Real estate is often looked at as a service industry. Most brokers do provide a service. They accompany people who want to buy homes, business property and other properties, but it is a business and well. A for profit business.
Real estate forms go beyond landlord tenant forms and purchase agreements. These legal forms are typically governed by local and state law. They have to be worded correctly according to the regulations that are set forth or there could be liable problems down the road, for both the parties and the real estate professional. In every state of the union there are licensing agencies for these professionals. To become a licensed real estate professional there are classes and tests that have to be passed to get that license. Al are trained within the locality that they plan on practicing in, in the proper use of these legal forms, word for the forms and potential ethical dilemmas. The people that work in this profession can also be sued for improper handling of the sale and transfer of property and the legal forms that they prepare. There is a lot of time and effort put next to become a real estate professional. Building a business out of all this time and effort is a separate task entirely.
Most recently licensed real estate agents do not go into business for themselves, they usually work for someone else. As a matter of fact, in most states, a licensed agent or sales person is required to put in a certain amount of hours under a real estate broker. This practice allows the sales person to gain experience and to hone these types of skills. Most people are not able to start this kind of a business right away. They have to spend time working under a broker and learning the routes. Once the time has been put in than there is more testing that is required to get a brokers license. The testing and the class work actually continues through the professional life of the real estate professional. There is periodic testing done to allow the people that work in this field to keep their license in good standing.
It takes not only time and effort to start this kind of a business, but it always takes money. Working from home is an easy solution for an owner but over time with an increase in business it may be required to hire other experienced staff and office support.
Delegating duties is one of the keys to owning and operating a real estate business. Office staff can assume a lot of the day to day duties so that sales can be focused on. Some of the day to day duties that an office support person could do is filing, managing legal forms, answering phones, scheduling appointments and doing research into up to date real estate forms like landlord forms and tenant forms and other research.