Qualities of a Successful Real Estate Agent

Gone is the old concept that a real estate agent is just a seller of property. Nowadays, to be a good agent, it is necessary to have interpersonal skills and amicable qualities, in addition to experience and theoretical knowledge of the profession, because in the process you are navigating different personalities from different backgrounds.

The Vallarta Real Estate Guide editorial team shares some of the characteristics that can contribute to improving the experience-relationship between real estate agents and clients to form lasting relationships.

Empathy

This is the most important quality to possess when your job consists of talking to a variety of different types of people from differing backgrounds and understanding their motivations. Let’s think about the two types of clients a real estate agent can have: the seller and the buyer. For both, the situation and the process of transferring a property can be emotional, and they need the facilitator of communication (the agent) to understand that. A homeowner may be selling the house where he grew up and the buyer going into debt for life to leave an estate to his family. As an agent you must have the ability to understand the feelings of both and facilitate a good outcome for them.

Vocation of Service

To deliver positive experiences to your customers, you need to overcome several obstacles because anything can happen. To excel in this profession, it is necessary to go beyond the obvious and/or what the payment of a commission entails. Basically, the vocation of service is a sign of solidarity towards customers. The interest in doing things right is easily noticeable and that positions you as a reliable agent. You have to remember that the quality of your service is not defined by you, but by your customers. Maybe you can believe that you meet all the characteristics of a good agent, but it’s a good idea to step back and ask them directly for feedback.

Read Between the Lines

The ability to read your clients goes beyond intuiting whether or not they want to buy a property. Using the information you have about what they are looking for and what they want can help uncover hidden needs, which you need to confirm with them later. Reading between the lines is to find small clues during the interaction with your customers that allow you to understand them better, but it does not save having to ask them directly. Do it with confidence, you need to gather as much information as possible to give them what they need.

Good Communication

For this profession, effective communication skills are required, because clients must understand with the same intention what you tell them. To know the expectations of your customers, you need to know how to listen and immediately ask the right questions. Listening is paying total attention, without trying to solve or thinking about how you are going to respond while they are still talking. Adaptation is also important, as different types of customers will have different types of communication; however, it is ideal to identify and use terms and/or concepts to words or examples that they can understand.

Neutralize Stressful Situations

When working with clients, you work around the clock with their different personalities and expectations, so you can expect conflicts sooner or later. As a real estate agent, it will help you a lot to know how to take these points of tension to a neutral ground to focus on solving the problems. Staying serene and cool-headed when things get out of hand is going to convey confidence to customers.

Problem Solving

Achieving a good negotiation between owner and buyer so that both are satisfied will bring challenges that will seem complex to solve. The ability to untangle problems during the course of a real estate transaction is a determining factor as a real estate agent. Sometimes it might seem that situations have no solution, but considering your resources, how do you move forward to achieve the results your client wants? These cases can be seen as real opportunities to demonstrate your skills for analyzing and solving unexpected situations that arise, which will build trust with your client.

There are more characteristics that can be mentioned, but if you are lacking in any of the above mentioned, it can be difficult to have a successful career as a real estate agent.  That being said, you can always cultivate new skills and practice them to keep improving. The most important thing about all this is to be perceived as an ally, so it will be easier to gather personal recommendations, which is the best form of marketing.