Real estate agents corner

Hi Real Estate Agents,
My name is Sean. I have decided to start off this forum to network all real estate agents out there trying to make a good living by operating a real estate office, or work for commercial real estate firm, overseeing real estate transactions and closing transparent real estate transactions and feel really good doing so.


Real estate is one of the booming sectors and everyone wants to make a mark there. There is a lot of competition and only those with vision, passion, and ability to work hard can achieve this success. In this field, you must define your objectives, that is what you want to achieve from the particular business venture. You must also focus on your goals, aims and targets.


Therefore, I intend that we pick the topics listed below and 'trash' it out one by one (discussion by discussion):

AGENT MARKETING CHALLENGES AND HOW TO OVERCOME THEM: New agents face a variety of challenges that are unique to their industry. In this discussion, we will discuss some of the biggest obstacles to self-promotion, and what you can do to overcome them.


If you have been in the agency business long enough to have several threats from the Landlord saying “No, I won’t drop the price, I’ve got five tenants interested!"

Have you heard this before? It’s the often repeated words by landlords but he doesn’t really have five tenants interested in his property does he?

This landlord is a victim of one fundamental problem in today’s Lagos real estate market. What problem is this?

Lets rewind all events prior to the Landlords palava, while sitting in my office a friend asks which agency can help him find an apartment. Real estate is my ‘Onion’ so know a thing or two about good agencies. After a second I reluctantly say what everyone else says:

“Go speak to several agents, you never know who will have the perfect apartment.”

So he did, and a funny thing happened. The agents narrowed down their properties, came back with options and each eventually found what they considered to be the ideal apartment. But here’s the Knot: it was the same apartment. He was asked to view this apartment again and again by five different agents. What was worse, the landlord now thought he had five people interested in his apartment and wouldn’t budge on the price.

This insanity stems from a very similar dance between every seller/landlord in Nigeria and his agent, or in most cases, agents! Each seller/landlord wants exposure on all possible media channels, good advice, someone to take care of the viewings and the best possible price. What does this mean to you?

But there’s a fundamental flaw with this behavior. How much time is wasted by the seller running around to multiple offices, giving each the necessary documentation, then trying to coordinate visits with each agent? How much time is wasted by the agents adding the same property multiple times, meeting buyers and never being guaranteed commission for any of this effort. We, as an industry, can do better than this! Don’t you all think so?;)


Sean