If you are considering making the move into real estate, you might be worrying about whether you have the right qualities to sell houses. You will have heard people claiming that you need to be a sales person through and through, and that you need to be ruthless. However, not everybody in real estate comes from the same background or approaches it with an identical approach. What will make you a successful real estate agent is having the organisation to work hard and research your industry.

Be a people person

Anyone who has worked with an untrusty real estate agent will know the frustration that being overly-ruthless can bring. You are not likely to get recommendations if your customers feel as if you’ve been in a rush to sell the house and get them off your books as soon as possible. Being a people-person will allow you be considerate of people’s needs, devote the time and energy to them they require and be happy for them when they succeed in purchasing the property.

Have a sense of business strategy

You don’t have to be a genius to organise your future. Crafting a business plan is just a way of placing a structure on your future. You can come back to your business plan in the years to come and reassess what needs to change and what can stay the same. Here are some processes to place in your business plan:

• Personal budget: what if you have a bad month? Having a savings schedule to keep yourself afloat during dry months is a savvy part of any business plan.

• Marketing: why should people use you in particular? What makes your houses so special and well sought-out? Using a marketing agency that specialise in real estate will get you the branding and photo quality you need. An agency such as yught.com.au will be far more likely to know what makes for high- quality real estate pictures than an agency that has no experience in the industry.

• Your personal network: your business will be nothing without clients, other agents and other people in the housing sector, such as brokers and inspectors. If you don’t have many connections in these areas – now is the time to go out and start building connections.

Knowledge of the area you work in

It may sound trite to say it, but you really can’t be a real estate agent without a sound knowledge of the area you work in. If you’re worried you may have some blank spots in your knowledge of the area you cover, now is the time to go out and research. As well as going out to investigate, you should chat to other agents and local residents to get a sense of what you’ll be working with.

As well as being a bit of an entrepreneur who is willing to do the research for their sector, you will need to fundamentally have your heart in the right place. Your work ethic should always be couples with a will to do the right thing for your customers.

You should research into potential opportunities as well, such as becoming an express estate agency that flips houses quickly.