Have you ever wondered why when people talk about investing in real estate, they always use the phrase secure your future? Of course, at first glance, we can understand that real estate investment is a safer way to grow our money and one of the easiest if we take into account that not all of us know how the stock market works.
In addition, acquiring a property, even when you do not plan to live in it, can be more beneficial than leaving your money saved in the bank, especially if you acquire one that is located in an area whose capital gains are expected to increase considerably.
However, investing in real estate sounds a bit scary to many people and even more so when they do not have experience in the field: legal procedures, long payment terms, and even the fear of not wanting to be tied to a place where they do not know if they are eventually going to stay.
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Real Estate Transaction Coordinator Jobs
When you buy property, there are many people involved in the entire process from the start to the finish. Just think about all the work that goes into just one single property transaction. It’s exactly why real estate transaction coordinator jobs are so widely advertised. These days, you will find that real estate transaction coordinator jobs are offered remotely and the person will be responsible for all aspects of processing real estate transactions.
As an estate agent, you have to be showing homes, conversing with your clients, contending with heaps of telephone calls, driving to properties, advertising, marketing, and showing homes. When all this becomes impossible, the services of a real estate transaction coordinator come into play.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a single agent or an agent in a huge organization, a good transaction coordinator can help you stay organized and also compliant, maintaining the good reputation of your business.
Handling Lots Of Administrative Duties
Real estate agents know that real estate transactions are lengthy and complicated, involving many parties and a whole lot of compliance requirements. They’re going to need a lot of time to get through all the paperwork and the many transactions that need to be adhered to. So what is a real estate transaction coordinator exactly? They are dedicated to helping real estate agents do their job properly by handling all the many administrative duties that take so much time and effort.
In fact when you look at the actual time spent by real estate agents on admin work, then hiring a real estate transaction coordinator makes good sense and a good investment. Real estate agents tell us that it easily takes about 15 hours of admin work just after a contract is signed.
What is a real estate transaction coordinator and do you need one? You can have confidence with a certified transaction coordinator as they have passed a written exam and also attended courses to become certified. In the courses they have attended they will have studied real estate law, closing procedures as well as escrow transactions.
Many Professionals Involved In The Property Buying And Selling Process
If you buy property, most times you will rope in the services of a real estate agent. In fact, once you’ve decided to sell or buy property, you will have a number of different business professionals involved in the property buying and selling, of which a real estate transaction coordinator is one.
When it comes to buying and selling a property there is such a lot to the entire process. There are a host of different tasks from start to finish that requires experience and coordination.
Many real estate agents have to try and handle the transaction process themselves and also, many don’t have the large enough budget to hire a real estate transaction coordinator.
However, once an agent works with a number of buyers and sellers at the same time, a good real estate transaction coordinator becomes essential so that the real estate agent doesn’t have to juggle so many tasks.
What is a real estate transaction coordinator? There are some bigger real estate brokerage firms that will even have a team of transaction coordinators while small real estate agencies will hire independent transaction coordinators.
Hiring A Real Estate Transaction Coordinator
Many real estate agents see the need to hire a good transaction coordinator to free up some much-needed time. Hiring a transaction coordinator can be a wise move as it can save the estate agent a lot of time and effort.
This coordinator and the entire team of people are all part of the deal with the real estate transaction coordinator working with the real estate agent. Some of the duties of the transaction coordinator are –
- To oversee every aspect of the buying and selling process
- To prepare all listing materials
- To coordinate with sellers marketing activities, property photos, repairs, etc
- Coordinate inspections of the property
- Be available to hand over the keys for inspection
- To submit all documentation to the office broker for file compliance.
- Open an escrow account
- Coordinate the closing process of the property
- Collects all signatures for the likes of disclosures, and documentation
- Updates all listing details
Understanding The Transaction Process
As an agent, you represent your clients. As mentioned, all contracts and disclosures involved with the transactions have to be completed and signed by all parties. This task most times falls on the agent, but the real estate transaction coordinator can do this.
They are responsible for ensuring that all documents are completed timeously. That means the transaction coordinator has to keep accurate records of dates and events and keep the agent informed. All these transaction coordinators have some common duties to perform but the agent can stipulate what they particularly want the coordinator to do.
Is It Costly To Hire A Transaction Coordinator?
The cost of these transaction coordinators will usually depend on what you’re looking for. It will depend on if you are hiring a coordinator to work exclusively and full-time for you or just hiring them on a type of freelance basis. You also have to decide whether you’re hiring the person in your area so that they can be in-house or you are hiring someone virtually.
Real estate experts say that if you are completing about 50 or more transactions each year, you may need to look at hiring a full-time, in-house transaction coordinator. What is the real estate transaction coordinator salary? If you are wondering how much is a real estate transaction coordinator salary, the full-time transaction coordinators can be earning in the region of $30,000 to $45,000 each year.
On the other hand, if you ask what is the real estate transaction coordinator salary for a person working part-time, they say that hiring a per-transaction coordinator may well be a better deal – be more cost-effective. These kinds of transaction coordinators will cost roughly $200 to $500 per transaction.
The in-house kind of transaction coordinator will therefore be earning a fixed salary but when you’re contracting a coordinator per transaction, their fees may well be negotiable. Virtual real estate transaction coordinators may well cost you less as they aren’t around to be offering more services in-person
How To Become A Real Estate Transaction Coordinator?
How to become a real estate transaction coordinator? You just have to essentially have the same skills and qualifications as a regular real estate agent. Other people wanting to know how to become a real estate transaction coordinator discover that a bachelor’s degree can open many doors.
The agent has to bear in mind though that there are some things that the transaction coordinator can’t do. They don’t have to be licensed, but it would be preferable to hire one that is licensed as then you can know that they are familiar with the transactions process and disclosures.
So you might then be wondering if the transaction coordinator you hire should be licensed or not. You have to decide what you want from them as the one that isn’t licensed will technically only be able to do so much and no more.
Every state is different as to what is permitted and what isn’t, but in general, some of the things your unlicensed transaction coordinator won’t be able to do is collect fees from a buyer or seller, provide advice and pricing, present an offer to a seller, procure prospects for the purpose of the sale, explain a contract of purchase and sale and originate documents.
Most times a transaction coordinator is able to prepare certain disclosures, but they won’t write them, but they’re able to explain everything you need to know about disclosures. Collecting these documents and disclosures is what is so time-consuming and the coordinator will update all parties on the status of the file.
So What Are The Signs Of A Good Real Estate Transaction Coordinator?
Attention To Detail
You can imagine that with the selling and buying of property, there is a lot of paperwork. One of the signs of a good transaction coordinator will be to have an eye for detail. In fact, saving the real estate agent from wasted time is a top skill of the transaction coordinator who absolutely cannot afford to be making mistakes as mistakes cost a lot of money and also wasted time.
There are so many tiny details one has to contend with and you need a sharp eye and a clear mind to pick up all the nitty-gritty details. It can be time-consuming and boring reading through all the fine print. The best real estate transaction coordinators will do this superbly and not miss out on any important points. They are well-organized and are able to meet deadlines.
Organizational Skills
Another sign of a good real estate transaction coordinator is that with so many details to work with, the transaction coordinator must have the ability to keep all the tasks well organized. This is because most tasks have deadlines to them and every task must first be completed before the next task If a deadline isn’t met, it can impact the chain of events and impact the real estate’s reputation.
Excellent Communication Skills
Transaction coordinators are always going to be spending a good deal of time communicating with a diverse lot of people, whether on the phone or by email, or SMS. The kind of people they will be conversing with will be buyers and sellers, inspectors, escrow agents,s and others. These real estate transaction coordinators are there to make life easier for the real estate agents and excellent customer service is part of the deal.
Hardworking
There are real estate agents that stipulate that they work weekdays from 9 till 5 and that weekends and evenings are out of bounds. However, they know full well that weekends are the time when most people are home-hunting.
Weekends are one of the most important times to be working and the real estate agent will hire a hardworking transaction coordinator who is available in the evenings and over the weekends.
So a real estate transaction coordinator has to be flexible and ready to work when the real estate agent cant. Flexible coordinators are able to multi-task and they know how to juggle things around and balance a whole lot of things at once.
Be Computer Literate
The real estate transaction coordinator has to be computer literate and understand how real estate transaction management software works. After all, this is a powerful tool that helps coordinators make the job faster and easier. This kind of software helps coordinators close deals faster for the estate agent and it provides brokers with instant and full visibility of transactions. It provides a host of benefits such as being able to transact in a paperless fashion.
A key benefit of real estate transaction management software is the ability to free up time so agents and brokers can make more money. Implementing real estate transaction management software can get rid of a lot of paperwork involved in transactions, and speed up the process of closing a sale.
Check Out Their Experience
So in the long run, if you want to rope in the services of a good real estate transaction coordinator, take a good look at the experience they have and if they are indeed familiar with the area you live in. You can certainly ask to see their references and then you will have to discuss how they want to be compensated.
This might provide a few shocks for you and cause you to go without a coordinator or look elsewhere. All the while you can also be assessing what their communication skills are and whether they come across as aggressive or amicable.
Conclusion
Most real estate agents will be able to benefit greatly from hiring a real estate transaction coordinator as it simply frees their own time so that they can focus on other things such as growing their business.
You could say that it will also more or less depend on the number of transactions that the agent is closing each month. Once it is consistently 3 or more, a real estate transaction coordinator becomes a necessary investment.
