Last Updated on April 25, 2024 by Luke Feldbrugge
Real estate agent skills come in two flavors: customer-facing skills, where your talents help you build connections with clients, and personal traits that help you manage your career and workload. You need all or most of them, plus a sense of your vision, to build a great career in real estate. Some of these you were probably born with, but some need to be developed as you work in the real estate industry.
Instead of a laundry list of real estate agent skills, we divided this list into customer-facing skills (9) and personal skills (8).
Customer Real Estate Agent Skills
Customer skills is a combination of things you need to know plus things you need to be able to communicate effectively to clients. Too many times these are all lumped together under “customer service” without further elaboration. That’s unfortunate, because good interactions with customers is an art, and those who make it look easy are likely extremely successful in the real estate industry.
1) Networking Skills
Your ability to connect with a wide array of people is probably what drew you to real estate in the first place. As a real estate agent, you need to be able to build and maintain relationships with clients, colleagues, and other professionals in the industry. In terms of dollars and cents, networking can help you gain referrals, expand your business, and build a chain of connections that will help you now and well into the future.
It’s tempting to cast your networking efforts far and wide, but skilled and experienced agents are learning the value of specializing – concentrating on a niche in your local real estate market rather than trying to be everything to everyone.
For example, the agent who specializes in selling condos to Boomers. That agent can narrow their focus, hone their effort, master the real estate agent skills that matter most to that specific client, and really deliver on what their client needs.
Homes for Heroes gives you the ability to specialize, by focusing your efforts toward serving your local hero groups. Those hero groups are firefighters, EMS, law enforcement, military, healthcare workers and teachers. Helping these heroes buy and sell homes is a great way to strategically position your business.
Joining Homes for Heroes allows you to instantly increase your network of like-minded professionals by nearly 5,000 local agents and lenders. If you’re looking for a niche to distinguish yourself, being the local real estate agent who helps their local community heroes buy or sell a home is a good way to do it.
2) Real Estate Agent Skills of Communication
By definition, good communication skills are a catchall – and so vague as to be useless. Let’s get concrete.
Being able to talk, write and present to clients is your unique selling proposition. It’s what builds trust, and it’s why people like to work with you. At Homes for Heroes we get these messages about our affiliated agents by the dozens each week:
“Mario is a great real estate agent. Worked very hard for us and kept us informed on everything. He was always there to answer questions and offer suggestions. I would highly recommend him for anybody buying or selling a house.” – Patrick, in Law Enforcement, found a home in New Mexico
Instead of trying to figure out whether you have good communication skills or not, rate yourself on these communication media types:
- Written – Do you write emails and texts often to keep clients updated on the progress of their hunt, their offer, their mortgage package, their listing, etc.
- Verbal – Do you talk face-to-face with your clients or pick up a phone from time to time. One of your strengths is that your personality comes through when you create a dialogue with clients. Especially with Boomers, phone calls are going to be much more effective than texting. With Millennials, texting may be preferred.
- Presenting – Whether taking a couple on a tour of a house or giving a formal presentation, it’s a very different way to talk. It emphasizes communicating information rather than just building rapport. Presenting gets better with practice, so don’t hesitate to get in front of a mirror and rehearse.
- Timing – Knowing when to communicate has become an increasingly important factor in your communication toolbox. Technology has changed, and somewhat accelerated, the way you communicate with clients, and knowing their communication preferences can help you make better decisions.
Just remember, good communication isn’t just one thing – it’s many things – and some might say it’s THE thing in sales.
3) Real Estate Knowledge
A deep understanding of the real estate world enables you to explain how things work to your clients. You will need to know a lot about real estate law, regulations, and best practices. This list is long, but you need to be able to piece it all together into a complete picture. You will also need to be the authority in your relationship with clients. They can look up a lot of answers online, but they can also get a lot of bad information that will make them go off in the wrong direction. Be their wise beacon of insight.
4) Local Knowledge
In addition to being an expert on the rules, regulations and financials of the real estate process, you also need to be a local expert. That means knowing the local market, property values, zoning laws, and what makes each neighborhood unique. Do you know your schools? The couple with the four kids is going to pick a house based on bedrooms, yard and the quality of the local school district – not necessarily in that order. And yes, sharing your opinion about something like schools is frowned upon, but that doesn’t mean you cannot point your clients to helpful 3rd party resources that will assist in their decision making.
5) Teaching Skills
People don’t buy houses every day. And in terms of purchases, it’s probably their biggest buy. First-time home buyers in particular are going to require a lot of education because all of it is new to them. There will be a lot of opportunities to exercise your teaching skills as you explain the difference between a home appraisal and a home inspection. Teaching them about escrow alone may take more than one session. Remember that teaching someone something they don’t know much about is one good way to build a relationship. It’s yet another way to demonstrate your real estate agent skills. Clients will rely on that.
6) Marketing Skills
Marketing skills are a lot of things, but being able to tell a good story, one that your audience is receptive to, is the foundation. That means you need to be able to tell a house’s story and you need to know what your clients are looking for so the story will resonate for them. What story do you tell clients about yourself or about your real estate brokerage? These stories will build connections between you and your clients. With any luck the stories you tell them about properties will also build a connection between buyers and the houses you show them. There are any number of ways to tell your stories including engaging and informative property listings, social media posts, videos, virtual tours and digital marketing applications that haven’t even been invented yet. Use any or all of them to broadcast your stories.
Tip: the more you know about your clients, the better you will be able to craft a story they want to hear.
7) Active Listening Skills
Listening may be the most underrated, overlooked and ignored communication skill. A good listener is rare, and worth their weight in gold. Some are born as good listeners, but most people that earn that label have worked at it for a long time. If good marketing starts with good storytelling, then great listening skills is where good storytelling is born. To really understand your audience, your clients, you have to listen. You have to listen without preconceptions about what they are going to say. You need to listen between the lines. Sometimes what you are hearing is only part of what they are saying. Finally you need to listen purely, not seeing it as an opportunity to prepare your response. Answer questions, by all means, but don’t rush to the answer. There may be more to the question than it appears.
8) Understanding of Architecture
If you truly want to be seen as an expert, you should educate yourself about architecture. The way a house was built involved a lot of decisions that can translate into features, benefits, and unique qualities of the layout that you can translate for clients. You don’t need to bury them in architectural jargon, but knowing why a certain floor plan works best for a particular family will elevate you in the minds of your clients.
9) Real Estate Agent Skills of Negotiation
Most people aren’t good at negotiating, so this key real estate agent skill is vital to your clients, and your success in real estate. You need to help them every step of the way when it comes to negotiating – from initial contact all the way to closing day. You have to make sure your clients don’t over commit, pay too much, offer too little, go too fast, proceed too slowly. Negotiations for single family homes typically involve two parties and sometimes two agents. You need to be able to read the room. This is another case where you may not be a born negotiator – few people are – but you can develop and hone your skills to become a skilled negotiator. And that’s someone your clients want on their side.
Personal Real Estate Agent Skills
These personal real estate agent skills are traits that will help your real estate career. Some are critical, like patience and flexibility, and they can save you in stressful situations. How would you rate yourself on these personal skills?
10) The Ability to Adapt to New Tools and Technology
This is also known as being tech savvy, and it is an acknowledgement of the very real fact that the technology that drives and serves the real estate world is on a constant steep learning curve. From paperless closings to marketing driven by AI, staying on top of the tools is a requirement of the job. Instead of throwing up your hands, you can build a much stronger career by adopting new technologies quickly and incorporating them into your workflow. They are, after all, tools and tools help you get more done faster so you can spend your time and energy with clients. The rule of toolboxes is: if you add too many tools to the box, you will never find any of them. Just keep the ones you use.
11) Time Management Skills
A key indicator of whether you have good time management skills is if you don’t feel overwhelmed by everything you have to do. If you do feel overwhelmed, you need to pick and choose what’s vitally important to your success and the success of your clients, and what’s just nice to have. If you can’t separate them, a course in time management is not a bad idea. This is one of those skills that few people are born with, so don’t be afraid to ask for help from a mentor or a coach.
12) Honesty and Integrity
People are trusting you to help them find a good place to live, or sell their current home. As such you are not selling them property, you are the custodian of their dreams for a better life. In this position, you need to be able to build trust with your clients and colleagues by being honest, transparent, and ethical in all your dealings. The emotional and financial commitments being made by your clients are serious. Play it straight and it will pay off with a lifetime of referrals from happy clients.
13) Empathy
Empathy should be a direct result of the good listening skills we mentioned above. If you train yourself to listen, really listen, you will develop the empathy you need to understand your clients’ needs and preferences and respond accordingly. Sometimes, empathy helps you read between the lines of what your clients are saying and what they really mean. If you are giving a presentation, empathy will help you read the room. It sounds all soft and squishy, but empathy is a concrete skill that makes you a good salesperson.
14) Real Estate Agent Skill of Reliability
If the idea of honesty and integrity still feels a bit vague, reliability is a subset skill that is directly linked to those two traits. If you respond, communicate and act reliably (from your clients’ perspective) you are going to come off as more honest and ethical. Deadlines in real estate are critical, and decision making can be sudden and important. Being reliable in fast moving situations makes you look like a real estate guru.
15) Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is a macro real estate agent skill that allows you to see data clearly and make predictions about the future of your business based on the facts in front of you. Your clients are going to want your help, but also your expertise and being able to make good decisions based on the information will help everyone succeed. On a micro level, critical thinking is about problem solving and coming up with innovative approaches to the obstacles that the real estate market often presents.
16) Flexibility
Being able to adjust to new technology is just one part of being flexible in the face of change. When interest rates go up, inventory goes down and housing prices spike, your flexibility can help your clients stay ahead of the curve and respond effectively to new challenges and opportunities.
17) Patience
As fast as things change in the real estate world, there is no substitute for the real estate agent skill of patience when nothing seems to be happening. Appraisals need to get done, inspections need to take place, sometimes construction or renovations must be completed and it all takes time. Just the paperwork alone can drive clients batty. Being patient and chill in the face of all this will help your clients stay calm. Model the behavior you want to see.
Homes for Heroes Enhances Real Estate Agent Skills
Having the right combination of real estate agent skills is important for your career. Having a great network that will compliment these skills is even better. That’s where Homes for Heroes can help. We connect you to a community of heroes–firefighters, healthcare workers, military service members, veterans, teachers, law enforcement personnel and EMTs. Together we can help these heroes find a new home, or their next home, and save them some money in the process using Hero Rewards® savings. Sign up and schedule an appointment to learn more from a member of our team. We look forward to hearing with you.
