“If you are looking for a job in Lettings here is a few points you might like to know…”

Key skills required

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Negotiating skills – Able to think outside of the box
• Target driven – Money motivated
• Able to multi-task
• Determined - Be willing to go the extra mile to close the deal
• Excellent rapport building skills
• Computer literate – most agents use specific software CFP Winman in Lettings. (Prior experience with this package is not essential but very advantageous)

Daily duties

• Dealing with all incoming inquiries
• Registering applicant’s details and property requirements
• Booking and conducting viewings and valuations
• Processing tenancy agreements
• Finalising lettings check list.
• Negotiating offers between all parties
• Liaising with Landlords and Tenants
• Touting for new business – i.e. Door knocking
• Advertising – Photograph properties and advertise on property websites such as rightmove, findaproperty and prime location

Industry recognised qualifications and governing bodies to be associated with.

• ARLA      - Association of Residential Letting Agents
• NFoPP     - National Federation of Property People
• NAEA      - National Association of Estate Agents
• NALS      - Nationally Approved Lettings Scheme

A day in the life of a Lettings Negotiator

8:45
Arrive at the office, make a cup of tea and coffee and prepare for the morning meeting.

09:00 – 09:30 – Morning Meeting

Your morning meeting is a very important start to your working day. You will attend the meeting with your manager and the rest of your team and discuss;

• What happened the previous day – viewings/offers  
• Discuss as a team any problems you may have had the previous day with applicant’s or properties
• What applicants have been registered, questions that may have not been asked when registering, what properties they would be matched to
• Assessing applicant’s motivation level and how best to get them into a new property as quick as possible

09:30 – 10:00 – Chase ups

This time would be for you to chase any enquires that have come through overnight and to speak to potential tenants to take offers on properties you might have viewed in the days leading up.

When dealing with new inquiries key questions to ask would be things like:

• What is their current living situation – assess when they need to move by
• Budgets they are on – aim to show properties slightly over their budget
• Areas they are interested in and any key features they require – i.e. nearby schools, public transport links

10:00 – 12:00 – Call out time

Call out time is simple. You would concentrate on booking as many viewings on as many properties as possible. Confirming the booked appointments with your Landlords and documenting these appointments in the relevant places for admin purposes and performance tracking.

When booking viewings ensure you always ask closed questions – don’t give them the opportunity to say no:

• WHEN can you see it as opposed to would you like to see it
• If it doesn’t necessarily meet their requirement but you think they need to see it to appreciate it say things like a fitted kitchen instead of small kitchen
• Which day is best for me to book you in to see these properties? Friday or Saturday? – Given 2 options means they have to choose one of them

12:00 – 14:00 – Lunch and Viewings

This time is specifically to carry out as many viewing appointments, so you’ll have pockets full of keys and be running around frantically trying to do as many viewings as possible and squeeze in a bit of lunch in between. This is NOT a job you’ll be able to take a 1 hour lunch break.  In estate agency negotiators don’t do long lunches.

14:00 – 16:00 – Call out time

You will be finishing calling through the list from the morning, chasing up the people you have left messages for in order to maximise the number of viewings achieved.
This job is about numbers and the understanding of them. Every door you open is a new opportunity to earning commission. 

16:00 – 18:00 – Viewing time

Once again this time is solely dedicated to showing all the properties you can.

SATURDAY - 09:00 until late afternoon (approximately 15:00 – 16:00)

This time is again to conduct as many appointments as possible, taking out all the people with the more demanding week day schedules who want to view your properties.

Additional:

The more you show the more you earn. If your average commission you earn is worth £150 and you have to do 10 viewings in order to get an acceptable offer every viewing you conduct is worth £15 it’s as simple as that.

Use this guide loosely as most companies have a different way of working but this is a general daily structure for a few of the more successful companies at the moment. You will find this is the case with all Foxtons careers and Kinleigh Folkard and Hayward careers (KFH) as these are 2 of the biggest agents in London.