Property Manager vs Sales Person – Which Job Is Better For You?
If you’re thinking about starting a career in real estate, you need to consider which role is right for you. Being a Property Manager or Real Estate Sales Person are two of the most common jobs. So, which one is better for you? We discuss each role’s tasks, salary, traits, pros and cons to help you decide which is your dream career.
What It Takes To Be A Property Manager
What They Do
As a Property Manager, your job is to act as an intermediary between property owners (landlords) and tenants in rental agreements. You are responsible for showing prospective tenants through properties and assessing their suitability on behalf of owners. Once the tenants have moved in, you must collect rent and carry out inspections to ensure properties are maintained and necessary repairs are completed.
What They Earn
A Queensland Property Manager can expect to earn between $35,000 to $67,748 per year, with an average annual salary of $49,286. What you earn as a Property Manager really comes back to the agency you work for, the experience you gain, the upskilling you undertake, and bonuses you achieve. These factors play a big part in boosting your annual income.
Which Traits They Must Have
If you’re considering starting a career as a Property Manager, there are many traits you must possess or will need to develop for success. Top Property Managers are:
- Detail-oriented – You pay attention to the details. This ensures you comply with legislation and local council requirements, as well as maintaining your client’s peace-of-mind that their asset is being properly managed. Being detail-oriented ensures you deliver a professional service.
- Organised – To successfully manage a portfolio of properties, landlords and tenants, you need to be highly organised. You must coordinate and complete multiple tasks every day, on top of emergency maintenance or disputes that may arise. As well, you must meet all due dates for inspections, lease payments and renewals, maintenance bills, and financial reports.
- Knowledgeable – You manage one of your clients’ most important assets so you must become the expert in property management keeping up with the latest legal and industry advancements and changes.
- Communication Skills – You must have excellent communication skills. Property Managers need to communicate clearly and concisely with landlords, tenants and maintenance-providers to ensure all tasks and emergency issues are effectively managed.
- Negotiation Skills – You will be required to negotiate between landlords and tenants. Tenants will want things fixed and landlords will resist spending money unnecessarily. Your ability to negotiate through this for a successful outcome to all parties will be essential.
- People Skills – To be successful in this role, you must work well with people of all personality types. Excellent customer service skills are necessary to build and maintain relationships with current and prospective clients, tenants and maintenance-providers.
Pros And Cons Of Being A Property Manager
There are many positives and some negatives to working as a Property Manager. The main pros and cons of this career include:
- Pro – You develop many valuable real estate skills, which can help progress your career
- Pro – You carry out a huge range of tasks, which means there is never a dull day
- Pro – You get to help people with one of their greatest assets, which can be personally rewarding
- Pro – You are able to maintain more consistent hours than a sales person, this means Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm can be standard working conditions
- Con – Property management can be emotionally taxing when it comes to some tasks, such as evictions for rent arrears
- Con – You deal with many owner and tenant disputes and emergency issues, so much of your job may seem like putting out fires
What It Takes To Be A Sales Person
What They Do
As a Real Estate Sales Person, your job is to arrange the sale and lease of properties. In this role, you provide property owners with an estimated market value of their property. Once a price is agreed upon, you take responsibility for marketing the property and conducting home opens and viewings. During these viewings, you must answer questions from potential buyers about the property and surrounding suburbs. Your goal is to sell the property for the best possible price for your client.
What They Earn
A Queensland Real Estate Sales Person can expect to earn between $32,000 to $82,000 per year, with the average starting salary for this job being $45,000.
Agents receive commission for each sale price. In fact, Queensland has the third highest average commission rate in Australia being from 2% to 5%, or more. As a result, how much you earn as a Sales Person comes down to how driven you are and your commitment.
Which Traits They Must Have
If you’re considering starting a career as a Real Estate Sales Person, there are many traits you must possess or will need to develop for success. Top Sales People are:
- Natural Marketers – As a Real Estate Sales Person, you must have a flair for marketing both yourself and the properties you represent. This is crucial for building your profile, winning more clients, and closing more sales.
- Committed – You must show commitment to your job and clients. It’s essential that you follow up every lead, close as many sales as possible, and keep clients informed at every point in the buying or selling process.
- Goal-oriented – You must be driven by sales goals. Most real estate agencies have sales targets for their staff. Being goal-oriented and motivated by these targets means the potential for you to make more money.
- Proactive – You must proactively contact prospective buyers, communicate with existing clients, and constantly chase new leads. Proactively communicating with prospectives and clients helps you list and sell more.
- Resilient – A sales environment can be full of ups and downs. Whilst selling a property gives you a great feeling, constant rejection can sometimes be deflating. Being resilient and positive will see you through the lulls of real estate sales.
- Relationship builder – To be successful in this role, you must be a people person. This means you are friendly, engaging and good at networking. This helps you build better relationships with prospectives and clients, which leads to more and better sales.
Pros And Cons Of Being A Sales Person
There are many positives and some negatives to working as a Sales Person. The main pros and cons of this career include:
- Pro – You are essentially your own boss, which means more control over your career, income and schedule
- Pro – You can earn as much as you want, it’s up to how driven you are to achieve and exceed sales targets
- Pro – You have flexible working hours, so can choose how to order your day
- Pro – You get to help people with one of their greatest assets, which can be personally rewarding
- Con – Unfortunately work follows you home, so you may need to take calls, answer emails or meet clients after-hours and on weekends
- Con – This also means you usually work long hours
- Con – Your income isn’t steady, so how much you earn depends on how much you sell – Commission Is King!
So, Which Job Is Better?
It comes back to which job is better for you and what you want from your career in real estate. You must consider your career goals, ideal salary, desired working conditions, personal traits you possess or would like to develop, and the lifestyle you want to lead.
Whilst being a Property Manager or Sales Person offers many amazing opportunities, they are very different roles. So, you need to decide which is the right job for you!
Regardless of which job you choose, you must complete the registration certificate course to get started in real estate. The good news is, you can complete your training at Validum Institute. Call us TODAY on (07) 3193 5270 to start your registration certificate course and find out more about our fresh new blended approach to learning.
We’d love to know which real estate job you think is better. Email me your thoughts at victor.james@validumgroup.com.au.
