN-24. Operator: Registration: CCCP-46708. Flight Phase: Takeoff (climb) Flight Type: Training. ... Poor flying techniques on part of the crew who decided to take off with one engine off in difficult flight conditions. Navigation. Home; Crash archives; Crash pictures; Statistics; Spotting; News; essay homework paper phd project resume review speech study thesis