Developing a Real Estate business plan
Developing a business plan is one of the most crucial steps to starting a sustainable business model, defining and measuring your goals, and setting a comprehensive plan to help you achieve those goals. This article provides an overview of how to develop a real estate business plan. Traditionally, a business plan is prepared by a business owner that describes their reasons for opening a new business, their business's functions, the funds required to start the business, and their sources of funding, risks, and goals. Real estate business plans consist of similar components but usually focus on specific real estate functions, your real estate business plan will guide you through how much can you expect to earn? How should you budget? How many transactions will you need in order to reach your income goals? How should you be allocating your money toward marketing, continuing education, and other expenses? You should address all those questions in your real estate business plan. This will keep you focused and on track as you go through the plan creation process.
These are a few steps to help out;
1: Establish your goals and mission statement
Your business plan should detail your long- and short-term business goals. Articulating your mission (or your long term objective) is important. Doing so allows you to start each day with a purpose. Do you want to be the go-to agent in your community for land purchases? Perhaps you want to build a reputation in the luxury market, and sell a certain number of million-dollar properties. For instance, Debo Adejana, the CEO and founder of Realty Point Ltd., has enabled his company to provide Real Estate solutions, leveraging on modern day technology. No matter what your specific goals, writing them down will motivate you. IIt will also help you develop your marketing strategy.
2: Develop your marketing strategy
Ask yourself: what is your unique value proposition? What, specifically, will you bring to the table that stands out from other agents? Once you determine to whom you’re marketing, and what their needs are, you’ll be able to write specific, actionable steps to help you attract and work with that target customer. Also, it’s important to have a marketing campaign that is consistent and scalable. You can check out our article on effective marketing.
3: Organize your finances
Having a sound financial plan as you begin your career will be vital to your success, especially in view of all the expenses you’ll incur in your first year. First, you’ll want to track your expenses and lay out your financial obligations. Also, invest in the right educational resources and tools to expand your professional knowledge and abilities that will ultimately position you for additional growth as well as set you on the path to building a thriving career. Professional growth is indispensable to your success as a realtor. Also, it is important you calculate the number of transactions you’ll need to complete to meet your income goals and cover your expenses.
4: Put your plan into action
As you create your action plan, be as detailed and specific as you can. Look at the goals you created in Step 2 and give each goal a strategy and the custom-tailored actions you think you need to put into place to make that strategy come to life. Focus on the skills you will need to cultivate and the things you need to do to develop those skills. For example you may know that you need to hone your negotiating techniques and improve your communication skills. Your plan will include activities that will help you improve that skills. Try to include at least one action per skill you need to cultivate. As you progress through the plan, revisit it more frequently and monitor your progress.
5: Evaluate
Know what’s working and what’s not. As you implement your business plan and take steps toward your goals, keep revisiting the plan. Evaluate how it’s working. Your business plan should evolve as you grow professionally. Share the plan with your trusted partners, who may have insights that can help you improve it, the better to reach your goals
In conclusion, remember even a well-written plan can be extremely difficult to stick to if there isn’t enough guidance or understanding. As a new realtor, you will need to be sure that the business plan is comprehensive enough to guide you during your first two or three years in the business.
