How to Select a Real Estate Agent

Whether you are a property owner who wishes to sell real estate or whether you are a prospective buyer who wants to buy a property, you will need to hire a real estate agent to help you in your endeavor. When it comes to hiring property agents, not all home buyers and sellers are as informed as they should be about these service professionals. The following tips will help you analyze a real estate agent's credentials, his work and success stories so that you can conveniently achieve your goal.

Here are some useful ways by which you can find out more about the agent before you decide to get him on board.

• Get in touch with the agent’s recent clients

Ask the potential agents to bring with them a list of their previous clients along with what they have listed or sold in the past one year. Now before you pick up the phone and start calling up the clients, ask your agent if you should expect any specific client to be particularly satisfied or particularly upset. You can also ask the other clients about the asking price and sale price. If you happen to be the seller, find out if the properties sold by this agent are similar to yours in terms of price, amenities and features. One should hire an agent who has a specialization in the type of property you are looking for or wish to offload. You may also ask the clients as to how long their property been on the market?

• Check the license

Real estate dealers must hold a license that is authorized by a board of a particular state. You should check with your state's regulatory body to find out if the agent is licensed and whether there has been any sort of complaint or disciplinary action taken against him. You may be able to find information related to certain states on databases available online, which the consumers can access.

• Opt for the best

Check out the peer-given awards held by the agents. Look for felicitations that actually mean something, for instance, ‘Realtor of the Year’ award conferred by the state or an association of realtors. Real estate agents are best judged by contemporaries and peers and if an agent has been honored by his allies then that is a huge endorsement.

• Look for the right credentials

Just like doctors specialize and have a niche, real estate agents also excel in a niche. Even professionals working in the general sphere will seek special training in a particular area. So make sure you go through the name and look for any indication that the agent has made extra effort and taken specialized training in a specific sub-domain of property sales. Here is what the designations imply –

1. Accredited Buyer's Representative or ABR – The agent has added education in representing shoppers in a transaction.
2. Certified Residential Specialist or CRS – This implies that the person holds extra training in managing residential real estate.
3. Seniors Real Estate Specialist or SRES – This means that the agent has completed training for helping both sellers and buyers who are over 50 years of age.

• Find out how much experience the agent holds

You can find out facts like how long a particular agent has been dealing in real estate. Such information can be obtained from the state licensing authority. Or you may simply inquire the details from the agent himself. If the agent has been out of business for over five years, they could now be learning on you which is definitely not good. You should always hire a professional who has been actively engaged in a specific sub-domain and price category. You should gauge the magnitude of knowledge of through these two parameters and check the agent’s market presence.

• Check the current listings

Go through the agent's listings shown online. Check out the agent’s official website or other portals with Multiple Listing Service as a searchable online database. Nowadays, most buyers begin their search over the Internet. Thus, you should hire an agent who uses the web effectively. Presentation is everything and so the agent must be able to show his work through pictures of properties and establish credibility through listings. 

Your responsibility is to see how close the listings come to the type of property you wish to sell or buy. You should also check whether the agent operates in the area where you would like to invest and whether he has dealt with homes in the same price range. The person must be able to have sufficient listings to portray a steady business. However, the list should not be extremely long either because then you will just be a mere number in it. 

You can also assess the agent’s proficiency by mentioning about a recent deal in the area. If he knows about it and can give some details, this means that he knows his job and you can hire him immediately.

Lastly, don't forget to check the various fees charged by the real estate agent. And compare these fees with other real estate agents in the locality.

This is a guest post by Devika Arora who is a professional writer dedicated to following the current real estate trends and writing guest posts and blog posts for the benefit of potential home buyers and investors. The above article talks about how to choose a property agent.

Professional Real Estate Consultants (PREC) Vs Agents

Professional Real Estate Consultants (PREC) and agents play very different roles in the real estate market, even though their roles and responsibilities are similar to each other and overlaps at times. A professional real estate consultant usually handles the clients with utmost care and advises the client’s requirements on their investment activities, educate them and help them to grow their money by connecting them to the right people by advising financials, abiding government procedures and the real estate laws. Whereas the normal agent also plays a role on suggesting the properties, showing them different options and helping them throughout the property transactions.

The major difference you could find between PREC and Agent is that, PREC is a well-educated, self-mannered and more disciplined in his approach and about the market; also handles the queries and advises in a professional way and resolves all the queries effectively, whereas you cannot find these kind of qualities in normal agent or realtor and there are very few people in whom you could find professional characteristics.

The agents moves forward along with the market, whereas the PREC takes his time, verifies, understands and have all the records with him before approaching the market. Once he catches the pace of market, he will lead the market on his own proven disciplines and principles, so this makes most of the builders, investors to get accredited by them and get their services. PREC will be studying and catching the pulse of the market much better than the realtors.

Consultancy Fees

Yet again the standard market fees for an agent or PREC are set as standard of 2% on the sale value. But PREC do charge more than 2% on fewer transactions that is because of their dedicated team; such as research, marketing and sales, who has expertise in their own streams, with their own code of conduct, disciplines. Real time consultancy companies like JLL, Knight Frank, Colliers, Cushman Wakefield, Square Yards, India Homes, Prop Tiger, and Property Connect, etc are few names which we can hear in the consulting industry as they have proven their PQRSTs services to the market and that is why they are way more different from any other agents and their charges would be a little higher compared to others.

This is a guest post by Property Connect

Social Media-The Most Effective Marketing Tool For Real Estate Agents

Real estate is a business which depends greatly on personal contacts. But in order to succeed in the industry as a real estate agent, one needs to have a good presence on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Stumble Upon. Here are some points which you need to follow to find out why social sites are important for real estate agents:-

• Realtor with a good presence on social media make a great number of connections 

As a real estate agent, you need to post the listings of your services on social media. If you are new to this profession, post about your services in the neighborhood, explain about the plus points of your services and how people can avail it. What are your prices? How do you charge your clients? What are the new offers that you intend to launch in coming weeks or months? Be as transparent as possible.

• Promote social events which take place in your locality

Post social events that are taking place in the immediate neighborhood on social networking sites. This will make people living in other areas familiar about your upcoming seminars, info sessions, and networking opportunities.

• Pictures and videos speak a hundred words

You can also share pictures and videos which tell stories. This is because most people, who use social networking sites prefer to go through stories that involve photo, video and audio content instead of text alone. There is no need to spend a huge sum on that either. Use your Smartphone in order to take pictures and short videos of clients and all the exciting things happening in your target areas. You can easily upload it to any other social networking site. At the same time, try to make sure that the posts, which you share on Facebook or Twitter, are not too generic or too promotional.

In case, you find something interesting about the realty sector in India such as useful data, price trends, government notifications, etc., then don’t hesitate to share it on these sites. It will help in building your brand within your locality. Your priority should be on creating posts which show your company’s verticals in an interesting manner. Keep a track of the people who are following your online social pages and find out how they are engaging with your page.

• Pay special attention to increasing number of likes on social media pages

One of the key factors behind the success of your company’s website on social media is by delighting your clients on a regular basis. Create contests and encourage your clients to join a conversation for a chance to win gift cards. Delighted clients will share their experience with people who are close to them.

• Judicious use of Facebook

Compared to other social networking sites, Facebook is one of the most suitable places for promoting Real estate services. Make sure that most of the content is dedicated to property news, trends, and anything that is of immense importance to your clients.  While the remaining content or posts can be about the services you are offering to them.

Guest Post by: Sheela Joby is a freelance writer with an experience of 10 yrs. Apart from writing, she is into photography, traveling, music etc.

Importance of brokers in realty sector and how do they currently generate leads for their businesses? And are these lead generation tactics good?

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

The image of a typical property dealer in India is that of a person who didn't find any job or business and therefore jumped into realty sector by simply opening a shop in the market. Gradually, by facilitating some small scale deals, he/she moved ahead in brokerage ladder and was now in position to execute large deals with developers by underwriting part of the newly launched project or by investing in distress properties to sell them at later stage making a windfall profit. One would have noticed such a pattern in his/her nearby locality wherein one or few brokers have made it really big.

However, is it the only truth about brokers? Far from it….broker plays an important role in real estate sector. He/she is not only the deal facilitator but also the trust maker between a buyer and seller. People can execute small deals such as renting an apartment/shop without the help of a broker; however, try selling a piece of land/plot or an apartment worth crores and one would appreciate the value of a real estate broker. Not only will broker help in paper works such as preparing papers for registration, title deeds, no dues certificate, and any other legalities; but they will also help in providing the right information related to current market prices, and future potential of the local market. Therefore, it makes sense to verify the broker’s credentials before taking him/her on board. One can find a comprehensive list of things to check about property brokers here.

How do real estate brokers currently generate leads from customers for their business? There are multiple channels to generate leads from customers:

• Online classifieds

Probably, this is the easiest method to generate leads from prospective buyers. A broker will list properties on these online classified portals by paying a monthly subscription fee or buying a package wherein a broker can list 100 or 250 properties over a period of time. However, all these online classified portals are dynamic in nature and a property listed today in the morning will become old next day as more and more properties are listed by other property dealers. Therefore, bigger the online classified portal, harder it gets to generate quality leads by listing property on it. Therefore, a broker must be careful in choosing the right online classified portal and not jump on the fray because others are doing it as well.

• Having a physical presence

This is the oldest method to generate leads from both sellers and buyers. Buyer or seller looking to buy or sell property will visit his/her local market and list their property requirements with the local broker. If there is a match, then broker facilitates the deal and in the whole process makes commission for the successful execution of the deal. However, this one is expensive because setting up a shop or office in local market will require capital investment at large scale for buying the shop/office, stationary, renovation, etc. Even renting a place will cost property brokers a decent amount. And having an office or shop in remote areas with low rentals will not bring in the desired traffic. Therefore, it will be an expensive proposition for someone looking to start afresh in this business.

• Social media

Social media is where most customers are and using social media tools carefully such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Blogs can go a long way in bringing regular customers. The key in use of social media is not to pitch always but provide helpful content for people looking to solve their problems. It’s free and all it takes is dedicated and sincere effort on the part of broker to use social media effectively.

• Web presence

Having a web presence is useful these days and listing out your services, properties on the website is a really helpful. However, when there are thousands of websites, it gets difficult to generate leads from the website. But website is still useful for branding purposes.

• Referrals

This is probably the best method among all to generate leads, but not everyone will be able to bring in customers using referrals from friends, colleagues, etc. It takes years of experience to build a reputation in realty business. How many large scale deals one executes, how many customers are satisfied with your services? These are all questions which take time to answer and answering them in affirmative will brings referral leads.

• Print media

Just like online classifieds, one can use print media for listing properties. This is however more expensive than online classifieds media. There is still a segment of population who is comfortable with print classifieds and having your presence there would therefore target that particular segment of the market. Large brokerage houses however use mainstream print media extensively for exposure and branding and not just for listing properties.


Put together, are these lead generation tactics sufficient? Probably yes, but for someone looking to start afresh in the business, all these tactics will take time and dedication to fructify. There is always scope for innovating new channels for lead generation in realty sector.

Follow @sach_gupta

Have any Questions? Tweet to @sach_gupta

How can real estate brokers, agents, and property dealers generate leads effectively and efficiently?

Author: Sachin Gupta | Find me on Twitter Follow @sach_gupta

2013 was tough for real estate sector in India. Real estate builders are sitting on pile of inventory and many a property brokers have shut shop. By some estimates, about 30% of real estate brokers have shut shop in Gurgaon alone. That’s a massive number given the fact that not so long ago Gurgaon was considered to be an investor’s paradise for realty investment. Why have so many property dealers/agents across the country have closed their operations? Well, primarily because of slowing down of the sector and equally important is the fact that most of these dealers/agents make more than one mistake in the process of lead generation for real estate deals. Lead generation and management in property transactions are important because it keeps alive the property dealer’s interest in the business and tide over the bad times.

The whole process of maintaining a fruitful sales pipeline in real estate brokerage business can be categorized into 3 broad parts:

1. Lead generation
2. Lead management
3. Lead servicing

Out of the above 3 categories, lead generation is the most critical aspect of the entire business as it keeps the property agent in the business.

How do brokers across India currently generate leads?

1. Using online classifieds portals
2. Through syndicate of brokers
3. Referrals leads
4. Print classifieds
5. By having a physical presence

However in today’s fiercely competitive market place when sector as a whole has slowed down, there needs to be an alternative method of lead generation for property brokers across India. It is with this objective, we at NirrtiGo have designed a new channel for lead generation for real estate brokers. This new channel will provide brokers with a larger market share of leads.

Interested property brokers/dealers/agents shall fill out the form below and we will get in touch as soon as possible.

Follow @sach_gupta

Have any Questions? Tweet to @sach_gupta