Work in real estate setor

[houman1979]

Hi All,

I am thinking about working in estate agent sector. I do not want to be a real estate or open a shop for this purpose. My clients are based overseas. They give me their requirements and I market the suitable properties on behalf of real estate. In other words, I'll act as an agent of other real estates in the UK and take my commission.

My question is that should I have any kind of certificate or license to establish such business? In addition, is there anyone know a good place to have some training in UK real estate?

Regards

 

[JamesHall174]

Hi

I don't know for sure, so please do not take this post as 100% accurate, but my gut feeling is that you wouldn't need a license. Effectively, all you are doing is acting as a finder for somebody and charging them for ther service.

- do you have a website at the moment, I would be interested to have a look at what you do
- are your potential clients looking to relocate to the UK or buy investment property?

thanks

 

[Newcott]

http://www.naea.co.uk/ is a good place to start the ball rolling.

So let me get this right your basicly a house finder for people willing to relocate to the UK?

If thats right thats one hell of a uphill struggle - you'll be competing against:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=estate+agent+uk&aq=f&aqi=g1g-m9&aql=&oq=

Which contail some of the long standing and highly backed companies - what sets your services apart from say Rightmove?

What countries will you target? Obviously language would cause a issue.

Estate agent market ups arn't huge - its a numbers game for them so it will be a numbers game for you. Take into account estate agents only get paid once a house is completed - they will not give you a upfront fee for a introduction as approx 1/3rd of all sales agree'd fall through.

Theres a ton of other issues but that should get your mind thinking at the moment.

 

[JamesHall174]

Good advice from Newcott, although one competitive edge you might have is that you might already know the people you are going to do the work for, in which case you may not be competing for the business.

I had, perhaps incorrectly, assumed that you would charge the client a finders fee rather than the estate agent?? I think the issues raised by Newcott are valid around the issue you would have charging the estate agent, although some small independents may be more open to the idea.

One side issue, curious to see the words 'Estate agents mrk ups aren't huge', I have to say I never thought I would hear anyone say that. I know the market is very competitive at the moment so agents are cutting fees dramatically but from my experience agents who can sell a decent number of properties can still charge in excess of 1% of the property value (and before anyone starts posting about £500 fees etc, that still isnt the norm). I wouldn't mind being able to charge that kind of margin, I know there are overheads, staff etc but it is hardly cutting things to the bone and that doesnt include the extra revenue a good agent generates from financial services, referrals to solicitors etc.

 

[BusinessRookie]

Reading this information will be a good start for you:

http://www.usapropertyinvestor.com/about/aipp-2

The idea is the reverse of the above (USA Property investor sells American property to UK clients). You'd like to sell UK property to clients abroard so it might be useful to join the AIPP or research based upon this concept

 

[houman1979]

Hi All,

Thank you for your great answers
1-I have not had any website as I am thinking about the business at the moment.
2-My market mainly based in Iran. I'll have clients in Iran who want to buy property here in the UK as a mean of investment or use it for summer holiday. Therefore, there are some points:
-my clients will have a good information about the property market in the UK. In addition, the estate agents here do not have good information about their needs. Therefore, I could match them.
-Therefore, I could get a fee from my client upfront.
3-I will not have a real office here and my luxury office would be overseas to attract wealthy clients. This reduces my costs.
Therefore, as I understood I'll work a little like Rightmove but not in that scale. My main concern is that should I have any license from government which seems no.
Thank you again in advance for any comment.

 

[Newcott]

James - regarding the margins the profit to the company is normally quite small. I use to be a agent about 5 /6 years ago for seveal years however I've not kept up with the market since then.

Average fee where I was based was around £2,500 (I lived in a small town on the Kent/London boarders where a majorty of the places where around £250k but had some amazing £1mill plus places nearby)

By the time you add in the negotiators commission, advertising costs, office running costs across each sale the actual profit going to the company was quite small on your average houses. But these are the bread and butter ones that keep them ticking - I wouldn't see them paying an external person any more then £50-£100 tops on a succusful completion.

However if you where to look at the more excutive service for the high earners it could work. The largest fee I ever earnt for my company was £35,000 however this is a hard circle to get into.

 

[JamesHall174]

Hi Newcott, that sounds more like the estate agents I know, 'we don't make much honest'.

I really am not having a pop or being rude, fair play to anyone who can make money out of any business, but I don't know many good estate agents that don't make a good living. Financial services has changed so much in the last few years, I dont recognise it any more, its a relief to know that estate agency hasn't.

What industry are you in now?

 

[Newcott]

I really am not having a pop or being rude,

No probs.

I was was lucky enough before the last of the golden bubble back in early 2000's and I'm not going to lie I did very well. I'd do 1/2 of the average houses a week then maybe 1 larger property (say £400k or bigger) a month. Company car was a BMW Z4 before I got out the game.
The commissions paid are pretty good to the neg's and manager but what the business made was little in comparrison - they worked on lots of little.

I'm a photographer now - recently gone freelance as well as part of a video production team and a YouTube partner. Its been a while since I paid attention to the housing market.

 

[JamesHall174]

Sounds a far more glamourous lifestyle now!! The website looks good.

With your background in property I am going to PM you some details of something you might be interested in as a little sideline.

 

[shanegabriel]

Hey dude... One thing you should know that when you're in this business you should know what you are doing. Read some articles, blogs, and etc. about real estate, how does it works, how much it cost, what do you need, legalities and more... And you have to sell yourself. It doesn't need you that you be good looking or sexy. It means that you know how to talk to you client. One more thing, know what are you selling and think about it as you are buying it by yourself and asking your client to buy it for you... Right?