French real estate is globally popular and not only do thousands of people want to buy French real estate but we have even seen that hundreds of people per week visit this site to search for information on how to become a real estate agent in France.
This article is not set up to be negative but is designed to avoid the stress and disappointment many people find when they come to France and think ‘wow! I think I will become a French real estate agent that will be a great way to earn a living’ and the work does not work out.
Being a real estate agent in France is a great profession but it is not an easy profession and you will need to consider the following notes gleaned from the minds of veteran real estate agents.
One
You do not think you will need to Prospect
In our network there are many agents who have over ten years experience in real estate so they know what has built their business. If you think that you will be able to build your business though family and friends and you will not need to talk to strangers you will run out of opportunities very quickly.
In fact, if you are too hot to serve your family and friends you may not even have them as clients. You need to be open to contact people who have never met you before and showing them how great your service will be.
Two
You believe you can find enough work with International English speaking clients
At this time international buyers are not so active and typically they are by their nature not consistently active buyers. Meaning they are in no need to buy right now or in the next five years unless they have a super deal on a secondary residence.
When you live in France you will need to be able to work with the local French only speaking people to have a consistent year round business.
In addition, there are currently a large population of English speaking French real estate agents already serving all the English speaking clients you hope to serve.
Three
You do not want to do follow up
If someone is buying French real estate or real estate anywhere in the world it is unlikely they are going to start shopping today and buy tomorrow.
Sure some agents in our network on a rare occasion have a buyer see properties with them for a week and the buyer buys a property within the week. But in most cases the agent has been doing follow up work with the buyer advising them on the market etc for many months before the week of visits.
We have also met many buyers who are frustrated because they have found that agents never call them back even after they have visited a property with the agent. The agent must think the buyer is responsible for calling them when in fact the agent is the professional who needs to follow up with the buyer to see how they can further assist them.
Three
You will not take the time to learn the details
When you work in French real estate the nature of the work is far from you simply being a chauffeur or tour guide. It sure would be nice if that was all the work.
You will need to learn how to negotiate for the benefit of your buyer or seller. You will need to understand the implication of the new French housing act (Loi Alur).You will need to be able to explain all the details on the contracts and documents when you are alone with your clients. You will need to be able to do all the legal and tax administration work … the list goes on and on.
Being a real estate agent in France is a multifaceted job and you need multiple skills just like a small business owner. You will need to be in a constant state of learning.
Four
You think you can get by without speaking Fluent French
Even if you are working with English speaking only clients you will need to learn to speak French so that the local French only speaking real estate agents can understand you and feel confident in working with you as a professional.
Five
You think that being a real estate agent or agent commercial is a part time job
If you are not looking at the long term you will enter and leave the industry as many thousands of real estate agents and real estate sales people do in France. This is a full time job with unfortunately no guarantee of income unless you succeed in serving clients.
In fact, many times you will feel that you are working as a volunteer since in many interactions with clients you will never get paid. That is just part of the way the industry works.
Six
You think the industry is too competitive
The truth is the French real estate industry is extremely competitive since the barrier to entry as a salesperson in a French real estate office is quite easy (not to be confused with being a real estate agent or agent immobilier which requires a higher level of educational background and work experience).
People with no experience in any area of real estate enter the industry weekly in France and you will be competing with them for clients. In addition, there are many people who work in French real estate ‘on the dark side’ as we like to call it who have no professional real estate standing and often no training but suggest to the public they are experts. They are also your competition.
Seven
You focus on the income and not the relationship
One of our colleagues is involved in a sale with a buyer and the only concern from day one from the agent working for the seller under a listing agreement is how much he will get paid. He has no concern with whether the owner gets a great price he just wants his owner’s property sold and that he maximizes his commission cheque.
Clients can sense if you are just focused on making money and not building a long term relationship with them. If you just want to make fast money in real estate and you do not care about client relations please leave the industry before you enter. In every industry we all just want to work with professionals.
Eight
You will continue to make the same mistakes and not question what happened
To have your real estate business succeed you need to take time to work ‘on the business’ and not just ‘in the business’. If you prospect daily for clients that is great but if you are having little or no success you need to study your work practices and adjust.
Nine
You don’t want to work as a team with other agents
You will see it happen in France that some real estate agents will not let you show your client their properties even if the property is ideal for your client. Yes, you see an ad, you phone the agent and they will not work with you. The agent wants to find the client on his own and he or she believes then that he or she will get more commission by following this approach.
If you have this state of mind and don’t want to work with other agents you will find the industry very lonely and in fact, you are not really serving your client the seller since he or she is more likely to get top price for the French property when it is viewed by more people.
In addition, if you don’t want to show to your clients properties that are with other agencies (who will co operate) you will be most likely missing out on properties that could be ideal for your clients.
Ten
You want to only work on week days and not evenings and weekends
It is true that at this time many French real estate agencies are only open during the day and closed in the evening and weekends (unless by appointment) and they have been in business for years but we want to let you in on a secret. Many of the most successful and happy real estate agents understand that clients with good incomes and the real ability to buy are only available to meet in evenings and on weekends so that is when the agent must work. No we don’t’ know any agents who work on Sundays right now but you need to know that Saturday is a day you will most likely need to work if you want to succeed.
Now we hope that you have an idea of how people fail in real estate in France but we want you to succeed that is why we wrote this article.
If you would like know what it is like to work in French real estate you can contact us here to set up a paid for consultation call that comes with a money back guarantee.
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