A real estate agent helps people to buy and sell homes. He is considered a professional with ample knowledge about listing a home for sale, promoting it, and working with a buyer to purchase a property. Each state establishes its laws on real estate agents’ education, certification, and exam requirements. Specific requirements may vary, but generally, you must complete a real estate training course if you wish to become a licensed real estate agent.
Once you get a course completion certificate, you can take your state’s licensing exam. The candidate is declared qualified if he fulfills the minimum passing score requirements. When the candidate passes the exam, he is eligible for an agent’s certificate or license. Now that you know a brief about real estate certification let us discuss who the real estate agents are and the required qualifications to become real estate agents.
Who Are Real Estate Agents?
Real estate agents represent sellers and buyers of real estate properties. Generally, a broker may work independently, but an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. The state licenses brokers and agents to negotiate sale agreements and manage documentation required for closing real estate deals. It is safe to consult a licensed real estate professional as there are jargon and acronyms in the legal documentation of the property transaction.
Generally, real estate brokers fall into four categories of representation:
Seller’s Agents: The seller’s agents are commonly called “listing brokers” who work under their owners for lease or property sale.
Buyer’s Agents: These agents are brokers or salespersons who assist the buyers, helping them purchase the property.
Dual Agents: These agents help both the buyer and the seller in the transaction. Such real estate brokers assist both parties ( buyers and sellers) sign a dual agency agreement. Special laws often apply to dual agents, especially in negotiating prices.
Transaction Brokers: These brokers are licensed real estate agents who act as neutral third parties in a transaction. The agents provide services that facilitate the closing of a deal, but they don’t act on behalf of a particular client.
Responsibilities Of A Real Estate Agent
The following are the responsibilities of a real estate agent:
Housing Market Knowledge: While selling a property, a real estate agent analyzes the local market and helps the home seller set the right price for the property. In addition, he also sets appointments with the prospective buyers and gets the property ready for showcase. The property agent is the person who accurately estimates the value of the property by comparing similar properties in the market. Moreover, he also helps his clients understand the factors involved in submitting an offer.
Real Estate Laws: Much of the real estate training program focuses on home buying and selling laws. Sellers must provide complete information about the property to the buyers. This includes disclosure statements to confirm or deny whether the property has previously suffered any water damage or fire damage or any other problem that could affect the buyer’s decision. Real estate agents need to know how accurate the contract of purchase is because it is a legally binding document.
Background Checks: Agents also perform thorough background checks to assure clients that they are safe and trustworthy. These checks include a criminal background check, sex offender registry search, reference checks, and employment verification. Depending on the requirements of the agency or real estate organization, these checks may be performed monthly or annually.
Sales Skills: Real estate agents are primarily salespersons, but they play a more consultative role in the process. They assist buyers and sellers purchase and sell their homes and counsel them when needed. The ability to establish a good level of rapport and trust with the clients is the key to a successful business in real estate. In the case of property dealing, the clients rely on their agents to offer insights about the property and communicate the essential factors involved in buying or selling the home.
In the field of real estate, agents use assertive selling skills to get home sellers to list with them or to encourage hesitant buyers to make an offer. They also play an essential role in negotiating the offer, counteroffer, or any specific term of the deal. We know that being a real estate agent is a role of responsibility, and of all the qualifications, negotiation skills are the primary ones because clients rely on the agents to guide them through what is potentially one of the biggest deals of their lives. I hope you have got an overview of the responsibilities of a real estate agent. For more informative blogs on real estate, visit our site.
