I’m going over how you should hire your first showing assistant, pay them, and avoid mistakes along the way.
Have you considered hiring a showing agent to give you more leverage with your real estate business? I get it—once your real estate career starts picking up, it can feel like you never have enough time. One of the easiest ways you can buy back your time is by working with a showing agent. This allows you to spend all the time you would have spent on showings on money-making activities instead. It’s a great way to gain leverage, and I recommend it to many agents when they’re first feeling overwhelmed. However, working with a showing agent raises an obvious question: How should you pay them? Here are three tips to make sure you’re getting the most out of your showing agents:
1. How to find your showing agent. Before looking for a showing agent, it’s important to first speak with your broker to see if there are any limitations on who you’re allowed to hire. Keep in mind that with the NAR/DOJ settlement, we all must have a buyer respresentation agreement in place before we show any properties. So, it may be the case that you are not allowed to hire anyone outside your company to show your properties when you are unavailable.
To find the best showing agent possible, you can use third party apps, websites, or email trees to help you find someone. All agents need to pay the bills, and newer agents might not make enough from commissions yet to cover all their expenses. By offering them to be your showing agent, they can get the opportunity to make extra cash while you free up time to spend on more important activities. If you are liimited to people in your company, you can always ask an assistant to help you out.
“Hiring a showing agent is all about giving yourself more leverage.”
2. Pay them extra for the first home. When you find a good candidate, offer them extra money for their first home. This first job will double as their “audition” — if they do a good job, they’ll earn the right to work with you on more homes in the future. The higher first-home rate will also help you attract the highest-quality candidates possible for the position.
3. Pay in cash upfront per home. This is the best and simplest way to pay your showing agents. By paying them upfront, you make sure that you’re only paying for work done. Plus, you can avoid contingencies or other contracts that put you at risk of overpaying.
At the end of the day, hiring a showing agent is all about giving yourself more leverage to grow your business. If you’re looking to take an even bigger leap, please call or email our team. We have the training and resources you need to focus your time on money-making activities. Make it a great day!
