Is being an estate agent a good job?

[Jenonifer]

Thinking of going back to work when ds starts school but fancy a career change.

Have no experience of working in the job so have no idea but interested to find out more. hours and pay, how it fits with family life etc.

Thinking of working for SKG Estate Agent...
As an agent, you earn 50% of all income generated from initial sales and lettings.

Any EAs here want to tell all, or tell me where I can find out?
Thanks!

Place marking

I applied for a few estate agent jobs. They were all very enthusiastic about how good I would be at the job, but the sticking point was the hours.

They all expected late nights (8pm finishes not unusual) and at least one if not both days at the weekend. As a single mum I couldn't commit to this - it's no wonder that most of the other people working there were younger (pre-having kids age) or older men who said how 'family-friendly' their company was because sometimes they were home in time to put their DCs to bed. Forget the fact that someone else had to make the kids' dinner and help with their homework!

Personally I'd want a better starting salary, not the commission based system they work on which obviously rewards those people able to put in every waking hour. They also expected you to socialise with them, one of them said "tell your partner you have a new family now", another said that company events were very important if you wanted to progress up the ladder so it would be frowned upon if you didn't attend.

All in all, not for me, which is a shame as every EA I've ever dealt with has been an absolute bell-end and I think they could do with some reliable, intelligent, experienced home-owners on their staff.

It can be a very pressurised and competitive environment- make sure you understand the culture at each agency fully!

I am an agent. I am salary based with no commission.

Hours can be long and include evenings and weekends. Often you can find yourself in a house with no heating in the middle of winter. You are either the best thing since sliced bread or a fucking idiot depending on the client.

Social side is fantastic. I’ve been invited to a lot of stuff. I can’t always go though.

What else would you like to know?

High pressure sales job with unsociable hours so not suitable for everyone

Every EA I've ever dealt with has been an absolute bell-end

This^^

And they never seem to know anything! I know it's a sales job, but I have been in sales, and honestly, you can sell to people without being ruthless/ dishonest/ignorant/ solely focused on commission.
I would REALLY appreciate an EA who was a grown up, a woman, not a youth in a shiny suit or a swivel eyed coke head.
Ultimately, high street estate agencies will die, like the lumbering dinasours they are. Which is a shame, because it has the potential to be a rewarding job for an intelligent person, if only the agencies had any interest in intelligent staff.
OP, set up your own agency!

Thank fuck I work in Scotland where we are regulated 😀

I think it very much depends on where you live AND the company you work for. I'm in the midlands and a fairly small town so no cocaine smoking smart suited nobhead types here!
I've done the job for ten years, negotiator, valuer and branch manager for small family run business which was less pressure environment but less training.
Large corporates you are target driven and can be a very hostile working environment and quite cutthroat.
I know work with Purplebricks - their entire focus is on the customers being happy, not on sales numbers and there is NO targets.
We also work from Home which is wonderful for returning parents, one of my ex colleagues has just joined and she does valuations in school time and can take them and pick them up ever day and doing admin calls etc from Home.
They do only take experiences agents but there is an academy scheme for people with the right skills with no experience. If you want any more info please PM me.
I absolutely love my job, I love how close I get with my clients and a lot have become friends. I am property advisor/Home stager/Home finder/agony aunt/negotiator and friend and it's such a rewarding job - most of the time. PP who said you can be their best friend or their enemy dependant on the client does have a point, but I find that the way Purplebricks is set up means that we have very very few unhappy customers.

how much could an estate agent expect to earn (gross, per year)?
In the south east, outside London.

As a negotiator somewhere around 16k-24k dependant on experience

Not sure how good a job it will be once the money for nothing lettings fees gravy train eventually comes to an end.

You keep going as we do in Scotland sall.

Reported

Our local independent EA is smooth but also really nice and helpful. I think he bought some likely properties in the boom years so has a reliable income.

Hi All,

So I actually requested to delete my previous post myself, I didn’t mean to cause any offence and didnt want it to come across as spam so I’ll try again....

Hi All, So just to say (and appreciating that you might become competition in the end but there is plenty market to go round) I've recently set up my own Online estate agency for the reasons listed above...

Every agent I met with was so young and didn't seem to have any real knowledge- "wearing their da's suit" to put it the way my grandma used to!
It's a lot of money upfront, but I considered that an investment and it's been going really well as we offer an alternative (and cheaper) service than a traditional estate agent so we were able to offer a market alternative!
there are a lot of ongoing costs as well which you need to have covered from the day you launch.
All proper agents do have to be registered with a supervisory body as well (eg The Property Ombudsman)
I originally looked in to working for an agent but couldn't find one that I had faith in so was very lucky to be able to set up my own when I got Redundancy during Maternity Leave (a blessing in disguise!)

If you want to private message me We can have a wee chat, I might even be able to find a role for you with us so do get in touch.

@DinosaursArentMakeBelieve and @HelloHouse I've messaged you both for some info