Financial Tips For Real Estate Agents Moving Into A Larger Market

Moving into a new and larger market can seem daunting for real estate agents of all experiences. It’s critical to review and revamp your financial wellness as you navigate your relocation into a new housing market.

Intro

When transitioning to a larger real estate market, the opportunity for financial success becomes more abundant. Whether you’re seeking out a new challenge or not, there are a variety of reasons why real estate agents may want to relocate.

Relocating to a new market has its benefits and hardships. Bigger markets are profitable but challenging because of their ever-changing and competitive nature. It can be intimidating but prosperous if you are knowledgeable and prepared. It’s crucial to hit the ground running by researching to understand the new market.

Understand The New Market

There are several strategies real estate agents can put in place to get a better understanding of your new city and market. Several ways to take advantage of your relocation is by socializing, networking, marketing, and holding open houses.

Socialize & Network

When you move into a new community, it’s critical that you engage with potential customers and respectable agents in the area. Joining and being active in local networking groups are a great way to build relationships and get real estate leads in any market. This will help you get a better idea of real estate patterns, trends, and the overall culture of the community.

Market Yourself & Hold Open Houses

Other tactics include marketing and holding frequent open houses. Create an effective plan that focuses on digital marketing and physical marketing tools. Holding several open houses, a week can help create a name for yourself which is critical within the larger market.

Finding the right brokerage can also help you leverage the benefits of holding three to four open houses a week. Shop around to see which brokerage firm could be the right one for you. This is a reliable way to appeal to a large population of prospective homeowners. These tactics will drastically boost your confidence while helping you get the lay of the land.

Analyze Your Expenses & Income

Due to market changes, and home buying patterns, managing your finances as a real estate professional can be difficult. To organize your finances, it’s important to record and analyze your income and any associated expenses.

Track Your Expenses

Tracking your expenses is a great way to review how much you are spending on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. This can include expenses like mortgage payments, credit card payments, car payments, and even savings/401(k) payments. Some business expenses can include membership fees, associated dues, and more. If you don’t know where to start, there are a variety of expense management systems that can assist you.

Analyze Your Income

Like tracking your expenses, it’s best practice to analyze your income as well. To pay for these expenses, analyzing your income is crucial to staying consistent. This will give you a better idea of what’s working, what’s not, and how to adjust to any market changes. Do this for three to four months and pick up on patterns that will help you construct your ideal financial plan.

Develop Separate Budgets

After gathering the necessary expense and income statistics, you can develop your budgets. Creating two budgets is essential as you navigate your real estate relocation. Your budgets may differ from the previous expectations of your last market. Establish one budget for your real estate business and another for your personal life.

Business Budget

In your business budget, you should record your marketing plan payments, license fees, and membership dues, including any Multiple Listing Services (MLS) dues. Extra costs include, office overhead payments, office rent and insurance costs. One example of a real estate insurance policy is Errors & Omissions Insurance. This is one way to protect yourself from liability of negligence.

Personal Budget

When creating your personal budget, consider relocation costs to this larger city. Naturally, figuring out how much house you can afford will vary depending on the location you choose and will directly affect your budget. Other housing budget elements include mortgage payments, home insurance, and maintenance costs. Other payments can include groceries, utilities, and extra home upgrade and repair costs.

It’s equally important to be mindful of your personal taxes and investment payments. Depending on your data, you should be mindful of where you can cut back on expenses if applicable.

If you’re not sure where to start or having trouble coming up with a useful budget, hire a financial advisor. Not only will they help you manage your personal finances, but they may also be able to assist you with your business finances as well.

Create An Emergency Plan

An important financial tip that every real estate agent should practice is developing some sort of emergency plan. Being in a fluctuating profession, it’s important to have some sort of financial backup plan in place. If your new real estate market is slower than you expected, having additional finances can help you stay afloat.

Create A Separate Bank Account

To build your emergency plan, you should create a separate bank account for these savings. Also, it’s important to make this a part of your budget planning. On a monthly basis, you should record and set aside funds in this emergency account.

Set Aside Funds

It’s best to set specific goals for investing, no matter the amount. Over time, you will develop a pattern of setting aside funds that make the most sense for you. As a best practice, you should do this for three to six months. Some months will be more successful than others but be mindful of creating a consistent balance to fall back on.

Conclusion

If you aspire to move into a larger market, it’s critical to engage and understand the market to find success. You must be knowledgeable of your income, expenses, and the fluctuation of your new housing market. Your friends at LabCoatAgents have you covered for every real estate question!