Real Estate Agent

by Staff Reporter
by Staff Reporter
If you’re confident in your sales abilities and an avid interest in the property market then a career as a Real Estate Agent could be for you.

Career Overview

Becoming a Real Estate Agent isn’t as easy as it used to be – but if you are passionate about people, property and performance then it is definitely something that you can do and excel at!

To be a Real Estate Agent is much more than just being involved in the buying and selling of houses. You will be involved in some of the most special moments in peoples’ lives – helping them secure their first house to begin an important and exciting chapter of their life or selling their house to move on to a new chapter.

As a Real Estate Agent, you will come into contact with people from all walks of life and be involved in a number of activities – from sales to the signing of legal documentation.

You can read a more in-depth explanation of how to become a Real Estate Agent on the private property website.

Required School Subjects

There are no required school subjects but if you would like to pursue a career as a Real Estate Agent, you will find the following subjects to be very helpful:

  • English (Home Language or First Additional Language)
  • Pure Mathematics

Institution and APS

One cannot do a 3-year degree that would enable one to become a Real Estate Agent. Rather, one would have to do the internship, complete the logbook and potentially also attain the Further Education and Training Certificate (FETC) in Real Estate at level NQF 4.

Thus, there is no required APS score. However, we can recommend the Real Estate Agent course offered by UCT through GetSmarter. Prop Academy also offers Real Estate Agent courses.

Required Qualification/s

In order to become a Real Estate Agent you will need to do the following:

  1. Complete the 12 month internship
  2. Complete your logbook during your internship
  3. Take the 3 hour multiple choice exam
  4. Complete the FETC at level NQF 4
  5. You can find out more about all of the above

Required Skills

The following skills are needed in order to be a successful Real Estate Agent:

  • Knowledge of real estate market
  • Knowledge of purchase process
  • Communication skills
  • Negotiation skills
  • Self-confidence
  • Honesty and integrity

Where you can work

Real Estate Agents can work anywhere in the South African real estate market and thus can be very mobile – where there is a need for housing, there is work for estate agents.

Qualifications acquired in South Africa will not necessarily be transferable across the world and you should investigate the prerequisites in other countries, if you ever think of moving!

Working Hours

Many people think that a job as a Real Estate Agent is a very easy one – they’re wrong. To be a successful Real Estate Agent requires hard work, dedication and focus for the entirety of the working week – often weekends too! You will, however, dictate your own working hours or have them dictated to you by the company for whom you work. You can plan to be working from as little as 2 to as many as 10 hours a day. On average, you will probably find yourself working 6 hour days.

Expected Salary

The Real Estate Market is associated with a lot of money. However, recent research shows that 20% of Agents earn 80% of the pot and the remaining 20% is left for the other 80% of Agents. The agents that are earning 80% of the pot are those who work the extra hours and have the ‘x-factor’.

Your salary as a Real Estate Agent will not be much as the majority of a real estate agent’s income is from commission.

On average, you can expect to earn between R40 000 and R60 000/month. Be sure to keep in mind that the housing market, like all markets, does go through ups and downs and you will most likely experience many months that do not fit into this average.

What to expect

Here are a few things you can expect from a career as an IT consultant:

  • possible long hours spent on solving difficult problems (as well as the reward of actually reolving the issue)
  • having to stay on top of the latest software developments – perhaps further study will be needed
  • constantly in demand 

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