Some questions posed regarding real estate principals and advice on best practice…
Real estate principals: dos and donts
Real estate principals who sell should always employ the best admin and finance people for the job and pay them well. If they can’t afford good support staff, they won’t keep good agents. Agents will blame the principal if deals are not followed up properly and say it is because they are only focused on their own deals.
Real estate principals should also make it clear to all agents if they are selling as well as managing how leads are distributed in the office. If a selling principal works in a closed area, it is fairly simple to control, but in open areas or multi-listing a ‘free-for-all’ system is often where various agents could be working with the same buyers and sellers just as though they were competing with other agencies.
This is where agents should be encouraged to network with each other as they often have the buyer and the seller among them, but an opposition agency does the sale.
Make time to advise your agents
Most importantly, real estate principals who sell should make time to be at the office at specific times of the day. This is to give agents time to discuss problem deals or give general advice. The principal should also do a monthly one-on-one meeting with each agent to look at activities and results. This will also give agents an opportunity to open up about any concerns or problems.
Agents need attention, and if they don’t get it from their real estate principal, they’ll get it from another one looking to poach agents in the area. Principals should also make time to go out on appointments with their agents as this is still the best way to gauge their competence.
Real estate principals in closing
It is often a good place for new interns to start as these principals talk the talk and are also in touch with market trends. The problem arises when the number of agents exceeds the time a principal has available to run the business effectively. This is the time to consider managing full-time or, alternatively, appointing an office manager, whichever will is best for the company.
