1. Explain what separates you from other Real Estate agents?
This is the candidate's opportunity to shine. Look for those interviewees who really sell themselves and tell you why they'd be a great hire. Seek candidates that list more than just personality traits (i.e. a hard worker, or fast learner), but those who can provide examples from their previous work history that exemplify those traits.
2. Explain how do you prefer to communicate with leads?
The culture of your brokerage should play into this question. If your brokerage is located in a small town, maybe phone calls work best. If your brokerage is in a large city, maybe text messages or emails are preferred. Also consider what forms of communication match your agents' client base best.
3. Explain where and how do you provide advertising for the associates?
Print advertising popularity is on the decline, so how is the company providing alternative ways to capture leads and route them back to you? Company-hosted lead capture websites, web and print marketing, floor time and open house availability all come into play to provide you with contacts. Keep in mind that ultimately, the most lucrative real estate businesses are built through referrals of personal friends, family and past clients and colleagues.
4. Tell me what commission does your company charge a seller for selling a home?
☛ What commission do you charge for undeveloped land or lots?
☛ Do I have the authority to list for less commission under certain circumstances?
☛ If yes, what are those conditions?
☛ Could I list it for more?
5. Explain how do you find seller leads?
It's a sellers market, your lead should have a strategy in place to find and convert seller leads. Possible answers might be PPC ads, social media ads, blogging, marketing flyers, print ads, or lead generation services.
6. Tell me how many listings does the office have?
☛ What is the normal amount?
☛ How many is that per full time agent?
☛ What is the average list price of the listings?
☛ What is the average sales price of the office?
☛ What percentage of listings are sold in house?
7. Explain how do you find buyer leads?
Some brokers might like an agent whose lead generation matches that of other agents at their firm. Others might like an agent that uses methods they'd like their other agent team members to learn, such as social media, blogs, or search engine marketing.
8. Explain did your previous brokerage use any CRM or lead generation systems?
This should give you some insight into which programs they are familiar with and how tech savvy they are. If the candidate is not familiar with your CRM, lead generation, or other Real Estate service software program, see if they are eager to learn new programs.
9. Tell me how many full time agents do you have?
☛ How many do you want?
☛ How many part time agents?
☛ What is the agent turnover rate?
☛ What is the average tenure of agents?
10. Explain what is the average income per year of full time agents in this office?
Get a realistic business plan, knowing how many houses you'll need to sell on average to earn a comfortable income. Knowing what the company considers as “average” will give you a snapshot view of what is expected of you, and what the company is prepared to coach you towards.
11. Explain do you use any Real Estate databases, such as Realtor, Trulia, or Zillow?
If your brokerage uses any particular online databases, see if this agent is familiar with it or if they have experience using similar databases.
12. Tell us which social media platforms are you currently using?
Compare the candidate's answer to other agents at your firm. Maybe this candidate could help your agents with newer platforms like Instagram or Snapchat.
13. Tell me in which publications do you advertise?
☛ How often?
☛ Who pays for it?
☛ Who determines which listings get advertised?
☛ Who writes the ads?
14. Tell me do you have weekly sales meetings and property tours?
☛ What day, time, and how long do the meetings usually last?
☛ Could I attend a sales meeting before I make a final commitment to come on board?
15. Explain what business necessities are you willing to pay for?
Real estate agents are responsible for all aspects of running their own business, but brokers can help out by providing them with items like business cards and signs as well as office and tech support.
16. Explain have you ever fired a client? If so, can you tell me why you did?
When asking this question, prospective agents should
1) provide a professional reason why this lead was difficult to work with,
2) what steps they took to try to repair the relationship before ending it and
3) what they learned from the experience.
17. Explain what commission level are you prepared to offer me?
Do yourself a favor – don't ask about commission until the very end of the interview. Your commission split may be negotiable and dependent upon how the manager has determined what your business growth rate will likely look like in the next six to 12 months. Asking this question too soon in your interview can be detrimental; you may unknowingly set yourself up for disappointment when you force the manager to provide you with a low-risk response before either of you have a chance to understand what you can offer to each other.
18. Tell me do you have a full time receptionist/secretary?
Would clerical assistance be available to me such as preparation of monthly mailers, typing letters, preparing flyers, entering and making changes in listings, etc.?
19. Tell me do you have a commercial department?
☛ Do you do property management?
☛ Will I receive referral fees from a business I may refer to?
☛ Do you have in-house loan offices?
20. Explain me how accessible is management?
Will you be on your own a lot, or will the sales manager be readily accessible? How often is he or she in the office and can you get a hold of them whenever you need to?
21. Explain me how many leads are you currently working with?
Compare this number to the agents at your brokerage. If they're just starting out, ask how they'd find leads.
22. Tell us how many top agents do you have?
Top agents generally sell more than 15 homes in a year. Pay attention to them in sales meetings to learn the most.
23. Explain how many homes did you sell last year?
Don't beat around the bush, this question is the equivalent of asking for a pay history.
24. Explain what would your previous brokerage say about you?
The interviewee should touch not only on what traits their brokerage would mention, but how their personal traits led to a positive outcome for the brokerage.
25. Explain how would you build a client base?
The candidate should provide an outline of what previous marketing plans they have implemented.
26. Explain what is your dream job?
If the interviewee answers with a non Real Estate realted job, maybe reconsider them as a candidate.
27. Do you have a personal website and/or any IDX homes search sites?
All agents in today's age should have at least a personal website.
Do you know why you want a career in real estate? You may love to sell, love to help people, or feel you would be a natural. The perception that real estate sales as a career with flexible hours, unlimited income, and glamor might motivate some.
Many people come to the real estate industry as mature adults, rather than young people fresh out of school. The primary reason for this is that selling homes is expensive and income is irregular. It takes confidence to make it as an independent business person, which is what a real estate salesperson is. Even though you will be supervised by a broker, you are essentially building your own business and will be responsible for your own productivity and expenses.
Although it's true you can set your own hours, income needs demand that you frequently schedule yourself to please your clients. Income can be unlimited, but so are the very real costs to develop your name (personal brand awareness) and expertise and to market listings.
29. Business Based Broker Agent Job Interview Questions:
☛ Does the company have a philosophy on how I should build my business?
☛ How does the company help me establish priorities and goals? Examples?
☛ Do we receive help establishing a business plan?
☛ Can I “brand” myself and my business? If so, how?
☛ What legal status do I assume with the company? Independent Contractor or otherwise?
☛ Is there a contract required? Can I see a copy?
☛ Do you have a Policy/Procedures Manual? May I see it? Do I receive my own copy?
☛ Does the company offer systems to help build my business? What are they?
☛ In regard to building my branding:
☛ What does your signage look like? Are there options?
☛ Are personal logos (slogans) allowed?
☛ What card design is used? Flexibility?
☛ Collateral and advertising materials you use?
☛ Can I acquire Builder accounts on my own? If not, how are they handled and at what cost?
☛ Can I acquire Relocation accounts on my own? If not, how are they handled and at what cost?
☛ How does the company handle incoming referrals? Do your agents consider a fair system?
☛ Does the company have an advertising policy? Explain how it works? Who pays for it? Can I do my own advertising?
☛ How are sign and ad calls handled in the company?
☛ Do you have a floor time requirement?
☛ Can I direct my own sign and advertisement calls to me directly?
☛ Do you require Errors & Omissions insurance? Who pays for it? What happens if there is an overage in that account collected from the agents?
☛ What is my exposure in the event of a lawsuit?
☛ Do you help with my accounting?
☛ If our relationship was not successful, who owns the rights to my listings?
☛ If I were to leave, how are my pending commissions handled?
30. Office Management Based Broker Agent Job Interview Questions:
☛ What is the manager's priorities and basic responsibilities?
☛ Do they list or sell property as agents of the firm?
☛ Describe the additional staff and their responsibilities?
☛ Is agent input encouraged? If so, how is it acquired?
☛ Describe your meetings in the office? Frequency? Is attendance required?
☛ Who establishes office policies?
☛ Describe the type of culture you create in the office? How is this done?
☛ List the reasons an agent would be asked to leave your firm and why?
☛ Do you share the company books with the agents? If so, how often?
☛ How are “housekeeping” items conveyed to the agents?
31. Company History Based Broker Agent Job Interview Questions:
☛ Can you give me a brief history of the Company? Who are the owners? Why was it started?
☛ Is the company an independent operation or a franchise?
☛ How many offices do they have and where are they?
☛ History of the current management?
☛ Does the company have a mission statement? Values? Core beliefs?
☛ How many agents work here? How many are new agents? Experienced?
☛ How many agents would bring you to capacity?
☛ What is your typical turnover rate of agents?
☛ What professional designations do your agents hold?
☛ What is the historical record of closed volume this office has done?
☛ What type of market penetration numbers do you have?
☛ What affiliations does the company have?
☛ Does the company own affiliated businesses? Do the agents share in this?
32. Technology Based Broker Agent Job Interview Questions:
☛ What is the company's basic philosophy in regard to using technology?
☛ Does the company provide high-speed internet access and at what cost?
☛ Are the printers/computers/machines in the office networked? Can I hook into this network?
☛ Do you provide specific software/ What are the programs?
☛ Do you provide voicemail?
☛ Do you provide e-mail? Is it private?
☛ Do you provide a web site for the agents?
☛ Do you provide any type of computer training?
☛ Do you provide software training?
☛ Does the company have a web site? An Intranet site?
☛ Are their presentations available that are electronic from the company?
☛ Do you encourage using Personal Data (palm pilots) Assistants? How?
☛ Does the company provide marketing templates?
☛ Does the company provide forecasting electronically?
☛ Can I do my accounting electronically?
☛ What type of long-term technology support can the company offer?
33. Economic Based Broker Agent Job Interview Questions:
☛ How does your commission/compensation program work?
☛ Can you take me through a “live” example by the numbers?
☛ What is the office procedure for getting paid on a closing?
☛ Are agents in the office on different plans? Explain them?
☛ What is the initial and ongoing cost of my affiliation with the company?
☛ Can I hire a personal assistant? Can they be licensed? Does the company charge me a fee for the assistant? What commission program does the assistant fall under?
☛ Do you have a profit sharing program with agents? How does it work?
☛ Are their other investment opportunities with the company? How do they work?
☛ What is the policy and cost if I buy or sell real estate personally?
34. Training Based Broker Agent Job Interview Questions:
☛ Tell me about your training philosophy?
☛ Do you have a New Agent training program? How is it structured?
☛ Can I see the program?
☛ What is the cost of the program?
☛ Who are the instructors and what are their backgrounds?
☛ Where is it held and at what times?
☛ Is fieldwork encouraged during the program?
☛ Is there a follow-up career launch type program to help get started?
☛ Is there a system in place to encourage early accountability?
☛ What Board of Realtors training is available?
☛ What type of ongoing training do you do? Can I see your training calendar?
☛ Is there an office orientation program?
☛ What type of advanced training is available and who teaches it?
☛ Do any courses provide licensing credit?
35. Behavioral Broker Agent Job Interview Questions:
☛ Describe your most challenging project so far. How did you deal with it?
☛ Do you prefer working independently or as part of a group?
☛ Describe a situation where you had to manage a highly demanding client. What did you do to meet their needs?
☛ What resources do you use to stay up-to-date with trends in the real estate market?
