Real Estate Agent
Real Estate Agent
Career Overview
Real estate agents help people buy, sell, and rent homes, buildings, land, and other properties. They connect clients with properties, explain the buying or selling process, negotiate deals, and help keep transactions moving from start to finish. *(Real estate income can vary widely because many agents earn commissions and may be self-employed.)
Education
A high school diploma or equivalent is typically the starting point, followed by required real estate education and licensing in the place where you plan to work. Strong communication, business, finance, and sales skills can also be valuable.
Future Outlook
The outlook is steady. People will continue to need real estate professionals to help them buy, sell, rent, and manage property. Demand can rise and fall with the economy, housing prices, and interest rates, so opportunities may vary over time. Technology is also changing how properties are marketed and how agents connect with clients.
Work Environment
Real estate agents often split their time between an office, properties, and meetings with clients. Schedules can be flexible, but evenings and weekends are common because agents often work around their clients' availability. Many agents are self-employed or work independently.
Recommended High School Courses
- Psychology
- Business
- Economics
- Marketing
- Computer-aided Design Competency
- Banking and Finance
- Mathematics
- Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Mathematics - Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
- Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
- Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
- Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Far Vision - The ability to see details at a distance.
- Flexibility of Closure - The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
- Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Negotiate prices or other sales terms.
- Prepare sales or other contracts.
- Obtain property information.
- Develop content for sales presentations or other materials.
- Appraise property values.
- Gather customer or product information to determine customer needs.
- Contact current or potential customers to promote products or services.
- Identify potential customers.
- Advise real estate clients.
- Schedule appointments with prospective customers.
- Attend events to develop professional knowledge.
- Deliver promotional presentations to current or prospective customers.
- Explain technical product or service information to customers.
- Develop professional relationships or networks.
- Verify customer credit information.
- Develop proposals for current or prospective customers.
- Recommend products or services to customers.
- Examine condition of property or products.
- Arrange delivery of goods or services.
- Train sales personnel.
- Contract real estate to clients.
- Identify investment opportunities or strategies.
Schools
New York University
Northern Trust Academy Re...
Ohio State University-mai...
Southern Methodist Univer...
University Of Georgia
University Of Miami
University Of Pennsylvani...
University Of San Diego
University Of Southern Ca...
University Of Wisconsin-...
Villanova University
Virginia Tech
British Columbia Insti...
Langara College
Lasalle College
University Of British...
University Of Guelph
Potential Scholarships
Aqha Region 1 Quarter Hor...
Aqha Arizona Quarter Hors...
Aqha Joan Cain Florida Qu...
Aqha Indiana Quarter Hors...
Aqha Dr. Gerald O'connor...
Aqhf Nebraska Quarter Hor...
- Creditcardgenius 2020 S...
- Haywood | Hunt & Associ...
Approx Salary Expectation
Low End:
$25,000.00 /yr
Avg/Med:
$50,000.00 /yr
High End:
$100,000.00 /yr
Related Careers
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.