Calling any estate agents/partners of estate agents!

[fairycakes]

Hello

My dp has an interview with an estate agentcy this week and we are after a bit of advice - it would be a COMPLETE change of career for him as he is a restaurant manager at the moment, so unless we talk to other people in this job (assuming he gets it of course) we will only hear te job prospects from the eyes of the employer.

As it would be such a big step to take as if he takes it for financial reasons he would really have to stick to it for a while we wondered if any estate agents out there could help give us a non biased point of view of the job?

Do you enjoy it? How much can you expect to earn in comissions, ontop of basic salary - is there scope to earn more than the basic salary? Is it the sort of job where there is scope for personal growth?

Obviously i appreciate all agencys are different etc but just a rough idea would be great? Its with Countrywide Estate agency.

Thanks!

gonna keep bumping til somone who can help sees!!

Hi fairycakes, I work for an Estate Agent what type of work he will be doing? are we talking sales of residential or commercial properties?

sales of residential properties

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fairycakes - sorry didn't come back last night as dh took over computer.. It really depends if the company he is going to work for does do things on a comission basis really, some do it by each process, some do incentive commision for selling a certain property. Countrywide Estate agency are known to my company, I personally loved the job, but then I love to see houses sell thus get them improved throughout the area.

You can make a lot on commision you just need to be able to talk to people and get them to tell you what it is they are looking for in a property,i.e garden/parking type of property do they really need 4 bedrooms just incase aunt Fanny comes to stay? offer all the services the company provides ie mailing list, mortgage advice (we would advise most [v] to only accept offers from someone who has been pre approved for a mortgage)get them to actually look at propertys via appointment. Love it its busy something new everyday, but bewere of making promises that cannot be kept. Men are more likely to advance in this area, they can eventually become valuers of propertys this can lead to higher rates of pay, Manager's position.

thanks mother nature, i know they will tell him some of this stuff in the interview, but i wanted to find out a bit more - it would be a big step to change career and i want him to be 100% sure as we will really suffer if he ends up hating it!!

he is very good at talking to com,plete strangers etc but i am not sure how good he would be at selling, do you have to be pushy with people (dont mean that in a bad way its just he is more of a push-over than the other way round!!) thanks x

ps you mentioned that countrywide was known to you - do you know anythig about their reputation/what they are like to work for? sorry for all the questions!!

Sorry to put a downer on this, but I am trying to convince my dh to leave esaste agency. The long hours, working weekends, constant pressure about achieving targets etc. True you can make quite a good salary, and working in most service industries the hours can be unsociable, but is money everything. I also used to work in estate agency - which was where we met - and although interesting, I do not think that it is the ideal job for a family life.

Dh has worked for big corporate companies and small independents, we have found both have their good & bad points. He is a manager now, and rarely a day off goes by without his phone ringing as well as being expected to cover any leave. Parental responsibilities fall to the partner - dd was in hospital very seriously ill at 18 months and he was told "your wife can stay with her and call you with any major changes".

Oh dear - do you think thats the particular company he works for or just generally?

Dp works VERY long hours at the moment, starting work at 3pm and not finishing til 1-2am, doesnt always get days off etc, so anything would really be an improvement on that.

Good to hear another perspective though, thats what i wanted - unbiased answers!

ps - saying the money can be good, does it only get good after you have been working for a long time or is there potential to earn much straigh waty?

sorry, i meant "straight away"

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Don't know if the money would be good straight away, as he has worked in estate agency for about 17 years. In that time he has worked for nationals including Halifax Property Services, Bairstow Eves, GA Property Services/Your Move and some small independents. Generally the smaller firms seem better but less opportunities.

The hours may be slightly better if your children go to bed late, most estate agents do not close until 6 or 7pm and they will be expected to work later if they have an appointment, "ring out nights" (where they stay late to call people who they struggle getting hold of in the day and can be until 9pm). Saturdays are part of the standard working week (with a day off Monday-Friday, although some firms say only Tuesday-Thursday) and Sundays are rota'ed.

If you want any more perspective, email me and I will try and get dh to respond to night. It can't be all bad, as he won't quit.

Each agency is different re how "pushy" they are, it all depends on how the Ageny its self works, Countrywide have a good reputation re survey's etc, not worked for them so can't say about how they set their comission. Hours usually worked by staff are 9am - 5.30pm maybe 6pm depending on where your based ie City/town maybe alternate Saturdays depending on how many are in the office too. Its like any other sales position really, customer comes in, you find out what they are looking for, put them on a mailing list, give them the best advice you can, offer appointment to view a few property's, you may get an offer/sale you may not just don't promise them something they can't have for the price they want to give... I'm sure he would love it if he's interested in the property market, if he's not then maybe it's not the job for him, I find you have to like what you are doing to be able to get the best out of it it rubs off on the customer they can see your 'into' the business.. HTH

thanks ladies you have both been very helpful, dp is at interview right now so will see what happens.....

thanks again x

Fingers crossed xx