If you have negotiation skills like a salesperson, number-crunching ability like an analyst, strategic planning skills like a consultant, and can juggle multiple tasks like a manager, then pursuing one of the real estate careers is an ideal option for you.
As the real estate industry in India and across the world continues to flourish, the demand for professionals equipped with domain-specific knowledge remains strong. Plus, by pursuing professions like property management or real estate law, you get the flexibility to work at your own pace and earn a high annual income.
However, with so many real estate courses and career paths to explore, understanding the distinctions between different roles and choosing the most suitable path can become a tad confusing. So in this blog, we will enumerate upon conventional and unconventional real estate careers and the kind of work you will get to do in each role.
Conventional Real Estate Careers
We bring to you a list of real estate careers which are commonly pursued. These professions are mostly opted by those who graduate with a degree in real estate and infrastructure development or those who come from different backgrounds but are aware of various nuances of the industry.
1. Real Estate Broker
A professional who has pursued education beyond the agent level and handles a multitude of tasks apart from helping clients in selling or purchasing properties is called a real estate broker. A broker can get licensed, open a brokerage, and recruit many real estate agents to manage multiple clients. Through your brokerage firm, you can offer a bouquet of advisory, financial, and asset management services to home buyers and developers on real estate assets.
2. Real Estate Agent
Becoming a real estate agent is one of the most promising and popular real estate careers. As an agent, you will act as an intermediary between the buyer and seller and will receive some amount of transaction as commission when the deal gets closed. Based on your expertise, you can provide guidance on residential or commercial real estate assets.
While the former includes housing societies, single-family homes, premium houses, and condominiums, the latter focuses on co-working spaces, office buildings, retail outlets, malls, etc. With the enactment of the RERA act, it has become mandatory for agents to get themselves registered with the concerned state before starting their real estate agency.
3. Property Manager
Running a property management services company is one of the most popular and lucrative real estate careers. From rental and tenant management to marketing and advertising, you can offer umpteen services to your clients. This includes, finalising and collecting rents, improving tenant retention rates, grievance redressal, financial and tax planning, offering legal and advisory services, property repair and maintenance, etc.
Managing real estate assets is a very involving job as you would have to interact with vendors, tenants, dealers, and landlords. Hence, you need to hone your skills in order to establish a firm presence in the market. Apart from working on your communication and negotiation skills, you also need to learn marketing tactics.
4. Real Estate Asset Manager
A real estate company will hire an asset manager to oversee the operations of a property and maximize revenue for their clients. In this role, you will provide assistance in choosing the best investment, will understand the life cycle of rental properties, manage cash flow, and formulate long-term strategies. You would have to ensure that all transactions are made as per the prevailing market conditions. Since there is tremendous scope for growth in this role, it has become one of the most opted real estate careers.
Asset managers work on appreciating property value and maximizing ROIs. On the contrary, property managers handle the day-to-day operations of the asset concerned.
5. Real Estate Consultant
Let us assume that you have worked in the Indian real estate sector for quite a number of years. You now have gained strong knowledge and experience and are familiar with the know-how of the industry. So if you want to switch jobs or are exploring other real estate careers, then becoming a real estate consultant will be a viable option for you.
By designing new business models and understanding market trends using advanced analytics, you can help the clients in making better investment decisions. Additionally, you can help companies expand geographically by formulating best-in-class sales, marketing, procurement, and risk management strategies.
You can also provide specialized advisory services in areas like affordable housing, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, REITs and InvITs, finance and taxation, etc.
6. Real Estate Lawyer
If you want to foray into the real estate sector upon graduating with an LLB or LLM degree, then becoming a real estate lawyer is what you can aim for. You will be called upon by individuals or organizations for negotiating terms with tenants or property buyers, handling breach of contracts, drafting legal documents, reviewing regulatory and license work, etc. Hence, based on your educational qualifications and interests, you will handle all the transactions related to the real estate laws.
There is also a tremendous scope in working as an independent lawyer. Not only will you get to work at your own convenience, but you can handle different types of matters like:
- Registration of properties under the RERA act
- Benami transactions related disputes
- Property or housing society disputes
- Due diligence and drafting mortgage agreements
- Managing building permits and documentation
- Appearing and arguing before courts, RERA tribunal, etc.
Unconventional Real Estate Career Paths
Traditional real estate careers are opted by many. But there are scores of other professions that you can pursue based on your educational qualifications, expertise and likings. Here is a list of some of the unconventional occupations:
1. Investment Analyst
From cash management and market research to asset allocation and understanding the characteristics of a portfolio, an Investment Analyst is tasked with multiple responsibilities. Although it’s an entry-level role, it is considered as one of the most lucrative real estate careers.
In this role, your main objective would be to collaborate with internal and external teams to provide foundational support for conducting financial, market, statistical, and property analysis. Based on the data assessed and collated, you will offer residential or commercial property investment recommendations to the clients. Due diligence of transactions, underwriting of investments, and providing reports are some of the other tasks you will be entrusted with.
2. Compliance Specialist
As the name suggests, a compliance specialist handles all the legal and documentation processes related to the real estate industry in India. Although the roles and responsibilities remain almost the same, the type of company you choose to work with can vary. For example, a software company that offers property management solutions or a property management firm that handles the documentation and litigation for specific assets.
When it comes to educational qualifications, firms generally hire LLB degree holders who are also certified CA or CS. Enlisted are some of the duties of a real estate compliance specialist:
- Staying abreast of and understanding the changing regulatory and compliance requirements.
- Planning and implementing various policies and schemes to develop an efficient system corporate compliance system.
- Regularly auditing company procedures and documents to identify and mitigate possible risks.
- Drafting and advising on lease agreements, sales deed, memorandum of understanding, etc.
- Assessing the amendments in various government-issued rules, notifications, acts, etc, to understand the impact on the real estate business.
3. Urban Planner
Whether it is a commercial project or a residential society, evaluating the surroundings and land resources is very crucial before taking on a new project. For this, urban planners are required.
For example, selling houses in earthquake prone areas may become difficult. But proper urban planning with well-built safety features could help mitigate the impacts of natural disasters.
So as an urban planner, you will work on planning a city’s layout, conducting comprehensive land research, improving the transportation facilities, overseeing government policies affecting land use, etc. Although it is considered as an unconventional path, becoming an urban planner is hence one of the most rewarding real estate careers.
4. Real Estate Marketing Executive
As a real estate marketing executive, your primary responsibility would be to get the listing or service seen by the public. This can be done by creating different forms of content, managing the brand, running Google and Facebook real estate ads. Along with this, you will also have to implement multiple techniques to nurture the leads. This includes promoting engaging content on social media, sharing downloadable guides, devising email campaigns, etc. So if you are exploring real estate careers, then you can consider this option.
5. Occupancy Planning Specialist
Real estate careers are not limited to just consultants or agents, but you can also ideate strategies for creating optimized spaces for commercial spaces. Those individuals who are responsible for managing, devising and delivering portfolio plans and sustainable work environment solutions are referred to as occupancy planning specialists.
In this role, you will have to identify a client’s organizational requirements and generate practical solutions on space utilization, planning constraints, spatial and occupancy needs of business units, and headcount growth forecasting. In addition to this, you will also be responsible for creating and maintaining reports on the chosen KPIs.
6. Lease Administrator
Have you completed a course in finance, business administration or accounting? Are you now exploring real estate careers? Then becoming a lease administrator is an option that you can consider. Your primary responsibility in this role would be to oversee leases associated with rental properties and to ensure transparent and timely financial transactions. This includes, but is not limited to, transactions related to rents, taxes, renewals, and other expenses.
Strong financial and analytical skills coupled with experience in using lease administration softwares like IBM TRIRIGA will help you build a flourishing career in this field.
7. Foreclosure Specialist
As per the Cambridge dictionary, foreclosure refers to the act of taking over a real estate asset when the loan taken against the concerned property is not repaid. Hence, a Foreclosure Specialist is a professional who is responsible for facilitating the purchase of such properties, ideating an ideal solution for the client, and handling all the paperworks.
If you want to pursue this profession, then you must have strong knowledge of the laws related to the real estate and banking sector. In addition to this, you must be proficient in using softwares and computers, and should have strong analytical and multi-tasking skills.
Being an ever evolving field, there are a plethora of real estate careers that you can explore. While every profession in this sector has its own duties and responsibilities, you must have a strong hold over the laws and regulations pertaining to the real estate, banking and finance domains. Since you will be dealing with different types of clients, you will also need to have excellent negotiation, communication and problem-solving skills to flourish in this industry.
