Guide to Earning Steady Monthly Income as a Real Estate Agent

The real estate market is anything but steady—and there are lots of variables that can determine whether you’re getting your commission check: like fluctuating market trends, seasonal slowdowns, or cold feet resulting in abandoned deals.

But there’s a way to combat the ‘feast or famine’ cycle of a realtor’s job and build a steady stream of income year-round—while building the sales skills required to earn more as an agent.

We’ve written a guide to earning steady monthly income as a realtor, so you stay protected against market inconsistencies and have something to fall back on during the off-season or in between sales—all while growing your skills, brand, or brokerage.

How to get multiple streams of steady income in real estate

While it’s important to brush up on the skills you can develop to earn more as an agent, you should also consider the benefits of having multiple streams of income. For example, a separate income stream can give you the financial flexibility and durability you need to offset real estate market fluctuations—and bolster your brand as a broker.

Some side business ideas you could consider include:

  • Home repair and maintenance
  • Landscaping
  • Home staging
  • Real estate photography
  • Cleaning services
  • Bird-dogging

But to get the most out of your side business, you should pick a job that enables a more passive income—and doesn’t require extra work. Here’s how.

The best passive income stream for real estate agents

The best way for real estate agents to earn a stable, passive income is by leveraging their existing partnerships to get into the short-term rental game without any upfront costs or owning their own property.

With outsourced vacation rental management, you can use your network to your advantage and work with past clients to manage vacation rentals without any hassles, risks, or time constraints.

6 Tips for boosting your real estate agent salary

Below, we list the top tips for boosting your real estate salary, so you know exactly what to do to get more clients and sell better.

Always be networking

Building a solid network of contacts not only helps you get more visibility, trust, and respect as a realtor but is also hugely beneficial to homeowners who need a trusted circle of people they can regularly rely on to help solve their problems.

Contacts on your master list could include:

  • Contractors
  • Housekeepers
  • Home repair and maintenance services
  • Plumbers
  • Pest control services
  • Laundry services
  • Babysitters
  • Landscapers
  • Real estate photographers
  • Key real estate players
  • Moving services

Focus on seller relationships

Focusing on lead generation and building relationships with sellers is challenging, but it’s the best way to secure a steady deal pipeline and ensure you’re protecting yourself from potential dry spells.

It’s important to be intentional about how you create and nurture seller relationships: like sending follow-up emails and being available to answer any questions or concerns.

This also applies to your website’s loading speed and responsiveness as well: sellers don’t want to jump through hoops to navigate your website and get what they need.

You can also reach more sellers by:

  1. Prioritizing online support with chatbots or support bots equipped to answer FAQs
  2. Making website design easy to navigate by selecting a layout that intuitively segments information and key details
  3. Showcasing your rewards, testimonials, ratings, and affiliations to boost credibility
  4. Offering a variety of packages to satisfy a range of seller needs and financial standings

Get to know your target market (and your competition)

Understanding who you’re selling to is crucial to accurately predict client needs and deliver exactly what they’re looking for.

One way of doing this is to determine your buyer persona, which involves taking the demographics of your ideal client: including their marital status, location, income, and job title—and building it out into a detailed description that can be applied to your target audience.

You’ll also want to be aware of key players and competitors in your market, and keep up with what they’re doing on social media, what their pricing is, and any website updates or new offers, so you can outperform them and stay in the game.

Market yourself and build your brand

Marketing your brand is an important part of increasing your findability and earning a stable income. You need to come up with a comprehensive marketing strategy that outlines which channels you’ll use to reach your audience, content types and output, specific engagement KPIs you want to hit, and your marketing budget.

Here are a few ideas you can steal to build brand awareness and effectively market yourself:

  • Offer virtual house tours and live stream them on social media
  • Host webinars to answer questions, share information about the real estate market and showcase your listings
  • Create a newsletter or send an email once a month with tips, insights, and real estate hacks to prove credibility
  • Be active on popular real estate portals or hubs to expand your reach
  • Be a guest speaker on podcasts or write guest posts on real estate blogs to establish thought-leadership
  • Use SEO tools like SEMrush to organically rank for keywords specific to your niche and increase your chances of being discovered online

Develop your sales skills

When it comes down to making the sale, it’s not all about how well you’re able to position the property to the decision maker. It’s also about how well you’re able to shepherd deals along during the paperwork process in escrow, and getting two parties to agree on the terms.

You can also develop your sales skills by:

  • Knowing all the real estate rules and regulations
  • Being easy to contact and communicate with
  • Doing your research and planning ahead
  • Being creative with open houses and night viewings
  • Staying on top of industry trends and listings

Provide extra value

With 1.56 million realtors in the US alone, anything you can do to go above and beyond will help set you apart from the competition. So, it’s important to stay creative and be responsive to the ways you can consistently add value to home buyers and sellers.

Here are some ways you can go the extra mile and exceed client expectations:

  • Offer new homeowners a tour of the community
  • Give recommendations on the best schools and school districts
  • Hire a cleaning or moving crew
  • Connect buyers and sellers to businesses you trust
  • Hire a professional organizer or junk removal company
  • Welcome new homeowners home with a tasteful welcome basket

Steady realtor income bottom line

There are many ways to make extra money as a realtor, from developing your skill set and getting creative with your offering to taking on a side gig. But the only way to truly make a profitable, passive income is by venturing into outsourced vacation rental management.

By outsourcing short-term vacation rental management, you’re less dependent on the sporadic market swings that negatively impact your income as a realtor, and get more time back to focus on higher-value tasks like networking with key sellers.