101
If in your entrepreneurial soul, there is a born salesman with high persuasive skills, one of the activities you can undertake on your own is to start a real estate agency.
ย
The real estate agent is a figure recognized by the legal system in articles 1754 and 1755 of the Civil Code and who carries out mediation activities between those who want to sell a specific real estate asset and those who wish to buy it.
ย
This figure’s primary duties include evaluating the property, promoting the sale through appropriate tools, managing visits by potential customers in agreement with the seller, managing buy proposals, and stipulating the relevant compromise in the event of a positive outcome.
ย
Although the real estate market has been affected by the economic crisis of recent years, it is still an activity that, if planned and managed in the best possible way, can provide excellent profit margins. Let’s see below what are the main obligations and requirements that must be met to create a new real estate agency.
ย
Opening a real estate agency: bureaucratic process
To open and work in a real estate agency, you need to be an agent, a key figure in the sector, open to all, whose qualification is obtained by attending a 200-hour course at the end of which you will have to take a specific qualification exam for the profession.
ย
The courses are carried out on a regional basis or by the CCIA.A. local or even by private companies, while the final exam must be taken exclusively at the relevant Chamber of Commerce for the area in which you intend to operate.
ย
The requirements for participation in this type of course are:
- Be adults and European citizens.
- Have obtained a high school diploma.
- Have not been subject to convictions or bankruptcy proceedings.
- Fully enjoy their civil rights.
ย
Once you have obtained the qualification to carry out the function of a real estate agent, you can take care of the bureaucratic part concerning the activity. First, you will have to have an office, usually not of exaggerated size, a sort of shop that must follow building and health hygiene regulations.
ย
The SCIA report of the start of business must then be presented to the One Stop Shop for Productive Activities in the relevant Municipality. At the same time, the company must also be regularized through registration of the VAT number and registration in the Company Register at the Chamber of Commerce.
ย
The place for real estate activity and costs
One of the fundamental parts to guarantee the success of your real estate agency is the choice of the location, preferably located in a transit area and if it has a street-side window so as to make the displayed ads visible.
ย
For the square footage, 40-60 m2 is enough, where you can accommodate a couple of workstations and have the space necessary to welcome customers. Depending on the place where you open the agency, you can then choose which branch to specialize in; for example, if you operate by the sea, you can prefer seasonal rentals of apartments, while if you are close to a historic center, you can specialize in the sale of luxury apartments.
ย
This sort of shop will need to be furnished, and modern IT equipment is required in order to be able to manage the real estate assets entrusted to you in a functional and fast way. Finally, to make you better known, a targeted marketing campaign will also be necessary, which can bring new customers who want to sell their property, as well as those who intend to buy one.
ย
All this translates into a minimum initial investment of at least 30,000 dollars, which varies according to the size of the space used and whether your business has staff in addition to the agency owner.
ย
These costs can be contained by relying on a franchise that takes care of the setting up of the premises and the advertising, which also allows you to have quick access to a significant database of properties to be managed in the relevant area.