Internet Marketing Has Boosted Sales In Philadelphia Real Estate
Scott Li runs ww.RealtyTopia.com, which is a real estate brokerage in the greater Philly area. RealtyTopia features advanced real estate technology for Philadelphia and the surrounding area. They provide up-to-date information on current home listings in an easy to navigate setting.
When hiring for your company, what do you look for in an employee?
"When hiring, I look for these qualities: ambitious, passionate, resilient, and entrepreneurial. These are all qualities a realtor must possess in able to sustain and have a long-lasting career in real estate, especially on the sales side dealing with buyers and sellers. In the beginning, you'll hit some obstacles and how you get over these obstacles will depend on the aforementioned qualities."
What advice would you give to someone entering into your field?
"Some advice that I would give to someone entering my field is that by becoming a real estate agent/realtor, you are essentially going into business for yourself so there will be sacrifice along the way. You are building a book of business that will consistently feed you leads and referrals. If you want to become a good real estate agent/realtor, study houses, study their engineering and their architecture. Study it so much so that when you have a buyer or seller, you bring good quality informational value to them. This is definitely not a quick sale type of business such as walking into a store and buying something quickly and walking out. Instead, you are looking to build long-term relationships with each and every client you service."
What changes have you observed in the past year as far as business growth and hiring practices are concerned?
"Something that I've observed is that in 2008, the housing bubble happened. The areas that got affected most are rural towns and suburbs not having a Metropolitan presence. Thankfully for us, we are part of the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area and we have been seeing steady rises in the sale and purchase of homes. Values have even gone up over the years so real estate sales are ascending again. We mainly focus on internet marketing here at our brokerage and providing leads to our realtors/real estate agents, we have leveraged this aspect to our advantage especially in a day and age where 90 percent of home buyers start looking online first. In that sense, because we are able to source these leads for our realtors which they wouldn't have been able to find on their own, business growth has been solid. This is a huge value added for any realtor that joins our brokerage and allows us to tighten up on the hiring procedure when we interview realtors and also allows us to be selective. Our internet marketing is very scalable and as we add realtors, we ramp up our spending to acquire more leads."
What is the median salary for a position in your field?
"This industry is normally commission based. On average once a real estate agent/realtor has reached sustainability, the average (not top agent) agent can expect to take home $50-$70K/year assuming an average of two transactions per month."
What type of education do you need for a position in your field?
"There is no degree requirement for real estate. You just have to take 60 credits of approved classes and then sit for the state and federal exam. You then have to pass these exams with at least a 75 percent score."
Christina Thompson is a freelance writer living in Philadelphia. She reports on various topics such as; Social Media, Local Events, Entertainment, Food and Drink and more. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.