Once you have established yourself as a real estate agent and you have your license in hand, you have to consider what your next steps will be, and many agents choose to start their own brokerage.

Starting your own real estate company might sound daunting, but if you plan it out before you start, you will be able to create a successful business that you can eventually sell to another agent. If this is your dream, keep reading to see the ultimate guide to launching, expanding and flipping a real estate business.

Launching a Real Estate Business:

Before you consider starting your own company, make sure you have a bit of experience under your belt. Many agents have worked with others, and a good mentor should be able to give you some advice on what it’s going to take to start out on your own.

Let’s take a look at a few good ideas to help your company as you’re launching.

Plan it out

The first thing you need to do is to plan out your goals, ideas and reasons that you are choosing to start your own business. This will help you see what steps you need to take, and it could give you a reasonable timeline of how long it will take to achieve each goal.

Find your niche

You also want to figure out what makes you different as an agent and consider what unique aspects you bring to the table that could help you when it comes to your business. Some agents are better suited to families, while others do well selling to investors who are looking for the best deal possible, so think about what you do well and lean into it.

Finding your specialty quickly means you can focus on improving that aspect, and it allows you to focus on one specific customer base to get you going.

Advertise yourself

Marketing your real estate business is the best way to make sure you get new customers all the time. You want customers to think of your face, name or phone number whenever they decide to buy a new home, so consider hiring a marketing company to help you figure out the best way to spend your advertising budget.

Gather your resources

Starting your business will likely take time, hard work and a bit of money in start-up costs. If you don’t have this money hanging out in your account, look into getting a loan. There are many different lenders that can help you out, and there are sometimes small business programs that you could qualify for, so make sure you check out your options.

Expanding a Real Estate Business

Now that you have chosen your real estate sector and started to make some money moves, you might consider expanding your business to take on a bit more.

Check out a few great ideas that can help your business as it starts to grow larger.

Get some virtual help

More leads and properties mean more appointments, so you should consider looking into a virtual assistant to help you with some of your day-to-day online activities. The tasks a virtual assistant can do vary, but you can often use them the same way you would a receptionist by allowing them to handle your appointment bookings, emails and office phone calls.

This way, you won’t have to worry about being in the office to address questions all of the time, and it looks far more professional than constantly sending clients to voicemail.

Hire some marketing experts

We mentioned earlier how a marketing team could help you out when it comes to getting the word out about your business, but they can also help you generate more leads. Marketing locally is excellent when you are first starting out, but real estate transactions often happen with people who are moving in from somewhere else, so you need to consider how wide your current ads are reaching.

Online marketing is one of the fastest and easiest ways to bring in out-of-town customers, and a marketing expert can use different advertising styles (such as PPC, social media or email campaigns) to fit your needs.

Bring in new agents

If you find yourself starting to turn away customers or you can’t find the time to manage the ones you already have, then consider bringing in an agent to help you out on your extra listings. You can work together or separately on the listings and arrange whatever payment situation you both feel comfortable with so that you can keep your business going while bringing in new customers.

Make sure you are bringing in the right person for the job, and write up a contract based on your payment schedule to ensure there are no significant issues if one of you decides to leave the brokerage.

Flipping your Real Estate Business

Congratulations! YOu have finally built a successful real estate business with tons of leads, sales and connections to the local market! After all of that hard work, it might be time to consider retiring or switching to a less demanding career, so what happens to your business?

Look at a few different places where you can offload your business without letting all that work go to waste.

Sell it entirely for cash

If you want to cut ties completely with the real estate business, then this is the best option for you to consider. In this option, you would be selling everything that comes along with your company and giving up control over the business to someone else.

Keep in mind that this is the least used option when it comes to selling a real estate business, and there are quite a few different legal precautions you need to take to ensure that everything is handed over entirely, so make sure you contact a business lawyer to help you out with the paperwork.

Sell it to someone you know and trust

This is less of a sale and more of a transfer, and it typically happens with business partners or family members that are looking to take over your business altogether. This transfer is commonly a little bit easier than selling your business to a stranger, as these business moves are fairly familiar to banks and lenders.

This is another situation that will typically require a lawyer, but the process might be a little quicker than a cash sale as you already have a buyer in place to transfer the company over to.

Phase out of the business slowly

If you want to make sure everything in your real estate company is in the best condition it can be before you leave, then you could consider doing a gradual takeover by the new owner. This gives you a chance to reap some of the rewards in the last few years while mentoring the new owner so that they can remain successful.

Phasing out of your business is a fantastic idea if you are not 100% ok with the new owners of your company, and it gives you a chance to hold onto some of the major aspects of your company before relinquishing full control.

This process is likely going to take a long time, but it can go even faster if you are able to build a successful business that has stability, presence and notoriety to give it new clients in the future.

A good real estate business can make you money for years, and you can even retire earlier than you thought if you choose to sell it at the right time. These are just a few tips to get you going and make sure that your real estate business becomes something you can be proud of from the first day until the last.