5 things you need in place when making your own independent estate agents
So, you’re thinking of starting up an independent estate agency. These 5 things are imperative for you to sort out before you start taking on clients.
After reading this post, you will be ready to begin planning for your new business. Good luck!
- Budgeting plan
Of course, you’re going to need to set up a reasonable budget that details your expected costs and earnings. Listed below are the main things you should plan to pay for on a monthly basis:
- Rent
- Rates
- Electricity
- Car petrol to travel to properties
- Advertising
- Office supplies
- Insurance
- Pay for employees
- Employees
As much as it would be great to only have to worry about paying yourself, realistically, you’ll require other agents to employ. It’s best to start out with a small team and later employ more agents to cover the client load as you grow.
- An office/shop front
One of the bigger payments you’re going to have to pay out for is an office. You need somewhere for your employees to work and for potential clients to come into. Most estate agencies have a shop front so that people walking past can pop-in and enquire about their services.
For this reason, it’s usually recommended to do the same. Plus, having a shop front in a fairly busy place, such as a local high-street, makes it much easier for clients to find you and for passers-by to see that you exist.
Usually, you’d rent a property for this purpose, but you should know all about that seeing as you’re opening an estate agents! So, we won’t bore you with the parts you already know about.
- Marketing/advertising
In this day and age, you should pay for marketing for your business. If you skip the marketing, you will lose out on tons of potential clients because most people will find you online.
Although you’ll gain clients through your shop front, this will most likely not be enough to achieve your desired amount of clients. Which is why it’s best to invest in digital marketing to get your estate agency seen by potential clients as many as possible.
- Human Resources software
When you hire employees, you’ll need to purchase reliable HR software to keep both yourself and your employees working efficiently and professionally. This is a key component in achieving a well-organised business and in correspondingly, a resourceful estate agency.
Do you have any more advice to add?
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Good luck in starting your new independent estate agency! Let us know how it goes in the comments section.