How to have a Brilliant Career in Estate Agency

The ultimate guide to success in the property industry.

Katy M Jones, Danielle Wrate

• Publisher: Katy M Jones
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9780995708112
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Careers

This guide is a must read for all those who are considering a career in the industry, whether they are a school leaver, graduate or are looking for a career change.

Starting with an overview of the UK property industry, and an explanation of industry jargon, this guide delivers a comprehensive introduction to professional world of estate agency. As well as examining career paths and qualifications for entry, it covers how to find a job, what to expect from the day to day working environment and how to prepare for your first few weeks and months as a negotiator. There are essential insights into negotiating your salary package, commission structures, how to get promoted and typical career paths. Related sectors such as new homes, surveying, property development and working in commercial property are covered.

It’s the ultimate career guide to having a brilliant career in estate agency!

About the Author

Katy M. Jones successfully navigated a career as an estate agent. After 10 years as a residential and commercial negotiator, working for both independent and corporate agencies, she set up her own agency in London. After growing her business to a significant turnover, she sold it five years later for a considerable profit.

CHAPTER 1

BACKGROUND TO THE INDUSTRY,
OFFICE STRUCTURE AND TYPICAL
AGENCY SETUP

 

 

According to the Office for National Statistics, the estate agency industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the UK. In 2013, the number of people working in this sector soared to 562,000, an increase of 77,000 new workers within a single year.

So, what’s the appeal? A major factor for university and college leavers, as well as for those changing careers, is the ease of entry into the industry for all levels of education and experience. There are no specific qualification barriers, there is the prospect of a higher starting salary than in many other industries, and there are good long-term career prospects. In addition, as there are at least a handful of estate agents in every major town and city, it’s possible to find work across the whole of the UK. However, this is not a job for the faint-hearted. It demands long hours, including evenings and weekends, there is constant pressure to sell or let and you will be required to deal with the day-to-day stress that naturally arises from the process of moving itself. Most people find moving home stressful and if, for example, you are handling 10 sales at any one time, each with a buying couple and a selling couple, their solicitors, various school and holiday deadlines and the odd divorce thrown into the mix, you will quickly find that your phone rings constantly and your personal anxiety levels will start to reflect those of your clients.

Some people thrive in this environment and find it hugely stimulating and rewarding, while others rapidly sink under the pressure from clients, bosses and targets, only managing to stay in the industry for a few months.

The following pages will help you decide whether the industry is right for you and, if it is, choose between the various sectors comprising sales, lettings, new homes and commercial property. It will also show you the type of agency to aim for.

During my time as an employer, I interviewed a multitude of prospective candidates, many of whom had no previous experience in the industry. During the course of these interviews, it often became clear that the would-be employees knew very little of what the job really entailed - be that a role in sales, lettings, property management or administration.

The roles within a typical estate agency office are very well defined and include the following:

 

Branch manager

They will oversee sales and lettings. If the office is big enough, there might be separate managers for the two areas.

A branch manager typically oversees the running of the office to ensure targets are met. They supervise negotiations, carry out valuations (unless there is a separate valuations manager) and keep an eye on the progression of the sales or lettings process, which is usually undertaken by negotiators. They also ensure the legal requirements of business processes are met, deal with HR, training and recruitment, and report to the business owner or, if it is a larger group, the Area Director.

 

Negotiators

There will be a number of negotiators dealing with either sales or lettings. Their job is to book and undertake viewings, receive and negotiate offers, and deal with vendors and landlords.

 

Office administrator

Many estate agents have an office administrator, but what their job entails can vary widely. Usual activities include uploading photographs and drafting property descriptions, drafting tenancy agreements and sales memorandums (these detail the various parties to a sale, including the buyer, the vendor and their respective solicitors, along with the terms of the sale). The administrator may also coordinate the tenancy move ins, carrying out reference checks and registering deposits. In smaller offices, their role may include some property management duties, such as checking that rents have been paid or organising basic property repairs.

Other administrative duties include ordering office supplies and, in some cases, taking property photos and drawing up floorplans. Although it’s not considered to be a senior position in the office, the role of the administrator is essential to the smooth, day-to-day running of the business and, ultimately, its profitability. Without an effective administrator, an office can quickly generate a backlog of paperwork, which will distract the sales and lettings teams from their principal activities and consequently reduce the number of new sales or lettings agreed.

In an agency with just one single office, many tasks will be shared between colleagues. This gives someone who is newly entering the industry a good range of experience in the overall business. In larger, multi-office agencies, the roles become increasingly differentiated. For instance, a lettings negotiator will never be asked to take photos of a property, as there will be a professional photographer assigned to this task. There’s also less likelihood of an administrator in each office, as the carrying out of tenancy agreements and property management duties will be coordinated from a centralised office. This saves on costs and enables a far greater volume of services to be delivered. However, this will, in turn, reduce the range of experience gained by a negotiator.

Most estate agency businesses offer both sales and lettings services from the same office. This is because the two sectors complement one another and it increases the opportunity for business to be referred from one department to another. Equally, new homes and mortgage advisers offer complementary services that can generate multiple income streams for the business.

The following is an example of how the departments can interact.

A prospective buyer walks into the office to enquire about a new build property. They are looking to buy the property as a rental investment and will need to arrange a buy-to-let mortgage. As well as speaking to the new homes sales person about the property, the buyer wishes to have a rental valuation carried out. The new homes salesperson calls over their lettings colleague, who provides an estimated rental valuation, along with advice on furnishings, etc. The new homes salesperson then offers the buyer the possibility of a quick chat with the in-house financial adviser, who provides a mortgage quotation based on the estimated rental valuation, giving the buyer confidence to make an offer, which is accepted. The sale proceeds and a few months later the lettings department finds a tenant for the property. The property management team takes care of rent collection and the property’s upkeep.

Two years on, the new owner decides to sell the property, and the agency receives the sales instruction. In this situation, the office is receiving a fee from the developer to sell the new build property, a fee from the mortgage lender for introducing the new mortgagee, a fee from the new owner to let and manage the property and a fee from the owner, albeit two years later, to sell the property again. They may also receive a fee by recommending a solicitor to the buyer or vendor and even for referring the buyer to an interior furnishing company for buying the furniture included in the let.

It is, therefore, essential that whatever the size of the agency, the different departments of the business remain connected. The ideal office environment will be one where all the employees are motivated to make as many inter-department referrals as possible.

 

 

FAQ 1. Sex differentiation in job roles

'Is it true that sales is a male-dominated domain and lettings is more popular with women?'

Answer: Yes and no. When I worked for one of the larger chains of agents in South West London, there were 12 staff members in the office. The lettings team comprised four females, including a female lettings manager, and a single male lettings negotiator. The sales team consisted of four males, including the sales manager, and me. I was the sole female on the sales team. There was also a female administrator and a male IFA.

This is quite a typical situation within the industry. However, there are no real barriers to entering either the sales or lettings side of the industry for either sex. In either sector, both sexes are well represented.

There is, however, a marked decrease in the number of female senior managers and directors. In my opinion, this reflects the general pattern across many UK industries as women take a break from work to raise a family. There is no real obstacle for women wanting to become a director, providing they have the right skillset. At the time of writing, the Group CEO of Countrywide (the largest estate agency group in the UK) is Alison Platt. Her experience has been gained through running large corporations rather than from climbing the ranks of the estate agency world, but nonetheless this should be seen as a very encouraging sign for all ambitious women entering the industry.

 

 

CHAPTER 2

JOB HUNTING: ENTRY ROUTES
UNDERSTANDING ROLES AND SALARY
EXPECTATIONS

There are a multitude of entry routes into the industry. Most agencies will use a recruitment company to help find suitable candidates to fill their vacancies. Often, agencies prefer to promote existing staff to higher levels and recruit new staff into more junior roles. This process of rising through the ranks has several advantages for the agency. Firstly, the recruitment costs (recruitment fees, company cars, etc.) for a junior negotiator are much less than for a manager or director. Rising through the ranks helps to strengthen a company’s culture, as less experienced staff don’t bring as much baggage or as many bad habits from their previous roles, and they can be more easily moulded into the company’s preferred processes. Something else to consider regarding the benefits of promoting from within is how high staff turnover can be. The cost to recruit and train a junior negotiator to manager level runs into the tens of thousands of pounds. Internal promotion is the best way to retain experienced employees. Despite this preference, a quick search through a recruitment agency’s postings will reveal a wide range of vacancies at all levels, from director to junior negotiator.

As well as providing a major entry route into the industry, recruitment agencies can also be a very useful advisory service to less experienced job hunters. Several recruitment companies specialise in estate agency and property roles. Consequently, they are experts in the culture of different agencies and will be able to educate you on their working conditions and the salary expectations for each available role. Some will pre-interview job applicants for a role. Or, as part of their registration process, they may, for example, help applicants decide whether sales or lettings are a better fit for their skills and personality.

The larger agencies, such as Savills, DTZ or CBRE, may look to recruit graduates directly from certain universities, particularly those leaving with commercial property, surveying or estate management qualifications. In recent years, estate agents have frequently looked to recruit degree-qualified applicants for negotiator positions. However, in general, the industry is not particularly hung up on employees being educated to a certain level, or on them having a degree in a particular field. Personality, sales ability and ambition have always been highly rated too. A good level of written and spoken English and maths is considered essential, along with competence in IT. This is because the job involves using computerised databases for day-to-day work processes within the office.

Recommendations and personal introductions also feature as a means of finding employment, and companies will happily consider applicants who come to them direct. There remains the option of dropping your CV and a letter of introduction to agencies within the area where you are seeking work, although this can be hit and miss and involves a lot of leg work.

FAQ 2. Ageism in Estate Agency

‘Why are there proportionately more younger negotiators, and are there barriers in place for prospective employees who are older?’

Answer: It’s true that the majority of junior negotiators fall into the 20 to 30-age bracket. At entry level, most negotiators will be working very long hours – frequently 8.30am to 7pm or 8pm and every Saturday from 9am to 5pm, often without time off in lieu. Some offices even open on Sundays. In fact, holidays are limited, with some agencies offering 20 days annual leave per year, including bank holidays. If the agency closes between Christmas and New Year and forces staff to take some of their allocated days during this period, vacation time can effectively be reduced further, to just two-and-a-half weeks. Basic salaries are also low, starting at £10,000-15,000 per annum, with a further £10,000-15,000 in commission if targets are met. As well as being a pressurised sales job, with constant phone calls, emails and demands from clients, team members and bosses, the average negotiator will undertake 30 to 40 viewings per week. That requires a lot of running around, driving, parking, door opening and dashing back to the office for the next client. Physically, it’s quite a demanding job. The junior negotiator role therefore fits the younger staff members who maybe have lower day-to-day living costs, as they don’t have a family to feed. They may also thrive in the work hard, play hard environment ...

Table of contents

• JARGON BUSTER
• 1. BACKGROUND TO THE INDUSTRY, OFFICE STRUCTURE AND TYPICAL AGENCY SETUP
• 2. JOB HUNTING: ENTRY ROUTES UNDERSTANDING ROLES AND SALARY EXPECTATIONS
• 3. FINDING THE RIGHT EMPLOYER, CORPORATE VS INDEPENDENT AGENCIES
• 4. INTERVIEWS, SALARY NEGOTIATIONS AND COMMISSION PACKAGES
• 5. YOUR FIRST WEEK IN THE JOB: THE BASICS
• 6. YOUR FIRST YEAR IN THE JOB: DEVELOPING YOUR SKILLSET
• 7. SALES AND NEGOTIATION TRAINING AND QUALIFICATIONS
• 8. LONG-TERM CAREER PATHS AND RELATED INDUSTRIES
• 9. CONCLUSION