real estate agent business plan template free

Real Estate | How To

How to Write a Real Estate Business Plan (+ Free Template)

Published June 30, 2023

Published Jun 30, 2023

REVIEWED BY: Gina Baker

WRITTEN BY: Jealie Dacanay

This article is part of a larger series on How to Become a Real Estate Agent .

• 1 Write Your Mission Statement
• 2 Conduct a SWOT Analysis
• 3 Set Specific & Measurable Goals
• 4 Plan Your Marketing Strategies & Tactics
• 5 Create a Lead Generation & Nurturing Strategy
• 6 Calculate Your Income Goal
• 7 Set Times to Revisit Your Business Plan
• 8 Why Agents Need a Real Estate Business Plan
• 9 Real Estate Business Plan Examples & Templates
• 10 Bottom Line
• 11 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

A real estate business plan lays the groundwork and provides direction on income targets, marketing tactics, goal setting, lead generation, and an overview of your industry’s competition. It describes your company’s mission statement in detail and assesses your SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) as an organization. Business plans should include measurable goals and financial projections that you can review periodically throughout the year to ensure you meet your goals.

Continue reading to see real estate business plan examples and discover how to write a real estate business plan. Start by making your own by downloading and using the free real estate business plan template we’ve provided below.

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Real Estate Business Plan Template

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💡Quick tip:

Market Leader provides a comprehensive paid inbound lead, automated marketing, and CRM solution to help agents acquire, engage, and nurture real estate leads.

Furthermore, Market Leader offers and guarantees you a number of exclusive seller and buyer leads in your target niche at a monthly rate.

1. Write Your Mission Statement

Every real estate agent’s business plan should begin with a mission statement, identifying your values and why your business exists. Your mission statement serves as the guide to achieving your ultimate business objective. When you create a solid clear mission statement, all other items identified in your realtor business plan should be aimed at fulfilling this statement.

Compass’ mission statement: “Our mission is to help everyone find their place in the world.” (Source: Compass )

Your mission statement should identify your target audience, what product or service you provide, and what makes your business distinct. As seen in the example above, a powerful mission statement should be short and concise but sums up a business objective.

Let’s take Compass’ mission statement above as an example: “Our mission is to help everyone find their place in the world.” The statement identifies what the company offers, for what reasons, and who it benefits.

2. Conduct a SWOT Analysis

SWOT is an acronym that stands for a business’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The primary objective of these four elements is to assess a business by evaluating internal and external factors that can drive decision-making and help you make more money . Conducting a SWOT analysis as you develop your business plan for real estate uncovers opportunities to differentiate yourself from the massive competition currently on the market.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths and weaknesses are internal parts of your organization. Strengths identify what product or services you provide better than others, your access to resources, and items that benefit your customers. Weaknesses are items that need improvement, lack of resources, or what your competition does better. These are items within your control to change because you can convert a weakness into a strength.

See the example below if “Agent X” was doing their SWOT analysis:

Opportunities & Threats

External factors drive opportunities and threats and are areas you can take advantage of to benefit your business. Examples of opportunities can be shifts in the current marketplace, emerging trends you can capitalize on, features that competitors lack, or even changes with your competitors. Threats, on the other hand, are anything that can negatively impact your business. You don’t have control over changing the opportunities or threats, but you can develop a practice to anticipate and protect your business against the threats.

The opportunities and threats for “Agent X” would be:

When you complete your SWOT analysis, use it as a guide when creating strategies to meet your business objectives. To gain the most benefit from creating a SWOT analysis, make sure you are being realistic about your business and evaluating it in its present state. You don’t want to be unrealistic by listing strengths or opportunities that don’t exist yet, and you want to allocate time and money to the most impactful solution to your business issues.

If “Agent X” completed the above SWOT analysis, a few strategies they could derive would be:

• Incentivize agents to keep them at the brokerage for longer
• Implement a technology-based key machine to reduce lost keys and keep the team accountable
• Find a competitive advantage against competing brokerages and use that in marketing messages

Zillow agent finder (Source: Zillow )

To help agents locate other brokerages operating in your preferred market, agents can use Zillow’s agent finder page as a research tool to see which agents or brokerages are operating in a specific area. You can find an agent by location, name, specialty, and language. Once you click on a Zillow profile , you can read their reviews, see their team members, contact and website information, and property listings. Take a deep dive into your competitor profiles and can use the information to implement strategies within your own business.

Visit Zillow

Read how our experts feel about this real estate lead generation company in our Zillow Premier Agent review .

3. Set Specific & Measurable Goals

You’re ready to set some business goals after clearly defining your mission statement and SWOT analysis. Goals can help set the tone to increase your performance and drive your business in the right direction. Your goals should have a definitive way to show progress, which can be a prime motivator to keep you on track to achieving them.

Each goal should follow a pattern to identify set criteria. This will ensure that your daily efforts are performed to meet business objectives within a set period. A way to do this is by using SMART goals:

Examples of SMART goals for agents or brokerages:

• Increase closed transactions by 20% to a total of 150 deals within the next year
• I will ask all closed clients for a referral and review within 30 days of closing the deal

Goals can be split into short-term and long-term goals. Short-term goal lengths vary between days and weeks but do not exceed six months. Short-term goals can also be worked on simultaneously with long-term goals. Long-term goals can take up to six months or more to complete and require careful planning and perseverance. A mix of short-term and long-term goals will help you maintain motivation.

All goals are equally important; however, success will stem from how you prioritize each one. Slowly add on additional goals as you have the capacity and feel comfortable with the current progress of your current set of goals. Without identifying your business goals, you’ll leave your results up to luck to attain your business objectives.

4. Plan Your Marketing Strategies & Tactics

Developing marketing strategies and tactics and implementing them help you identify and locate your current value proposition in the real estate industry, along with specific timelines for execution. In addition to determining your overall business objectives and goals, your marketing strategy and plan should include the following:

• Pinpoint general marketing goals
• Estimate projected marketing budget
• Know your geographic farm area data and identify your target niche audience
• Analyze market competition
• Identify your unique selling proposition
• Establish a timeline and set your plan in motion
• Track your progress and readjust as needed

While a marketing strategy identifies the overall marketing goals of your business, developing marketing tactics will help you achieve those individual goals. They can include referral business tactics, retention efforts, and ways to acquire new customers. For example, you can offer incentives to anyone who refers your business, or you can implement new email drip campaigns to help increase lead conversion rates.

These tactics should have set key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you evaluate your performance. For instance, a KPI you can set for your business could be that referral business should exceed 20% of your lead generation sources.

If you’re unsure how to put together your marketing plan, check out our article Real Estate Marketing Plan Template & Strategy Guide and download the free template to get started.

Postcard campaign example (Source: ProspectsPLUS! )

If direct mail is part of your promotion strategy, services like ProspectsPLUS! can help easily create and distribute mailers to a targeted area. It also has options for postcards , brochures, newsletters , flyers, and folders. You can also send mailers to prospective clients by geographic or demographic farm areas through its campaigns. Check out its templates and mailing options today.

Visit ProspectsPLUS!

Read how our experts feel about this real estate direct mail service in our ProspectsPLUS! review .

5. Create a Lead Generation & Nurturing Strategy

Having a successful lead generation strategy will help you maintain business growth. Lead generation can be performed organically and through paid advertisements to attract and convert prospective clients. In addition to generating leads, agents should have systems to manage, nurture, and re-engage with contacts to maximize opportunities.

Generating leads through a multipronged approach is the best way to maintain lead flow. Use organic strategies like hosting an open house, reaching out to your sphere of influence, and attending networking events. Employ paid generation strategies, such as purchasing leads from a lead generation company or setting up a website to funnel potential clients. Your marketing strategies will directly correlate with your lead generation strategies.

Every lead is an opportunity, even if they don’t immediately convert into a deal. Effectively nurturing leads can make sure no opportunity falls through the cracks. Agents can nurture leads by continuously engaging and developing relationships with prospective leads . It’s important to provide prospective clients with a constant flow of essential and relevant information, depending on where they are in the real estate buying or selling process.

Here are the top lead generation companies for real estate agents and brokers:

Engage more efficiently with buyer and seller leads using Market Leader’s new feature Network Boost. Network Boost has shown a 40% increase in agents successfully connecting with leads. Market Leader social media experts design highly targeted and optimized ads for your Instagram and Facebook. As visitors engage with your ads, they will be prompted to complete a form and funnel directly into your Market Leader client relationship manager (CRM). This will also trigger an automatic marketing campaign that nurtures your clients and lets you know they are ready to engage with you personally. Try Market Leader’s Network Boost today.

6. Calculate Your Income Goal

Your income goal is one of the most critical items to be included in your business plan. While this may be more difficult for new agents who are still learning the business, it’s still necessary to estimate the amount of money you will earn for the year. Work with an experienced agent or mentor to help you estimate your monetary goals. For professional agents, review your previous years to judge your income goals for the upcoming year.

To calculate your income goal and the amount of work you’ll need to complete to get to that goal, you’ll need to have some basic number estimates:

• Net income: The amount of money you will put in your pocket after commission splits with your real estate brokerage.
• Fee split with brokerage: This is the agreed-upon commission split you have with your brokerage for each completed transaction. For example, if you have a 70/30 split with your brokerage, you will collect 70% of the commission, and your brokerage will receive a 30% commission for each deal.
• Estimate of completed deals per year: You also want to estimate the number of deals you intend to complete yearly. Remember that some months will be busier than others, so make sure to account for holidays, weather, and your schedule.

Real Estate Yearly Goal Calculator

By figuring out these numbers, you can give yourself a realistic number for your income goal. Compute the gross income commission (GCI) or amount of money you must make before the commission splits and the average profit per deal and month you’ll need to reach your goal.

For a more detailed breakdown of your yearly goal, download and use our yearly goal calculator. Input your information into the highlighted yellow boxes, and the spreadsheet will automatically calculate the GCI, total deal count, and gross income you’ll have to earn each month to reach your goal. Adjust the average gross commission per deal and brokerage split as necessary.

FitSmallBusiness Year Goal Calculator

For additional information on real estate agent salaries, review our article Real Estate Agent Salary: How Much Do Real Estate Agents Make?

7. Set Times to Revisit Your Business Plan

Business plans are only effective if you use them. A business plan is a roadmap for your business, and you’ll need to revisit it often to ensure you’re staying on track. It should be a constant resource to guide you through meeting your goals and business objectives, but it’s not necessarily set in stone if you need to make any changes.

Agents should revisit their business plans monthly to measure progress and make any changes to stay the course. If you find that you’re missing the times set for your goals, then you should continue to revisit your business plan regularly. Changing the business plan itself should occur annually once you can have a complete picture of your yearly performance. Evaluating the business plan can help you discover new strategies and ensure you have the appropriate resources for the upcoming year.

Overall status of sales activities in the dashboard (Source: Pipedrive )

Sales software like Pipedrive can help you track your overall business performance when revisiting your business plan. It presents company sales data in easy-to-visualize dashboards that track your business performance and contains forecasting tools to project future revenue. It can maintain company and team goals with progress tracking to keep goals top of mind.

Visit Pipedrive

Read how our experts feel about this real estate customer relationship manager (CRM) system in our Pipedrive review .

Why Agents Need a Real Estate Business Plan

A real estate business plan keeps you up to date on market developments and one step ahead of your competitors. It also enables you to test lead-generating tactics and create new marketing campaigns while keeping track of results over time. A solid business plan for a real estate agent presents the following:

• Where you are at the moment
• Where you would like to be
• How you’re going to get there
• How to evaluate and measure your performance
• When and when to correct the course

Real Estate Business Plan Examples & Templates

Real estate agents and brokerages don’t have to build their business plans from scratch, as many resources provide different examples. Business plan templates can also have different objectives. Some are used to secure financing or help you focus on lead generation, while others are single-page plans meant to get you started.

Here are five real estate business plan examples you can use to create yours:

Lead Generation & Income Plan

Market Leader business plan example (Source: Market Leader )

This business plan is from Market Leader, a third-party lead generation platform. It specializes in lead generation, marketing, and converting leads into customers with an attractive IDX (Internet Data Exchange) website and robust automation tools. Agents can also participate in purchasing leads through their lead products to receive a guaranteed number of leads per month.

A Single-page Business Plan

Business plan for real estate (Source: PngFind )

Agents who are new to writing a business plan can start small. Business plans do not have to be multipage to be effective. This single-page business plan helps identify a single goal followed by three areas to focus on and five objectives for each focus area. As real estate agents begin to feel comfortable with goal setting and completion, they can continue to add to this single-page business plan with duplicate pages, identifying additional goals.

Business Plan for Real Estate Brokers

Real estate broker business plan (Source: AgentEDU )

This robust real estate broker business plan is designed to address organization and management goals. It contains pages identifying personnel information like title, job description, and salary. The business plan also encourages the broker to identify operational goals for future personnel changes. It’s best suited for a broker with a larger team to help drive operational change.

Business Plan With Detailed Financials

Example of real estate agent business plan template (Source: FinModelsLab )

This multipage business plan contains eye-catching graphics and detailed company financial information for real estate agents and brokers seeking funding from outside investors. One of the last sections of the business plan is a financial planning section geared toward showing how viable your business is through your provided income statements, cash flow, and balance sheet reports.

Real Estate Developers’ Business Plan

Realtor business plan template sample (Source: Upmetrics )

Upmetrics’ real estate business plan templates are easy to edit and share and contain professional cover pages to help agents convert their business ideas into actionable goals. The business plans from Upmetrics are geared toward agents looking to transition into real estate development. This plan includes vital sections important for a developer to analyze, such as building location, demand for housing, and pricing.

Real estate CRM (Source: Market Leader )

Market Leader’s business plan is centered around driving more business through lead generation. It helps agents understand their lead sources, average sales price, and how much commission was earned in a given year. It also allows agents to set income and transactional goals for the following year.

Visit Market Leader

Bottom Line

Whether you are a new real estate agent or looking to grow your brokerage, writing a real estate business plan template will help you define the steps needed to build a successful business . It serves as a guided roadmap to help you achieve your business goals, identify areas of improvement, and provide guidance in all aspects of your business, from marketing, operations, and finance to your products and services. Business plans can help determine if your business is viable and worth the financial investment.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a real estate business plan.

A real estate business plan is a document that presents an outline of your organizational goals. A business plan lays out future company goals and structured procedures to achieve them. Business plans commonly contain plans for one to five years at a time, though they can differ from investor to investor.

A real estate business plan will put you in a position to succeed while also assisting you in avoiding potential pitfalls. It serves as a guide to follow when things go as expected and when they diverge from the initial plan of action. Also, a real estate business plan will ensure that investors know the steps they need to take to succeed.

How do I jump-start my real estate business?

It is important to note that starting a real estate business is not a simple task. Before launching a firm in any field, entrepreneurs should spend numerous hours researching and developing a solid business plan. As you start your real estate business, use the following tips as guidance:

• Think about your professional goals
• Conduct extensive research
• Organize your finances
• Create a business plan
• Establish an LLC
• Make a marketing plan
• Create a website
• Start campaigns
• Keep track of leads
• Develop a network of connections

How can I grow my real estate business?

You can use multiple strategies and ways to grow your real estate business. They include:

• Assess your current situation
• Invest in your professional growth
• Establish strategic alliances
• Take advantage of omnichannel marketing
• Start blogging
• Create consistent social media profiles and campaigns
• Improve your website
• Consider working with a marketing company
• Optimize your signs and direct mail

About the Author

Find Jealie On LinkedIn

Jealie Dacanay

Jealie is a staff writer expert focusing on real estate education, lead generation, marketing, and investing. She has always seen writing as an opportunity to apply her knowledge and express her ideas. Over the years and through her internship at a real estate developer in the Philippines, Camella, she developed and discovered essential skills for producing high-quality online content.

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• Writing a Business Plan

Writing a business plan may seem a daunting task as there are so many moving parts and concepts to address. Take it one step at a time and be sure to schedule regular review (quarterly, semi-annually, or annually) of your plan to be sure you on are track to meet your goals.

Why Write a Business Plan?

Making a business plan creates the foundation for your business. It provides an easy-to-understand framework and allows you to navigate the unexpected.

Quick Takeaways

• A good business plan not only creates a road map for your business, but helps you work through your goals and get them on paper
• Business plans come in many formats and contain many sections, but even the most basic should include a mission and vision statement, marketing plans, and a proposed management structure
• Business plans can help you get investors and new business partners

Source: Write Your Business Plan: United States Small Business Association

Writing a business plan is imperative to getting your business of the ground. While every plan is different – and most likely depends on the type and size of your business – there are some basic elements you don’t want to ignore.

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NAR Library & Archives has already done the research for you. References (formerly Field Guides) offer links to articles, eBooks, websites, statistics, and more to provide a comprehensive overview of perspectives. EBSCO articles ( E ) are available only to NAR members and require the member's nar.realtor login.

Defining Your Mis​sion & Vision

Writing a business plan begins by defining your business’s mission and vision statement. Though creating such a statement may seem like fluff, it is an important exercise. The mission and vision statement sets the foundation upon which to launch your business. It is difficult to move forward successfully without first defining your business and the ideals under which your business operates. A company description should be included as a part of the mission and vision statement. Some questions you should ask yourself include: 

• What type of real estate do you sell?
• Where is your business located?
• Who founded your business?
• What sets your business apart from your competitors?

What is a Vision Statement ( Business News Daily , Feb. 21, 2023)

How to Write a Mission Statement ( The Balance , Jan. 2, 2020)

How to Write a Mission Statement ( Janel M. Radtke , 1998)

Using a SWOT Analysis to Structure Your Business Plan

Once you’ve created a mission and vision statement, the next step is to develop a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.” It is difficult to set goals for your business without first enumerating your business’s strengths and weaknesses, and the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Evaluate by using the following questions:

• Do you offer superior customer service as compared with your competitors?
• Do you specialize in a niche market? What experiences do you have that set you apart from your competitors?
• What are your competitors’ strengths?
• Where do you see the market already saturated, and where are there opportunities for expansion and growth?

Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat (SWOT) ( Investopedia , Apr. 21, 2023)

How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis for Your Small Business ( SCORE , Apr. 28, 2022)

SWOT Analysis Toolbox ( University of Washington )

Setting ​Business Goals

Next, translate your mission and vision into tangible goals. For instance, if your mission statement is to make every client feel like your most important client, think about the following:

• How specifically will you implement this?
• Do you want to grow your business?
• Is this growth measured by gross revenue, profit, personnel, or physical office space?
• How much growth do you aim for annually?
• What specific targets will you strive to hit annually in the next few years?

What are Business Goals? Definition, How To Set Business Goals and Examples ( Indeed , Mar. 10, 2023)

Planning and Goal Setting for Small Business ( U.S. Small Business Administration )

• Regular work goals.
• Problem-solving goals.
• Innovative goals.
• Development goals

Establishing a Format

Most businesses either follow a traditional business plan format or a lean startup plan.

Traditional Business Plan

A traditional business plan is detailed and comprehensive. Writing this business plan takes more time. A traditional business plan typically contains the following elements:

• Executive Summary
• Company description
• Market analysis
• Organization and management
• Service or product line
• Marketing and sales
• Funding request
• Financial projections

Lean Startup Plan

A lean startup plan requires high-level focus but is easier to write, with an emphasis on key elements. A lean startup plan typically contains the following elements:

• Key partnerships
• Key activities
• Key resources
• Value proposition
• Customer relationships
• Customer segments
• Cost structure
• Revenue stream

Creating a Marketing Plan

You may wish to create a marketing plan as either a section of your business plan or as an addendum. The Marketing Mix concerns product , price , place and promotion .

• What is your product?
• How does your price distinguish you from your competitors—is it industry average, upper quartile, or lower quartile?
• How does your pricing strategy benefit your clients?
• How and where will you promote your services?
• What types of promotions will you advertise?
• Will you ask clients for referrals or use coupons?
• Which channels will you use to place your marketing message?

Your Guide to Creating a Small Business Marketing Plan ( Business.com , Mar. 22, 2023)

10 Questions You Need to Answer to Create a Powerful Marketing Plan ( The Balance , Jan. 16, 2020)

Developing a Marketing Plan ( Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation )

Forming a Team

Ensuring the cooperation of all colleagues, supervisors, and supervisees involved in your plan is another important element to consider. Some questions to consider are:

• Is your business plan’s success contingent upon the cooperation of your colleagues?
• If so, what specifically do you need them to do?
• How will you evaluate their participation?
• Are they on-board with the role you have assigned them?
• How will you get “buy in” from these individuals?

How to Start a Rock-Solid Real Estate Team ( The Close , May 26, 2020)

Don’t Start a Real Estate Team Without Asking Yourself These 8 Questions ( Homelight , Jan. 21, 2020)

Implementing a Business Plan and Reviewing Regularly

Implementation and follow-up are frequently overlooked aspects to the business plan, yet vital to the success of the plan. Set dates (annually, semi-annually, quarterly, or monthly) to review your business plans goals. Consider the following while reviewing:

• Are you on track?
• Are the goals reasonable to achieve, impossible, or too easy?
• How do you measure success—is it by revenue, profit, or number of transactions?

And lastly, think about overall goals.

• How do you plan to implement your business plan’s goals?
• When will you review and refine your business plan goals?
• What process will you use to review your goals?
• What types of quantitative and qualitative data will you collect and use to measure your success?

These items are only a few sections of a business plan. Depending on your business, you may want to include additional sections in your plan such as a:

• Cover letter stating the reasoning behind developing a business plan
• Non-disclosure statement
• Table of contents

How To Write a Business Proposal Letter (With Examples) ( Indeed , Mar. 10, 2023)

How To Implement Your Business Plan Objectives ( The Balance , Aug. 19, 2022)

The Bottom Line

Creating a business plan may seem daunting, but by understanding your business and market fully, you can create a plan that generates success (however you choose to define it).

Real Estate Business Plans – Samples, Instructional Guides, and Templates

9 Steps to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan + Templates ( The Close , Apr. 17, 2023)

How to Write a Real Estate Business Plan (+Free Template) ( Fit Small Business , Jun. 21, 2022)

The Ultimate Guide to Creating a Real Estate Business Plan + Free Template ( Placester )

Write Your Business Plan ( U.S. Small Business Administration )

General Business Plans – Samples, Instructional Guides, and Templates

Business Plan Template for a Startup Business ( SCORE , May 12, 2023)

Guide to Creating a Business Plan with Template (Business News Daily, Feb. 21, 2023)

Nine Lessons These Entrepreneurs Wish They Knew Before Writing Their First Business Plans ( Forbes , Jul. 25, 2021)

How to Write a Business Plan 101 ( Entrepreneur , Feb. 22, 2021)

Books, eBooks & Other Resources

Ebooks & other resources.

The following eBooks and digital audiobooks are available to NAR members:

20 Minute Manager: Creating Business Plans Gather Your Resources, Describe the Opportunity, Get Buy-in (eBook) E

The Straightforward Business Plan (eBook)

Business Plan Checklist (eBook)

The SWOT Analysis (eBook)

The Business Plan Workbook (eBook)

Start-Up! A Beginner's Guide to Planning a 21st Century Business (eBook)

Complete Book of Business Plans (eBook)

How to Write a Business Plan (eBook)

The Easy Step by Step Guide to Writing a Business Plan and Making it Work (eBook)

Business Planning: 25 Keys to a Sound Business Plan (Audiobook)

Your First Business Plan, 5 th Edition (eBook)

Anatomy of a Business Plan (eBook)

Writing a Business Plan and Making it Work (Audiobook)

The Social Network Business Plan (eBook)

Books, Videos, Research Reports & More

As a member benefit, the following resources and more are available for loan through the NAR Library. Items will be mailed directly to you or made available for pickup at the REALTOR® Building in Chicago.

Writing an Effective Business Plan (Deloitte and Touche, 1999) HD 1375 D37w

Have an idea for a real estate topic? Send us your suggestions .

The inclusion of links on this page does not imply endorsement by the National Association of REALTORS®. NAR makes no representations about whether the content of any external sites which may be linked in this page complies with state or federal laws or regulations or with applicable NAR policies. These links are provided for your convenience only and you rely on them at your own risk.

10 Things Your Real Estate Business Plan Needs (FREE Template)

A real estate agent business plan is essential for success in today’s competitive market. It helps you set clear goals, define your vision, and outline the steps to achieve short-term and long-term objectives. As a real estate professional, having a well-crafted business plan can be the difference between being a top producer and struggling to make ends meet.

In your business plan, you’ll want to start by creating a vision statement that outlines the purpose of your real estate business and reflects your values. Setting firm goals will help you stay accountable and focused, allowing you to adapt to market changes or growth and remember that your business plan should be fluid and up-to-date to stay aligned with your ultimate objectives.

Your real estate agent business plan should be thorough, covering various aspects such as market analysis, organization structure, and marketing strategies. By having a comprehensive plan, you’ll be better equipped to navigate the challenges and seize the opportunities that come your way, ensuring your real estate business flourishes.

Understanding Your Target Market

Identifying your ideal client.

Understanding your target market is crucial to establish a successful real estate business plan. Begin by identifying your ideal client. Consider factors that may define your target clients, such as age, income level, family status, and property preferences. Reflect on your strengths as an agent and which clients you connect best with. This will help you focus your marketing efforts and create tailored strategies for your target audience.

Market Segmentation

Market segmentation divides your target market into smaller, more specific groups based on shared characteristics. In real estate, you can segment your market into categories such as:

• First-time homebuyers
• Empty nesters

By segmenting your market, you can tailor your services and communication strategies according to the unique needs of each group. This will lead to more effective marketing efforts and a better understanding of your potential clientele.

Analyzing Local Market Trends and Opportunities

Gather data on your local real estate market to identify trends and opportunities for your business. Analyze factors like:

• Market growth
• Market saturation
• Local property values
• Employment rates
• Infrastructure development
• Population demographics

By analyzing local market trends, you can identify areas with potential growth or areas that are becoming overly saturated. Use this information to adapt your services and expertise to market conditions, helping you stand out among competitors and position yourself as an expert in your niche.

Remember, a comprehensive understanding of your target market is essential for shaping your real estate agent business plan. By identifying your ideal clients, segmenting the market, and analyzing local market trends and opportunities, you’ll be better equipped to create tailored marketing strategies and make informed business decisions. This will ultimately contribute to the success and growth of your real estate business.

Lead Generation Strategies

Building an online presence.

To create a robust lead generation plan, build a strong online presence. A real estate agent must have a well-designed and user-friendly website to capture leads. Keep these factors in mind:

• Make sure your website reflects your branding and expertise
• Optimize your site for search engines to enhance its visibility in search results
• Include clear calls-to-action (CTAs), so potential clients can easily contact you
• Utilize high-quality images and videos to showcase properties
• Share helpful and informative content through a blog or resources section

You can also leverage social media channels to expand your reach and showcase your expertise in the industry. Focus on the platforms most relevant to your target audience and share valuable content related to real estate, local events, or home improvement tips.

Networking and Referrals

Building a strong professional network is essential for generating quality leads. Here are some strategies to boost your referral pipeline:

• Attend networking events, conferences, or workshops in your area. Engage with professionals in real estate or related industries
• Establish relationships with local businesses and community organizations
• Hold open houses or host educational seminars to engage potential clients in person
• Develop relationships with past clients and ensure you stay top of mind so they recommend you to their connections

Additionally, create a referral program that rewards clients and other referrers for sharing your services with their network. This will incentivize them to talk about you and help expand your reach.

Traditional Marketing Methods

Despite the increasing importance of digital marketing, traditional methods still have their place in generating leads for real estate agents:

• Send direct mail campaigns, like newsletters or postcards, to targeted neighborhoods, highlighting your strengths and successes
• Advertise in local print media, such as newspapers or specialized real estate publications
• List your services and properties in industry-specific directories, both online and offline
• Design and distribute eye-catching flyers, brochures, and business cards
• Participate in community events or sponsor local charities to enhance your company’s reputation and visibility

Make sure to keep track of the effectiveness of each lead generation method and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. This will help refine and improve your overall marketing strategy and ensure you invest resources into the most productive channels.

Lead Conversion Techniques

Building rapport and trust.

To build rapport and trust, focus on the following:

• Be genuine and authentic with your prospects, showcasing your expertise and knowledge.
• Listen actively, taking the time to understand their concerns and needs.
• Display empathy towards their situation, offering tailored solutions for their specific problems.
• Stay engaged through the entire process, from the first interaction to closing.

Qualifying Leads

When it comes to qualifying leads:

• Ask open-ended questions to gauge their needs, timeline, and motivation for buying or selling
• Inquire about their financial situation and any potential barriers they may have
• Learn more about their preferred neighborhoods, housing type, and other preferences
• Prioritize leads based on their level of interest and readiness to move forward

Effective Communication and Follow-Up Strategies

For better communication and follow-up:

• Establish a consistent schedule for checking in on leads, such as every few days or weekly
• Personalize your communication, tailoring messages to each lead’s unique situation and preferences
• Practice active listening and respond thoughtfully to their questions or concerns
• Utilize several communication channels, including email, phone calls, text messages, and social media

Utilizing CRM Systems for Lead Management

Leveraging CRM systems can help you organize and optimize your lead management process:

• Track important lead information and interaction history in a centralized location
• Set reminders for follow-up tasks, appointments, or important milestones
• Analyze your leads’ behavior to understand their needs better and provide personalized service
• Create targeted marketing campaigns to engage your leads and nurture them toward conversion

By implementing these techniques and focusing on leads, marketing strategies, and communication, you’ll be well on your way to creating a thriving real estate agent business.

Closing Deals and Earning Commissions

Negotiation tactics.

When closing deals, it’s crucial to employ effective negotiation tactics to help both you and your client reach a favorable outcome. Some negotiation tactics include:

• Understanding the market: Know the local market trends and use this information when discussing price adjustments or concessions.
• Compromise: Find common ground and offer reasonable solutions to meet both parties’ needs.
• Leverage: Use your expertise in the real estate industry to highlight your client’s strengths and make convincing arguments.

Handling Objections and Overcoming Challenges

As a real estate agent, you’ll encounter objections and challenges in closing deals. To address them efficiently, consider the following points:

• Listen to the client’s concerns and empathize with their situation.
• Identify the objection: Determine the root cause of the objection and respond with a compelling solution.
• Maintain professionalism: Stay calm and composed, avoiding confrontational behavior.

Preparing and Presenting Offers

Presenting a well-prepared offer is vital to increasing the chances of closing a deal. Keep in mind:

• Research: Analyze comparable properties in the area to establish a competitive price for the offer.
• Documentation: Ensure that all necessary documents, such as pre-approval letters and proof of funds, are in order.
• Presentation: Employ clear and concise communication when presenting the offer, highlighting its benefits to the seller.

Managing the Transaction Process and Paperwork

Effectively managing the transaction process and paperwork helps keep the deal on track, which includes:

• Organization: Maintain an organized system for tracking important deadlines and required documents.
• Communication: Regularly update all parties involved in the transaction, ensuring they know the progress and address any concerns.
• Attention to detail: Ensure all forms, contracts, and other documents are accurate and complete.

By successfully closing deals, you’ll earn commissions based on your agreed split with your broker. For instance, if you close a deal worth $350,000 with a 6% commission rate, the gross commission income will be $21,000. If your commission split with your broker is 70/30, you’ll earn $14,700 while your broker receives $6,300. Utilizing the strategies discussed in this section will help you maximize your commission income and prove beneficial to your real estate business plan.

Client Retention and Building Repeat Business

Maintaining client relationships after closing.

Building lasting relationships with your clients is essential for repeat business and referrals. After closing a deal, continue to provide value by offering support with any post-closing issues, such as paperwork or maintenance concerns. Keep in touch with your clients and remember important milestones, such as anniversaries or birthdays. Show appreciation for their trust in you by sending thoughtful gifts or cards or simply checking in periodically.

Asking for Referrals and Testimonials

Word-of-mouth marketing is an incredibly powerful tool in the real estate industry. Encourage your satisfied clients to share their positive experiences with friends and family. To achieve this, be proactive in asking for testimonials and reviews, which you can later showcase on your website, social media, and other marketing materials. Here are some strategies to obtain them:

• Reach out via email or phone, and kindly request a testimonial or referral
• Provide a simple template to make it easy for clients to write a review
• Offer incentives, such as discounts on future services or gift cards, to show gratitude for their time and effort

Staying Top-of-Mind Through Regular Communication and Updates

Establish regular communication with your past clients to stay top-of-mind and generate repeat business. Keep them informed about the latest market trends, neighborhood developments, or listings that interest them. Here are some communication tactics you can employ:

• Send personalized monthly or quarterly e-newsletters
• Share relevant content, such as articles or videos, on your social media platforms
• Organize events, like client appreciation parties or educational seminars, to maintain connections and foster new ones

Maintaining client relationships, requesting referrals, and staying top-of-mind through regular updates will strengthen your real estate business with repeat clients and new prospects. Remember, satisfied customers are the key to long-term success in the real estate industry.

Measuring Success and Adjusting Your Strategies

Setting goals and key performance indicators (kpis).

To measure the success of your real estate agent business plan, start by setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). These can serve as benchmarks for success and provide direction on areas to focus your efforts. Consider setting goals for various aspects of your business, such as sales volume, new client acquisition, and customer satisfaction.

In addition to your goals, establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to track your progress. KPIs are quantifiable metrics that help you evaluate the effectiveness of your strategies. Examples of KPIs for a real estate agent business plan include:

• Number of new leads generated per month
• The conversion rate of leads to clients
• Average days on market for properties
• Percentage of listings sold

Tracking and Analyzing Results

With your goals and KPIs established, continually collect and analyze data to track your progress. Regularly monitoring your results allows you to identify trends, spot potential problems, and evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Some methods to track your data include:

• Using a CRM system to manage client relationships and interactions
• Employing analytics tools to evaluate the success of digital marketing campaigns
• Conducting a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) to identify areas where you excel or need improvement

Pay close attention to competitor performance and market trends to better understand how your strategies compare and identify any gaps you may need to address.

Adapting and Optimizing Your Strategies Based on Data

Once you’ve gathered and analyzed your data, use insights to adapt and optimize your strategies. Make data-driven decisions to improve your marketing efforts, streamline processes, and better allocate resources. Some steps you can take include:

• Adjusting your marketing budget and tactics based on your marketing ROI
• Revisiting your goals and KPIs to ensure they still align with your overall business objectives
• Fine-tuning your pricing strategies or the type of properties you focus on to meet market demand better

Maintaining a proactive approach to adjusting your strategies will keep your business plan agile and responsive to the changing real estate market. This will go a long way in helping you achieve the success you envision for your real estate agent business.

Time Management and Organization

Prioritizing tasks and setting a daily schedule.

In your real estate agent business plan, it’s crucial to have a time management and organization strategy. Start by prioritizing tasks that align with your [business goals]. Break down tasks into daily, weekly, and monthly goals. Then, create a daily schedule following the block scheduling method:

• List your key tasks for the day.
• Assign specific time blocks for each task.
• Stick to the schedule and avoid multitasking.

You’ll notice increased productivity and improved time management with this approach.

Using Productivity Tools and Apps

Take advantage of productivity tools and apps to help you stay organized and manage your time efficiently. Some popular tools for real estate agents include:

• Calendars: Apps like Google Calendar or Outlook can help schedule appointments and manage deadlines.
• Task Managers: Utilize tools like Trello, Asana, or Todoist to manage your projects and collaborate with your team.
• Time Tracking: Apps such as Toggl or Harvest provide insights into your work habits, helping you identify areas for improvement.

Remember to limit the number of tools you use to avoid digital clutter and duplicate information.

Delegating and Outsourcing Tasks When Necessary

As a real estate agent, delegating and outsourcing non-core tasks is essential to focus on your primary responsibilities. Here are some tasks you can consider delegating:

Identify areas where your expertise may not be as strong or where your time can be better spent, and consider outsourcing those tasks to professionals. This approach will help you manage your workload and improve the quality of your services.

Ongoing Education and Professional Development

Staying up-to-date with industry trends and changes.

To stay competitive in the real estate market, you must keep up with industry trends and changes. By monitoring resources like the National Association of Realtors (NAR), California Association of Realtors (CAR), and multiple listing services (MLS), you can stay informed about the latest developments in your field. Set aside time to read industry publications, attend webinars, listen to podcasts, and follow industry-leading professionals on social media.

Pursuing Relevant Certifications and Designations

Continuing education is crucial for staying current in the fast-paced real estate industry. Pursue relevant certifications and designations to add credibility and value to your practice. Organizations like NAR and CAR offer various designations demonstrating your expertise and commitment to professionalism to clients and colleagues.

Examples of real estate certifications and designations include:

• Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR)
• Certified Residential Specialist (CRS)
• Green Designation (Green)
• Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES)

To obtain these certifications, you must complete specific coursework, pass exams, and maintain membership in the relevant organizations.

Participating in Networking and Learning Events

Engaging in networking and learning events within the real estate community can help you build relationships, share ideas, and learn from the experiences of others. Attend conferences, workshops, and local meetups relevant to your niche, region, or areas of interest. Not only will this enhance your industry knowledge and skills, but it can also be an opportunity to form valuable connections that will benefit your business growth.

In summary, staying up-to-date with industry trends, pursuing certifications and designations, and participating in networking events can help you maintain and develop your skills as a real estate professional. Committing to continuous learning and professional development is essential to ensure your long-term success in the real estate business.

A well-structured business plan is essential for success as a new real estate agent. With a solid plan, you can set your goals, identify your target market, and analyze your competition. A comprehensive business plan lets you plan your marketing strategies, map your operating expenses, and create revenue projections.

To get started, consider using a business plan template tailored to real estate agents’ needs. This will give you a framework to follow as you develop your plan.

Developing a business plan is just the first step in the process. You need to take action and implement your strategies to realize your goals and achieve success. Revise your plan regularly, adapting and updating it as needed. This will ensure you stay on track with your goals and remain competitive in the ever-changing real estate market.

As a new real estate agent, taking bold steps toward your objectives may feel intimidating. However, trust your plan, apply your outlined strategies, and stay persistent. Your dedication will pay off in the long run.

Starting a career in real estate can be challenging, but you don’t have to face the journey alone. There are numerous resources and support networks available to help new real estate agents excel:

• Professional networks : Join local real estate associations and online forums to connect with experienced agents, ask questions, and expand your knowledge.
• Mentors : Seek accomplished real estate agents who can offer guidance, share valuable experiences, and provide personalized advice.
• Training and education : Keep your skills fresh by attending workshops, participating in webinars, and pursuing continuing education courses relevant to your field.

By leveraging these resources and committing to your business plan, you are setting yourself up for a successful career in real estate. Don’t forget to celebrate your achievements along the way and take pride in your progress. Now is the time to take action; you will surely achieve your goals with determination and hard work.

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Real Estate Business Plan Template

Download our template and create a business plan for your real estate business!

Updated September 22, 2023 Reviewed by Brooke Davis

A real estate business plan is as essential as a business plan for any new or existing business. This step-by-step guide will explain how to make a real estate business plan, provide a real estate business plan template for you to work with, and explain how and why each step is necessary for your business plan to be effective.

We also provide links to downloadable templates to help you create your real estate business plan and sample plans to show you the best ways to tailor your plan for any number of real estate business needs.

Whether you seek investors to grow your business or want to track your goals from year to year as your business develops, a carefully crafted plan will help you.

Why You Need a Business Plan for Your Real Estate Business

How to write a business plan for real estate, real estate business plan sample.

The real estate business plan fills several needs. It gives you an outline of your business goals and the direction you want your business to take. It keeps you in line with industry trends. It lets you monitor your annual performance and change your goals as the market changes.

An effective real estate business plan also acts as a financial summary of your business, showing how it stands about your competition and the industry. The business plan acts as a road map for you and a snapshot of your business for any investors or bankers who want to understand your business.

A real estate business plan will help you spot risks and weaknesses early in your business development and help you set realistic goals for your business.

These are known as SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based goals.

Creating a business plan without goals is like starting a journey without a destination. Having a destination without a map means going down many blind alleys, taking unnecessary detours, and wasting time as you frequently need to return and start again.

Your business plan will help you avoid these pitfalls and adjust your course while you travel towards your final goal — a successful real estate business.

You must cover critical topics and include the correct information to ensure your business plan is as effective as possible. Follow our guide to writing a well-formed real estate business plan below.

1. Executive Summary

The executive summary contains an overall review of the rest of the business plan. It should include an outline of your history, your mission statement, and an overview of the rest of the report.

This section will include things like:

• Target clients with a fictional “ideal buyer” persona;
• Target neighborhoods, price ranges, and listings;
• Market overviews and potential threats and opportunities;
• A marketing plan outline.
• Your mission statement. This should include where and how your agency was founded, discuss the legal and financial structure, and stress your dedication to your customers and any special advantages you provide to your target clients.

2. Management Team

If you have a management team or a group that has contributed to the business’s success, summarize their names and contributions.

This section highlights everyone who has been involved in your business.

• Owners, founders, and original managers;
• New management, assigned duties and areas, and specific clients;
• Planned management expansion and anticipated managerial goals.
• Include all information about your managers, names, positions and duties, education and work history, past business successes, and other relevant details. Think of this section as your management team’s biography.

As the business expands, your management team section will be one section that needs constant improvement and updating.

3. Products and Services 

Your products and services should be phrased to make you unique in the industry and highlight how you stand out from your competitors. As a real estate business, what do you provide for your clients that others do not? How do your agents compare with your competition?

In real estate, your product is your listing and your brand. What is it that makes your company the one that your target buyer wants to use? In this section, you will highlight the following:

• Your niche market and how you acquire specific listings in your area;
• Your lead generation model and the way you obtain leads that differentiate you from your competitors;
• Your branding. A defining brand can be nebulous, and many firms resort to hiring a brand agent to help them customize and market their brand. You may be a family-friendly agent or specialize in the young professionals market. Determining how you present yourself is critical to your service profile.

4. Customers and Marketing

The customers and marketing section lets you identify your niche within the real estate business and how you intend to reach them.

You defined your ideal customer in your executive summary; now is where you expand on your perfect customer “persona.” A “persona” is the industry name for the imaginary person you sell to.

• Their demographics, age, gender, job, family preference, and income.
• Deal-breakers. What do they have to have in a home? What can they do without?
• Amenities, recreation, entertainment. Does your ideal buyer need dog parks nearby or bike paths? Do they want access to the water or the theater district?
• What type of neighborhood is your ideal buyer looking for? Do they need a school district or prefer to be far from children?

After establishing your ideal customer, you can select the viability of your marketing niche. For instance, is your buyer likely to be a first-time buyer? If so, what percentage of first-time sales were made in your chosen area in the last two years?

The more detailed you can make your Customers and Marketing section, the more you know how your business will likely thrive in your chosen area.

5. SWOT Analysis

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are necessary for every business analysis. In what areas are you and your business strongest, and where do you need improvement?

Investors appreciate a business owner who can accurately pinpoint their good and bad points and demonstrate how to improve.

This analysis should be fact-based, not opinion-based. You should be able to provide statistics and metrics for your and your competitors’ business research. Some things to consider are:

• In what areas of your business plan are you strongest? Are they similar or dissimilar to your nearest competitor’s strengths?
• In what areas are you weakest? Are you weak where your competitors are strongest?
• What opportunities can you exploit in the next six to 12 months? Are these opportunities unavailable to your competitors?
• What threats are you facing in the next year? How can you avoid these threats or turn them into advantages?

By analyzing your business objectively and reviewing all the facts and numbers, you can determine how you will be placed in the next year.

6. Financials 

The meat of your business plan is the financials. This includes your expenses, annual income forecast (sales, commissions, or other income), cash flow, and costs. As your business grows, your business plan will include previous years’ financials to track the growth.

Your financials should include, at a minimum:

• Expenses. These include operating expenses, whether you have a physical location or are still in the virtual stage of operations, licensing and permitting, fees and filing costs, and other operating expenses. If you have employees, it will also include payroll.
• The past income portion will track how much you have already made. You should be able to show how many leads you have generated, how many transactions you made, and your income from those efforts.
• Future income is how much you would like to make going forward. You can estimate how many leads are needed per transaction and how many transactions per sale from your past efforts.
• Goals. With this information, you should include your projections for the next year and five-year periods. Presumably, you wish to increase profit over the next five years. You can demonstrate how to achieve these goals using income tracking and market research.

7. Operations

Operations contain the moving parts of your financial projections. This section describes how you intend to reach your business goals in the upcoming year. This section might also include upcoming personnel changes, office expansions, etc.

Real Estate operations can include your projected hours of operation, your action plan for achieving your goals, and your marketing and advertising plan. Initially, this may be somewhat fluid if you do not plan to have set hours of operation or a brick-and-mortar office.

Later, as your business increases, this section will include business hours, open house times, etc.

8. Appendix

If your real estate business plan includes any ancillary documents, such as your Articles of Incorporation or a  Business Purchase Agreement , they would be included in the Appendix.

After your first real estate business plan, your previous years’ plans will go into the Appendix so they can be reviewed by potential investors or by your board. You can also include your quarterly statements and other financial documents.

Your Appendix is the section for any documents you want to have that are not essential for your readers’ overall understanding.

Now that you know what goes into your real estate business plan, all that is left for you to do is click on the business plan creation template and begin. Ensure you have all your documentation and research-ready in advance, and the template will provide you with cues as to what information needs to go into which spaces.

After filling in all the blanks, the template will generate a real estate business plan to your specifications.

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The 8 Steps in Creating a Real Estate Agent Business Plan + FREE Checklist

• 02 Sep 2020
• Real Estate Marketing ,  Real Estate Social Media

Whether you’re a freshly licensed real estate agent or a seasoned one, you’re an independent contractor who is responsible for overseeing and taking care of the inner workings of your business.  That’s why a real estate agent business plan is crucial if you want to organize and grow your real estate business.

What’s a real estate agent business plan exactly? Think of it as your roadmap to success. It includes your short-term (think 12 months) and long-term (more than 12 months) goals, your niche and what services you can offer within your niche, your target market/ideal client, all the finances, and your marketing plan.

Yes, it seems like a lot to think about. But don’t run away from this opportunistic job just yet — we’ve created an eight-step plan that will help you create your personal real estate agent business plan.

Step 1: Define Your “Why” for your Real Estate Agent Business Plan

Your “why”, or reason for creating this business and pursuing this career will be the foundation for how you run your business. Think of this as your mission and vision. Without this step, you risk losing a vision and purpose, which will in turn confuse and deter clients.

A couple of questions to think about are “why do you want to become successful with your business?” and “what problem do you solve for your clients?”

In times of stress, during interviews, when speaking in casual conversation, and establishing your brand, your “why” is what will keep you motivated to push forward and stand out from the crowd.

Step 2: Define Your Short-Term and Long-Term Real Estate Goals

Short-term is considered 12 months or shorter. Long-term is considered over 12 months. These will, of course, be revised with time. But creating these real estate goals and having them easily accessible will help you focus your efforts on the parts of your real estate business that need the most attention.

Important note: make sure that they’re specific, realistic, and achievable.

Some examples of short term real estate goals might be: create a real estate marketing calendar, create your personal branding, give out your business card to 10 people per day, schedule 10 showings per week, etc. 

Ideas for long term real estate goals may be: close 20 transactions per year, make the top 10% in your brokerage, build a team, increase your closings for the year by 20% year over year, etc. 

Step 3: Find Your Niche

Don’t all real estate agents just want to sell houses? Well, not exactly. If all real estate agents did the same thing, then there wouldn’t be such fierce competition, a large market, or even real estate Instagram influencers. For example, some real estate agents choose to focus on luxury condos, while others have honed in on being a waterfront property expert. What will be your real estate niche?

Here are some questions to think about when choosing your niche:

• What kind of demographic do you want to serve?
• What types of living spaces can you not get enough of?
• Are you a luxury real estate agent, or a more humble suburbs one?
• What kind of services do you offer that no one else does?
• Do you have extra certifications?

These questions will help you get the gears turning in your brain as you establish your unique brand.

Step 4: Market and Competition Research

It’s important to get an assessment of what you’re up against and which areas you want to serve.

First, do some market research to figure out what kind of clientele you are dealing with. Neighborhoods can range drastically in demographics and sales activity, so make sure you do some research to find which neighborhood around you fits with your interest and niche.

After you’ve established an area (or a few areas) you want to conduct your real estate business in, do some competition research on real estate agents in that area. Make a list of what you like about their business, what you don’t like, and how you can “corner” the market — in other words, how your business is different than theirs.  Look for opportunities to enter this market and compete with the other agents.  Analyze their transactions and marketing. Do they offer digital marketing, professional photography, staging services, years of experience, etc.  Focus on what your target demographic would expect in your chosen market, and if you can identify any opportunities to present them uniquely and standout!

Step 5: Develop Methods for Generating Real Estate Leads

So you have your mission in place, your goals, your niche, and you’ve researched and cornered your market. Now it’s time to focus on how you’re actually going to attract clients. This will vary and change as you grow your business, but starting out with the basics lays a good foundation.

Places where you can generate leads are social media, newsletter flows, word-of-mouth, in-person networking, creation of business material , landing pages, courses, hosting open houses for other agents, holding seminars,  free informational material, real estate websites with idx ,  etc.

You’ve identified how ways to generate real estate leads to sell houses, now it’s time for you to prove you can also sell your brand.

Step 6: Real Estate Branding and Marketing

After figuring out the methods in which you can generate real estate leads, now it’s time to come up with a real estate marketing and branding plan.

Branding is how you want your prospective clients to perceive your brand. Here are some questions to think about:

• What brand voice do you want to have?
• Which colors do you want associated with your brand?
• What are some of your brand fonts?
• What do you want clients to feel when they encounter your real estate brand?

Marketing is the strategy in which you will present your brand to the public, and how you will retain clients and audiences. It helps to have a real estate marketing schedule or real estate social media content calendar   laid out in order to do this to prevent overthinking and overworking yourself every single day.

Questions to get you thinking about your brand:

• Where are you going to promote your brand?
• How are you going to price your services?
• What kind of promotions will you have in place?
• What steps will you take to stay consistent in your real estate marketing efforts?

This step will require you to get a little more into the nitty-gritty of your brand. But don’t feel too pressured to make final decisions. While it’s important to be consistent, as you develop and grow, so will your brand, which means changes are usually inevitable.

Step 7: Budgeting

Especially as an independent contractor, keeping track of your finances and budgeting out your expenses is critical to understanding how to keep running your business. Categorize and keep record of dates so you know exactly where your money is going and where your money is coming from.

Some items to consider when developing your real estate agent business plan budget are: 

• What is my commission split?
• How much will I spend on marketing each listing? 
• What is the average sales price in my niche? 
• How many homes have I sold over the last 6 months?
• Do I need to hire a transaction coordinator?
• What are my car expenses?

Make sure to include expense reviews every month so you become familiar with your finance sheets.

This way, as you progress, you can become aware of how to be more efficient with your time and money.

Step 8: Have a Real Estate Agent Business Plan Checklist That Reminds You to Periodically Review Your Business Plan

Every part of your real estate agent business plan plays a key role in making your brand grow and thrive. But with everything that is going on and will be going on in your real estate business, it’s easy to neglect one aspect of the plan.

That’s why we recommend having a checklist to remind you to routinely check up on every aspect of your plan to make sure every cog in the wheel is attended to.

Check out the free Real Estate Agent Business Plan Checklist that we created so you don’t have to worry about this step! You can go ahead and get started on the first step of creating your real estate agent business plan.

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Create a Real Estate Business Plan: Template, Tips & More

A real estate agent business plan is a document that outlines your comprehensive strategy to grow your real estate business. It outlines important milestones of your approach, identifying what your goals are and how you will achieve them.

Because of the nature of the real estate business, you can construct plans as a broker, agent, etc. There are several ways to focus your goals and tactics when you are writing a real estate business plan, and each specific role you have will change what you’re trying to achieve and how you will do it.

It’s fundamentally important to remember that in real estate, there are two things to keep on the top of your mind:

• You are your own boss and manage your own business.
• Being busy doesn’t always mean that you’re making money.

Combining these two important thoughts leads us to one conclusion — that having a written-out plan will help determine what you’re trying to accomplish and will help keep you committed to a specific plan of action. A business plan for real estate agents is sure to help you identify measurable goals while helping you stay on a predetermined route to reach your ambitions.

Additionally, a plan will identify prospective issues you expect to run into and how you plan to overcome them. The plan will assign roles and responsibilities, and allow you to measure your success as your business progresses.

It’s important to know that you’re not in this alone – we have an experienced team of coaches who can help you  create a real estate business plan that makes it simple and easy.

Why Create a Real Estate Business Plan?

Studies  have shown that creating a business plan for real estate can increase your chance of success by 12%. Additionally, it can raise your chances of success by 27% when you commit to writing a real estate business plan and combine it with other things like talking to prospective customers, making marketing materials, and getting yourself ready for business.

What’s more, you will be taken more seriously by potential business partners, brokers, and banks because you have dedicated time to sit down and devise a written plan that precisely outlines the actions you plan to take. This shows that you have placed significant personal investment in your business, and gives others peace of mind that they can join you in this venture.

A real estate business plan gives you a clear direction and an operational checklist for identifying your goals. Some questions it will answer are:

• Who is my prospective client?
• How much do I want to earn?
• What do my sales need to look like to reach my ideal take-home pay?
• How will I cover the expenses of my business?

A plan is not set in stone and allows for adjustments as situations arise – but should be thoroughly devised enough to help you overcome foreseeable challenges like identifying leads and finding funding money to get started.

How to Start

Executive summary.

The executive summary of a real estate business plan establishes your hopes and dreams, a broad overview of how you plan to accomplish them, and highlights from the research used to support your decisions.

It should identify who your potential clients are, the areas you plan to focus on, and any potential sales opportunities (for example, the average house in this area is $450k). If there are any competitive assessments, those are also important to note here.

In many ways, consider this your elevator pitch. Given 30 seconds, or the amount of time you were in an elevator with someone, how would you describe your ability to  be profitable in real estate ?

Write a Detailed Business Description

If you’ve ever seen the show, “Shark Tank,” you’d be familiar with how the business owner stands in front of the investors and shares their story about why they should invest in their product. This is the detailed business description of your plan, where you tell what inspired you to get involved in real estate.

The description will highlight the opportunity and how you plan to make the most of it, while answering ‘who, what, when, where, how, and why’. Who is your prospective client? What makes you different and what is your client looking for? When are they typically looking to buy or sell their property? How do they typically start their search or process of selling their home?  Questions like these  will help shape your detailed business description to answer questions that you might not think about at first.

Perform a SWOT Analysis

If you’re unfamiliar with the term “SWOT”, it stands for (S)trengths, (W)eaknesses, (O)pportunities, (T)hreats. When applying a SWOT analysis to writing a real estate business plan, the coined term helps you identify some of the core questions that arise when planning.

Strengths address what makes you different and a better choice than your competition. Will you be more knowledgeable? Have you lived in the area you’re targeting your whole life? Are you a well-known member of the area who already has created a personal brand that will go far in real estate?

Weaknesses address the exact opposite. What things are you lacking? What things do others do better? Naturally, if you’re breaking into real estate, one of the first things you’d note is experience. Having multiple weaknesses isn’t a  bad  thing. It means you’ve identified potential issues and how to overcome them. For example, a new agent with experienced coaches can quickly overcome the example weakness.

Creating a Strategic Real Estate Business Plan

Defining your marketing strategy.

As much as you would like to be the perfect fit for all clients, the reality is that you are going to have a specific type of client that’s going to work the best with you. Maybe it’s someone from a specific area of town, first-time homebuyers, those using specific types of financing options, or those in the Armed Forces.

Identifying your market niche isn’t going to limit you to a specific clientele, but it’s going to direct your marketing and branding so that you’re not throwing lots of things and hoping that something sticks. This means saving time and money by directing your marketing efforts to the most meaningful ways, giving you the biggest bang for your buck.

Understanding the marketing strategy aspect of your real estate business plan will help you know who your target is, what their defining characteristics are, what services they are seeking, and help you understand how to grow those specific relationships.

Understanding  how you will generate leads  is incredibly important in developing your plan. If you don’t have leads, you won’t have sales — which means you won’t make money. Because of the nature of the business, you’ll need to understand how prospective clients start the process (which is usually through looking at things online).

Creating a Financial Plan

An important aspect of writing your business plan will always include money. Here you will identify your expenses, income, and estimate your sales goals. It’s important to create realistic and well-thought-out measurements in this section, to understand how your plan will come together.

When looking at your expenses, consider all things that will change for you on a licensing, personal, and business level. Licensing may seem self-explanatory, but ongoing education, covering multiple states, and other things might pop up. Personal expenses are also easily overlooked — will you need to buy different clothes, will a new smartphone be important to your work, and will your cost of gas rise? Business expenses are things like your broker fees, advertising costs, and other things often charged directly from your office.

A true financial plan is not a rough collection of estimates or guesstimates. It’s a close look at the reality of the costs you will be facing when you choose to start on the endeavor, and a true understanding of what it will take to achieve your goals. One of the basic goals you will look at financially is the ability of real estate to keep you economically profitable in consideration of your time and resources.

Analyze Your Local Competition

In-depth research into your local competition will help you beyond your SWOT analysis. When you’re looking at other offices that might be competing with you, consider what sets you apart and makes you different. Also,  use this competitive insight to grow your brand  and sharpen the services that you offer to clients.

For example, if your focus is on first-time homebuyers, are there any competitors that also have this focus? What do they do that seems to work? What can you offer that they don’t? There are generally four areas that will set you apart in regards to your competition; the product (your brand and focus), the price (your commission and price you seek for your clients), the place (your ideal market you’ve chosen to focus on), and promotion (meaning the way you’ll choose to market to generate leads).

Understand Your Ideal Customer

Understanding your customer is critical in writing a real estate business plan. Without that important link, you won’t meet your goals, your marketing dollars will be wasted, and your time will be spent without result.

The important things to know about your customer are:

• How do you reach them? Will they respond better to emails, texts, or calls?
• What matters to your clients? Is it more space, interior luxury, or location?
• What brand does your client subscribe to? Will they value Walmart or Whole Foods more?
• What matters most to your prospective buyer? Is it space, price, or something else?
• What is your ideal demographic? This is age, sex, etc.

Having a firm grasp on these important things will help you develop your plan so that you can speak to what your market research is telling you. Perhaps your opportunity is in selling new homes in an up-and-coming area, or to military families who have been given new orders near a base. Referrals and leads will always attract outside of your ideal mindset, but this will help you focus your efforts.

Implementing Action Plans

An action plan is a carefully considered set of steps to take in  achieving a specific goal . For example, if your goal is to get ten new leads a month, an action plan will help you get there. An action plan establishes a clear goal and the different things that need to be done to reach your objective.

You might have different action plans for marketing, closing sales, ongoing education and personal development, social media goals, etc. All of these individual action plans will help carry your real estate business plan to fruition.

Evaluating and Revising Your Plan

Your business plan is sure to be a living document as time goes on. With a constantly evolving real estate market, it is critical to stay up to date with the latest news – not only for the industry, but also for the markets you specialize in. As you continue to meet and shake hands with individuals, new doors will open, offering you opportunities that you probably didn’t consider when you originally developed your plan.

For example, maybe you’ve met a developer who’s asked you to help list their properties. What you learn from your clients will be equally important to your plan – if things don’t matter, save time and resources by removing them. Additionally, if there are things missing (like virtual open houses, alternative social media focuses, etc), find a way to incorporate them into your plan.

There’s something to be said for pulling from the experience of others, and  having an experienced real estate coach look over and help develop your real estate business plan is a great way to jump past the typical pitfalls new agents face.  A new agent starting out , dreams of the financial freedom to spend more time with their family and friends. Skipping over the learning curve by having an experienced professional will only help you achieve your goals faster.

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The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Business Plan

Do you have your own real estate agent business plan?

Let’s be honest, starting a career in real estate is like launching a new business. As an agent, you are your own brand. You have to find your own leads and nurture your own clients. And ultimately, you’re responsible for the production and financial success of your business.

The problem is that standard real estate courses don’t teach agents how to be business owners. Did your real estate courses help you craft your own real estate agent business plan? Mine certainly didn’t!

And that’s a real shame because business planning is key to being a successful real estate agent! This isn’t an industry you can muddle your way through. You need to create a roadmap to success. A path to show you the way forward when business gets tough.

And that’s what this post is all about: creating The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Business Plan to help your real estate business succeed!

Quick note: this article was originally published in 2019; this is the new, updated version.

Before You Jump Into Your Real Estate Agent Business Plan

Before we get started, you should decide how you’re going to document your real estate agent business plan.

• A physical notebook: Putting pen to paper can be a powerful motivator! If you’re a notebook-keeper, grab that notebook and start writing.
• A doc: Of course some of us prefer the paperless route. You can just open a blank Google Doc or Word Doc and start typing.
• A ready-to-use template: You can find inexpensive business plan templates on Etsy. If you’re looking for a template that perfectly mirrors the steps in this post, check out The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Business Plan by Key Real Estate Designs .

There’s no right or wrong way to document your real estate agent business plan. The important thing is to pick whatever method feels natural to you so that you can complete this critical business planning process.

Word of warning: this is going to be a longgggggggggggg post! We have a whole lot of ground to cover. For easy reference, here is an outline of what to include in a real estate agent business plan:

Branding Know Your Client Get Clear on Your Offer Transform Your Offer into a Vision Finance Performance from the Past Year Projections for the Upcoming Year Income Goal Tracking Long-Term Planning Marketing Know Where Your Leads are Coming from Schedule Your Marketing Activities Add New Marketing Activities Each Year Track Your Results Operations Services Supplies and Vendors Your Team Lead Follow-up Building Referrals

Let’s get to it!

1. Branding

The branding chapter of your real estate agent business plan consists of three main sections:

• Knowing Your Client
• Getting Clear on Your Offer
• Transforming Your Offer into a Vision

1. Know Your Client

Step Number One is all about knowing your audience. Starting the branding process from your clients’ perspective will help keep your real estate agent branding focused on your clients’ needs. So let’s pinpoint your ideal client first, and then we’ll figure out how to attract them with branding.

Choose Your Niche

Don’t be that agent who tries to appeal to all buyers and sellers in your area. By trying to appeal to everyone, you’ll never stand out to anyone. You need to niche down so that you are a perfect fit for the clients you most want to attract.

Many agents are hesitant to choose a niche because they don’t want to leave potential clients on the table. But there’s a big problem with being open to all clients: you’re competing with all agents.

But, if you niche down, you’re only competing with a handful of other agents in your niche. Yes, the pool of potential clients is smaller, but the odds of securing those clients are far greater. Would you rather catch 1% of 1,000 fish or 25% of 250 fish? Go for the higher conversion rates by sticking to a niche and becoming the go-to agent for that group.

To be clear, choosing a niche doesn’t mean you don’t work with other clients; it just means you’re targeting your marketing efforts to resonate with a specific group. If a lead outside your niche falls into your lap, by all means, convert that lead into a client and closing!

There are lots of ways to niche down, and you can combine several of them to carve out your unique niche. As you consider niches, ask yourself what type of client you most enjoy working with. Here are a few ways to niche down:

• Buyer or Sellers: You should specialize in one or the other, but stay flexible when your sellers are also looking to buy and vice versa. By the way, buyer/seller is not a niche by itself; it’s just the starting point of focusing on your niche.
• Specific Neighborhoods: If you have a geographic farm, that’s your niche.
• Specific Price Points: Do you focus on luxury estates, starters/fixer-uppers, or somewhere in between?
• Life Events: You could help first-time buyers, downsizers, or people looking for their “forever home”.
• Occupations: If you have a military base nearby or a large employer in town, you could specialize in helping those members/workers get settled in a new home.
• Property Type: How about focusing on agricultural land, condos, or multifamily?

Not sure which direction to go? Learn more by exploring 5 profitable niches for real estate agents .

This goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway: protected classes are not niches. It’s never acceptable to niche by race, religion, age, etc.

Create Your Client Avatar

Once you determine your ideal niche (like first-time military vet buyers, for example), you want to learn everything you possibly can about that group. Remember, these aren’t just clients. They’re real people with very real dreams, fears, preferences, and motivations.

Creating an avatar (an imaginary persona of your typical client) forces you to focus on what your ideal clients need from you and how you can best serve them. This will also help you understand how to appeal to them through your real estate agent branding.

There are lots of factors to consider when creating your client avatar. Here are some of the most important:

• Goals (by the way, buying or selling are never the goals; consider why they want to buy or sell)
• How much your clients know about real estate (transactions in general, and the local market in particular)
• General demographics (age, gender, familial status, profession, annual income, formal education, etc. – again, you’re not filtering clients by any protected class, but you do need to have an idea of your average client’s demographics because that will factor into some of your real estate agent branding decisions)
• Where your client hangs out, online and offline

Just to reiterate, saying that your client avatar is a 30-year-old, unmarried female buyer doesn’t mean you’d ever discriminate against families with children. This avatar is simply an amalgamation of your typical client for the purpose of appealing to your target market with your branding efforts.

2. Get Clear on Your Offer

With your client clear in your mind, you can start to clarify your image, tailoring it to meet the needs of your client avatar.

Your Origin Story

We all know real estate agents are just superheroes without capes. And every good superhero has a solid origin story. What’s yours?

How did you come to be a real estate agent? What hurdles have you overcome to get to this point in your life? Which accomplishments are you most proud of? And how does that fit your client avatar’s expectations?

If you’re a native local, great! Part of your origin story is that you were born and raised in the area, so you know everything and everyone.

If you’re a transplant, great! San Diegan by birth, Angelino by choice. Still a great start to your story.

Write down your origin story. It’ll make a great addition to your professional bio !

Your Mission

Why are you doing what you’re doing? What drives you to hustle every day? And, again, how does that fit your client avatar’s expectations? Your personal mission should be meaningful to your clients.

Your Differentiator

Now’s the hard part: verbalizing your uniqueness.

Which of your prospective clients’ needs can you meet better than your competitors? That’s your differentiator.

Here are a few differentiator ideas:

• Best list-to-price ratio in your niche
• Best online presence
• Biggest professional network of investors
• Most experience with VA loans
• Only local agent who speaks Spanish

And if you’re really struggling to find your differentiator, how about offering something no one else is offering? Consider offering services like:

• Professional staging for all sellers,
• New home photo shoots for all buyers, or
• Complimentary annual property tax reviews to make sure your clients are never over-taxed (and if they are, you can offer your property tax appeal services on a contingency fee basis!).

There are a million ways to differentiate yourself. Figure out what’s going to make the biggest difference to your prospective clients.

Your 5 Magic Words

To fully cement your professional image, choose five magic words that best describe you and your brand. These magic words will guide all your real estate agent branding. If you look at your business cards, website, or marketing materials, and they don’t SCREAM these five words, then you’ll know something needs to be changed.

Your differentiator may immediately bring a word or two to mind. So might your client avatar.

Then you’re looking for words that convey an idea or emotion you want to resonate with your target audience.

These are going to be your five magic words. So own them and live them!

3. Transform Your Offer into a Vision

Now that you have a better understanding of your offer, you can turn it into a vision.

In this step, your unique real estate agent branding will really start to take shape!

Choose Your Brand’s Name and Tagline

Naming your brand is harder than most agents expect, mostly because many of the best names are already taken. You need a name that you can “.com” for your website, but that name also has to be available across all social media platforms. Here are a few pointers to simplify the process:

• Keep it under 15 characters. Otherwise, you’ll have to abbreviate your X (formerly Twitter) handle, which dilutes your branding.
• Think lifestyle and location .  MB Luxury, Venice Living, or Living in the OC for example. These all focus on the lifestyle of your target audience.
• Never incorporate your Broker’s name. Because 1) it’s probably trademarked and 2) you don’t want to tie your brand to your broker because that creates complications if or when you decide to part ways.
• Check to see if the domain name is available for your website. If you type your idea into Bluehost’s domain search , it will tell you if the name is available.
• Then check to see if the name is available on social media platforms. Is there already an @VeniceLiving on Insta?

If you’re struggling with this step, don’t let it prevent you from moving forward. When in doubt, use your name. If you have a unique name, it could be your brand name by itself. Otherwise, you could incorporate your name with your lifestyle or location. OC Estates by Sarah, Sean Sells Santee, or Lilly’s Life in LB.

Then you can craft your tagline. Skip the cheesy rhyming taglines of the last century. Instead, explain your differentiator in just a few words. That’s a much more powerful tagline.

Create a Mood Board

The best way to start visualizing your brand is to create a mood board. A mood board is basically just a collage of images with a cohesive look that reflects your idea of your brand. These could be patterns, lifestyle photos, design elements, and color swatches.

Here are a few examples:

Your mood board should be a visual reflection of your offer. If you offer fun and fresh service for first-time buyers, your mood board should scream fun and fresh with bright colors and trendy designs. And if you offer home-grown expertise in agricultural properties, your mood board should whisper farmhouse chic with natural colors and materials.

Want a shortcut?

If you don’t have time to scour the Internet looking for mood board images, just enter “Mood Board” or “Branding Board” on Pinterest. You’ll find tons of professionally curated boards to inspire your personal mood board.

But one quick word of caution: you could get stuck at this stage for weeks because there are so many engaging boards to see. My recommendation is to set a timer for 20 minutes. Browse away, pinning the images that really speak to you. Then use 10 additional minutes to narrow down your selections until you have a brand board you love.

Choose Your Official Brand Colors

One of the reasons I love the Mood and Branding Boards on Pinterest is that they usually come with a beautifully coordinated color palate.

Choosing colors is difficult for most of us because there are so many shades and it’s hard to know which colors best complement each other. Using the colors from a professionally designed board ensures that your colors all work together perfectly.

If you see a color you love, but can’t figure out exactly what color it is, here’s a quick and easy way to find out:

1. Save the image to your computer.

2. Upload that image to imagecolorpicker.com .

3. Click anywhere on the image to get the details for the color you want from the image.

You’ll be able to use the HTML code or the RGM code to get your colors just right on your website, marketing materials, and social media posts.

So you’ll always have perfectly matched brand colors!

Decide on Your Font(s) and Any Design Elements

It’s generally best to stick with two fonts: one bold, and one for easy readability. Your bold font will go on your headers, titles, and logo, and your readability font will be everything else.

Like with colors, you want your fonts to complement each other. There are lots of resources online to find font pairings. Here’s an example of some front combinations from Inkbotdesign.com :

Just make sure you have access to your chosen fonts on all the platforms you use (your website, your marketing design software, etc) as some platforms only offer limited font selections.

If you’re going to have any custom design elements (stripes, brush strokes, patterns, etc), now is also the time to select those.

Create Your Logo

Finally, it’s time to choose your logo.

This is another step that stalls lots of agents. But we have a shortcut to help you get this done quickly and easily.

Head to Etsy . They have lots of personalized logo packs at great rates.

Some Etsy sellers even offer custom-designed logos. If you don’t see an existing logo pack, you can just contact those sellers with your fonts, colors, brand name, and any of your unique design ideas, and they’ll get you set up in no time.

Before long, your target audience will start to recognize your unique real estate agent branding. They’ll know what you and your brand stand for. And they’ll know how to reach you when they’re ready to buy or sell!

The finance chapter of your real estate agent business plan consists of the following sections:

• Performance from the Past Year
• Projections for the Upcoming Year

Income Goal

• Long-Term Planning

1. Review Your Performance from the Past Year

To know where you’re going, it helps to know where you’re coming from.

Reviewing your financial performance from the past year will give you an idea of what to expect (in terms of income and expenses) for the coming year.

A quick note about expenses: As an independent contractor, you have more than just personal expenses to consider. You also need to consider business expenses. We’ll discuss both.

If this is your first year in real estate, your prior year’s data won’t include relevant business expenses or reliable income figures. You’ll just need to spend more time researching average income and expense data in Step 2. But you will still benefit from reviewing last year’s personal expenses so you’ll know how much to budget in those categories for the coming year.

Most agents find it helpful to look at the expenses first when reviewing their financials. When your income is uncertain, starting with your expenses lets you know exactly how much income you need to make to cover all your needs. So we’re going to follow that method by listing expenses first.

Now, I like to start with personal expenses since many of these are essential to your life, regardless of the current state of your business.

Personal expenses include:

• Personal Vehicle
• Personal Care
• Debt Payments
• Savings and Investments
• Charitable Giving

All you need to do is list all your personal expenses and assign an amount to each. You may find it helpful to list both the annual total amounts and the average monthly amounts .

Then you can move on to your business expenses.

Business expenses include:

• Work Vehicle
• Work Cell Phone
• Office Space (if not covered by your Broker)
• Website Hosting
• Membership Dues
• Client Gifts
• Federal and State Income Taxes

If you’re new to real estate, you’ll need to account for a few start-up costs as well:

• Licensing fees
• A real estate website ( a must for today’s serious agents )
• Any onboarding fees charged by your broker
• Business cards
• Initial self-promotional marketing

Do you feel like your expenses are too high in any category? Ask yourself if it’s reasonable to cut back on that expense in the coming year. If so, great! And if not, at least you’ll know to budget enough for that category in the coming year.

The bulk of your income will, in all likelihood, come from real estate transactions. But this shouldn’t be your only source of income.

Savvy agents are diversifying their income streams to recession-proof their businesses and reach financial independence. Check out our massive list of 55 Ways to Make Money in Real Estate for some income ideas that will complement your real estate business.

Just like you did with your expenses, list your income sources from this past year and the amounts earned from each source.

Your income minus your business expenses equals your profit.

How did you do last year? Are you satisfied with last year’s profit? Or do you need to lower your business expenses, increase your income, or both to reach a profit you’re happy with in the coming year?

Your income minus your total expenses (personal and business) is your cash flow. This shows how much more money you make than you spend.

As long as you’re including savings and investments in your expenses (which you absolutely should be, otherwise those will end up neglected!), your cash flow number doesn’t need to be large. You just want to be sure you’re making more than you’re spending.

If there’s anything you don’t love about your financials from the past year, don’t panic. Instead, focus on what you want to do differently in the next 12 months. That’s what we’ll do in Step 2.

2. Plan Your Financials for the Coming Year

Now it’s time to create your real estate agent financial plan for this coming year.

• How much do you plan to spend?
• And how much do you plan to earn?

Using last year’s expenses as a guide, write down your estimated expenses in each category for the coming year. You may have to do a little research to get estimates on some figures if this will be your first year incurring that particular expense.

The most important thing when estimating your expenses is to be as accurate as possible. Many of us have a tendency to think our numbers should be lower, so we underestimate our expenses, and subsequently end up breaking our budget.

A good rule of thumb is to budget high. If you come in under budget, great! You’ll have more money at the end of the year to invest in business expansion.

With your expenses calculated, you now know exactly how much money you need to make this year to cover all your expenses.

How does that number line up with last year’s income?

Do you expect this year’s income to be similar?

Again, accuracy is key. Your income goal should be achievable , but it should also be difficult enough to really make you work.

By the way, in the next step, we’ll create a plan to make your income goal a reality. That step will be a good litmus test to see if your income goal is reasonable.

Assuming you hit your planned expense and income figures this year, what will your profit be? Again, it’s just income minus business expenses.

How does this projected profit compare to last year’s profit? Are you happy with this profit? If not, now’s the time to review your projected expenses and income to see if you need to make any adjustments.

When you subtract your total expenses from your projected income, are you still at a positive number? Because you need to be!

3. Create a Plan to Meet Your Income Goal

Now that you have an income goal in mind, we need to create a bulletproof plan to hit that goal.

To do this, we need to answer two questions:

• How many homes do you need to sell this year to meet your income goal?
• How many leads do you need to reach to sell that many homes?

Let’s look at each question in turn.

How Many Homes Do You Need to Sell?

Here’s the formula to calculate the number of homes you need to sell:

————————————————————————————————

(Average Home Price x Your Average Commission Percentage x Your Commission Split)

For anyone not algebraically inclined: we’re just figuring out your after-broker commission from an average sale, and then dividing your income goal by that number.

As an example:

If the average home price in your niche is $250,000, the average commission per agent is 3%, and your split with your broker is 50%, you would need to sell 27 average homes to generate $100,000 in gross income. ($250,000 times 3% = $7,500 x 50% = $3,750. So you make $3,750 on each average transaction. And $100,000 divided by $3,750 is 26.666 houses, rounded to 27.)

So, what’s your magic number?

Now, how are you going to meet that sales goal?

How Many Leads Do You Need to Reach?

First, let’s break down your home sale goal by month so it’s less daunting. Divide your magic number by 12 to figure out how many homes you need to sell each month on average.

Now, how many leads do you need to reach each month to sell that many homes?

To figure this out, you need to know your conversion rate. How many leads does it take on average to close a single deal? For seasoned agents, this is a matter of tracking your leads and your closed deals to know your personal conversion rate. For new agents, 100 leads for every 1 closed deal is a safe estimate in most markets. This number will improve as you gain sales experience and establish yourself in the market.

Here’s the formula for calculating your monthly lead requirements:

number of deals needed x number of leads required to make one sale

That number may seem high. But let’s make it more manageable by figuring out how many leads you need to generate each day. To do that, divide your required leads per month by 16. Why 16? Because life happens, and you can’t reasonably expect to prospect every single day of every month. So we’re figuring 4 workdays for 4 weeks per month.

As long as you commit to hitting your prospecting target 4 days per week, there’s no reason you shouldn’t hit your income goal!

4. Tracking Your Finances

This is one of the most often ignored steps in creating a real estate agent financial plan: tracking.

How will you know if you’re on track to stay on budget and meet your income goal if you don’t track your finances through the year?

Unexpected expenses and sales droughts can completely derail your financial plan. It’s important to catch these in real-time so you can adjust your plan as needed to get back on track as quickly as possible.

Keep a monthly log for expenses, and one for income. And actually use them! That’s the tricky part. It’s a good idea to schedule 15-30 minutes each week specifically to log your income and expenses from the previous week. Put this recurring appointment in your calendar to remind you to build this financial habit.

5. Long-Term Planning and Tracking

The final step to creating your bullet-proof real estate agent financial plan is to create a long-term financial plan.

Long-term financial planning is difficult for real estate agents. It’s hard enough to plan for a single year. How are you supposed to plan 5-10 years (or more!) into the future?

No one expects you to accurately forecast your income and expenses for the next 10 years. But there are some long-term financial plans that wise agents track. Btw, if you want to learn more on this topic, check out Financial Planning for Real Estate Agents for a comprehensive overview.

Planning to retire as a real estate agent is tough. You don’t have a 401(k) or a pension plan. So you have to plan for retirement on your own.

A Solo 401(k) is a great option because it allows you to contribute more each year than IRAs.

The key to retirement savings is to start early and save consistently. Compound interest will work its magic from there.

Aim to set aside a full 10% of your gross income for retirement. But start slowly if 10% sounds like too much for you to spare. Start with 3% of every transaction for the first year. Then 5% the next year. And keep increasing until you hit 10%. If you’re starting retirement savings later in life, you may need to save more. If you have other income-generating assets, like rental properties, you may be able to save less. Talk to a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) if you need help figuring out your retirement plan.

Your Dreams

It’s sad that most of us put such a low priority on our dreams.

How many of us desperately want to travel or open our own brokerages or start a non-profit for the community? And how many of us never do these things because we just don’t have the money?

Make your dreams a priority by building them into your financial plan every year. And tracking your Dream Fund finances over the long term.

Your Legacy

What do you want to leave for the next generation?

You certainly don’t need to leave an inheritance for your children, but you may want to help your children and/or grandchildren with education expenses as your legacy. Maybe you want to create a family business to leave behind? Or build a community park for future generations to enjoy. Or establish a non-profit to assist those who come after you.

If you want to leave a legacy like these, you’ll need to include them in your long-term financial planning.

Your Net Worth

Tracking net worth year-over-year is one of the most rewarding financial exercises you can do!

Net worth is the best indicator of overall financial health. It’s a comparison of your debts to your assets. Think of it like this: if you sold everything you owned and paid off all your debts today, how much would you have left?

To calculate your net worth, start by listing all your assets and their present-day values:

• Checking Accounts
• Savings Accounts
• Retirement Accounts
• Investment Accounts
• Real Estate Holdings
• Collectibles

Now, list all the current balances on all your debts:

• Student Loans
• Credit Cards
• Business Loans
• Personal Loans

And finally, subtract the debts from the assets. The result is your current net worth.

The more assets you accumulate, the more your net worth will skyrocket. Especially if you acquire assets that appreciate, like real estate and financial investments (stocks and bonds).

Invest the time in calculating your net worth just once or twice per year. The motivation to improve your finances lasts long after you complete this small task. And as your net worth grows, you’ll find that you’re actually excited to calculate your new net worth and see how much your financial health has improved since the last check.

3. Marketing

Marketing builds on some of the foundation work you did in the branding and finance sections of your real estate agent business plan. With your financial goals and target market in mind, you can build a marketing plan to suit your audience and earn you enough leads to hit your goal.

The marketing chapter of your real estate agent business plan consists of:

• Knowing Where Your Leads are Coming from
• Scheduling Your Marketing Activities
• Adding New Marketing Activities Each Year
• Tracking Your Results

1. Know Where Your Leads Are Coming From

Do you know where your leads are coming from?

Online? Geo-farming? Cold-calling the Expireds? Somewhere else?

To know where your marketing dollars are making the most bang, you need to know which marketing methods are working for you.

If you don’t have a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system that automatically tracks the return on investment for your leads, you can create a basic spreadsheet to handle this task. Just list your marketing methods in a column on the far left, then add columns for the:

• annual cost of each marketing method
• number of leads generated every year by each method
• cost per lead (annual cost divided by the number of leads generated)
• number of closed deals
• net profit from those closed deals
• ROI of each method (net profit divided by the annual cost)

(By the way, The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Business Plan on Etsy includes a ready-made template for you.)

If you’re brand new to the business and don’t yet have any data to analyze, don’t worry. Start your marketing strategy with three to five cost-effective marketing methods. My recommendations for most new agents in most markets are:

• Social Media Marketing.  You can create professional profiles and post for free (check out How to Create a Lead-Generating Social Media Calendar for tips). And if you don’t have the time or design skill to create your own social media posts, sign up for DRIP by Key Real Estate Resources.  You’ll get fresh social media posts and a new social media calendar delivered to you each month!
• Content Marketing.  Add blog posts to your website to boost your search engine rankings so buyers and sellers can find you online.
• Calling FSBOs and Expireds. T hese people are actively trying to sell! Get out there and talk to them. In fact, consider hosting a FSBO seminar where you give  real information about the home selling process. When sellers see what’s required to get top-dollar, they’ll probably list. And they’ll choose the agent who gave them the real info they were looking for! No time for a seminar? Offer a free FSBO guide instead.
• Mailers. Mailers may be old school, but they’re still a low-cost way to generate leads in many markets.
• Open Houses. While open houses aren’t effective for selling in all markets, they’re often effective at generating new leads .

2. Schedule Your Marketing Activities

Armed with your chosen marketing methods, it’s time to decide exactly when you’re going to take action.

You know that if it isn’t on your calendar, it won’t get done. Other tasks, like showings and inspections, will inevitably take priority because they are more urgent. Don’t let the urgent tasks keep you from the important tasks. And since your business doesn’t exist without a client pipeline, marketing is possibly the single most important task you can complete to keep your business growing. So schedule it!

Grab your calendar now and decide when you’ll:

• Launch your website (if you don’t already have one)
• Write and publish your blog posts (one per week is ideal)
• Post to social media (several times per week on your focus platforms, and at least once per week on the other major platforms). By the way, if you don’t have time to create your social media content, consider a service that creates the posts for you. DRIP by Key Real Estate Resources offers plans starting at just $9/mo.
• Call Expireds and FSBOs (daily! – so what time will you carve out every day for distraction-free phone marketing?)
• Send mailers (at least quarterly)
• Attend networking events
• Order any print media ads
• Launch any social media ad campaigns
• Etc, etc, etc

3. Add a New Marketing Activity Every Year

The real estate industry is always changing. What works one year might not work so well the next. And next year, you may find new marketing opportunities you weren’t even aware of this year.

Innovative agents experiment with new marketing technologies to keep their businesses growing.

In a hot market, you want to target FSBOs. When homes sell quickly, people think they can save on commission by selling themselves. So you need to show them what it takes to sell for top dollar.

And in a down market, you have a few options. One effective marketing activity to add in a down-market is to target renters. Home prices are lower than average, interest rates are favorable, and rents are increasing. Show these renters how to get a low down payment FHA or VA loan so they can use the market to their advantage! To really boost your leads, try creating your own Renter-to-Homeowner Program .

Another great example (albeit a more ambitious one!) of a new marketing plan for a down-market is to expand your services to include the property tax appeals service we mentioned in our discussion about your Differentiator. Most agents don’t even know this service exists, but it can provide you with a whole new income stream while simultaneously generating new leads and nurturing your relationship with past clients. And it’s far easier than you might imagine!

All you have to do is explain to the county that your client’s home is worth less than the value on their tax bill (which is  very often the case in a down market). You do this by running comps, like you already know how to do. If the county agrees, they’ll lower your client’s property taxes, and you get a cut of that reduction. You’ll be able to pitch this service to all homeowners in your niche and gain some serious exposure for your real estate business! Learn more by reading How to Make Money With Property Tax Appeals .

There are tons of creative marketing strategies that most agents never consider. Trying a new marketing activity each year will keep your business growing in any market!

4. Track Your Results

To know what works you need to track your results.

Back in Step 3, we looked at where your leads are currently coming from, as well as the return on investment for each marketing method. Without tracking your leads, you’ll never have this valuable data to help guide your next marketing move.

Every time a new lead comes in, record the marketing source that drove them. If you have a fancy CRM database, you can record the information there. If you’re just keeping your leads in a simple spreadsheet, no problem! Just make sure you have a column to record the source. And if you don’t currently have a system, consider spending a few bucks on a done-for-you CRM template .

4. Operations

Last section! The operations chapter of your real estate agent business plan consists of five parts:

• Supplies and Vendors
• Lead Follow-up
• Building Referrals

Let’s take a closer look at each…

1. Services

Here’s a question most agents never think to ask themselves: What services should I offer?

Most agents think the answer is obvious. You sell real estate, right? What’s to ask?

This is a HUGE missed opportunity.

There’s so much more to real estate than sales. What other services could you offer to 1) diversify your income, 2) recession-proof your real estate business, and 3) best serve your clients?

Not sure what I mean? Here are a few examples of services that would complement your existing real estate practice:

Property Tax Appeals

We’ve mentioned property tax appeals a few times already. It’s just such a perfect fit for real estate agents (who already have about 95% of the knowledge and skills required to make money in property tax appeals), but surprisingly few agents are capitalizing on this homeowner need! Again, to learn more, check out How to Make Money With Property Tax Appeals

New Home Photo Shoots

If it isn’t on Instagram, it didn’t happen. Millennials and beyond want to show off their new home on social media. And they’re willing to pay for quality photos of themselves in their new place.

If you have photography skills (or you partner with a professional photographer for your listing photos), you can easily add this service to your real estate business.

Offer photoshoot packages to your buyer clients. But don’t stop there. Ask your colleagues if you can reach out to their buyers as well. Then promote your photoshoot services online. Before you know it, you’ll have a healthy new income stream!

And the best part: your clients’ social media pics become free advertising for you. Not only will this boost your photography services, but it can also bring you new buyers and sellers!

Read more about the benefits of offering new home photoshoots .

Property Management

If you want to land more investor clients (and wow them with your services!), offer property management services.

You know, tenant screenings, rent collection, maintenance requests, renewals, etc.

In most markets, property managers can command a 10-20% commission on the monthly rent for property management. It doesn’t take many units to add up to a substantial income stream.

Not interested in taking on ongoing property management work? Simply helping property owners screen new tenants can earn you a commission of around 50% of the first month’s rent, and then the day-to-day management can be handled by the property owner until they need new tenants. It’s an easy way to land a quick paycheck!

Other Services

There are tons of other ideas for additional income streams you can add to your real estate business. Check out 55 Ways to Make Money in Real Estate for more ideas!

2. Supplies and Vendors

Once you know what services you will offer, you can plan for your supply and vendor needs.

As a service business, your supplies should be minimal. Here are a few supplies to consider:

• Marketing Materials
• Software Subscriptions

Not much to it!

Depending on the services you offer, you may need to utilize the services of several vendors.

On the real estate sales side, you have the standard players:

• Escrow Officers
• Transaction Coordinators
• Marketing Publications

Then consider your other income streams. If you’re offering property tax appeals, you may want to hire a virtual assistant during appeal season to research assessed values and handle your data entry. If you’re offering new home photoshoots, you may want to partner with a professional photographer.

Ask yourself two key questions:

• Would a vendor boost the quality of my business?
• Is it worth paying someone to complete certain tasks so I can focus my energy where it will have the greatest impact?

If the answer to either question is yes , you should absolutely use a vendor.

3. Your Team

For many real estate agents, you’re a team of one! You do everything yourself. But many agents want to grow a larger team: admin, buyer’s agents, listing specialists, etc.

Technology has opened many opportunities to help you grow your team. For example, your first team addition might be an inexpensive virtual assistant. You can hire a real estate assistant to take care of all your data entry, social media engagement, appointment setting, and even blog writing! And you don’t have to pay a full-time salary or offer benefits to a freelancer.

Tech has also introduced new challenges. Managing a virtual admin is very different from having an assistant in your office. You don’t get the face-to-face communication, and you don’t have the level of control that you would have over a full-time, in-office employee.

What works best for you? You can always try hiring a freelance VA for a short time to see if you’re comfortable with that arrangement. And if not, you can post a job ad on Craig’s List for a part-time (or full-time!) in-office assistant. This position is generally paid hourly. Depending on your market, this could be a $12-$20 per hour position.

Then you can branch out into specialists. The order of your hires will depend on your personal strengths and preferences. If you love listing and you’re great at it, you don’t need a listing specialist; focus on getting a buyer’s agent, marketing coordinator, and operations manager instead.

Be honest with yourself about which tasks you just don’t enjoy, and which tasks you struggle with, then hire people with those as strengths!

Just remember to give yourself time to grow. You don’t need to go from 1 person to 10 people this year. It takes time to build an effective team. Give yourself 6-12 months between each hire to avoid the worst of the growing pains.

Here’s an example of an org chart for a full real estate team (the numbers indicate a recommended order of hire):

4. Lead Follow-Up

First, schedule time every day for your lead follow-up. Every workday, you’re going to sit down at a designated time, open your CRM (Customer Relationship Manager), and follow up with your leads. Statistically, the best times to reach people are 8-10 am and 4-6 pm. So for the best chances of success, your follow-up should take place during those hours.

Studies have repeatedly proven that you don’t convert a lead to an active client in a single follow-up. It typically takes 7-8 touches for a lead to become your client. But that’s just an average. If you really want to boost your production, you need to follow up with every lead until they become your exclusive client.

What if your lead ends up listing with another agent? They’re still a lead. Contact them every few weeks to make sure they’re satisfied with their agent’s performance. If that listing expires, who do you think is going to land the new listing?

Here are some tips to increase your conversion rates from leads to clients:

• Put every single lead in your CRM. Every seasoned agent has been surprised by a lead they thought was low-quality. If you don’t log the lead, you lose them.
• When a new lead comes in, aim to reply to them within five minutes. The sooner, the better! Auto-responders can buy you a little time.
• Schedule your next follow-up immediately after every follow-up.

5. Building a Referral Business

What is your plan for after the deal closes? Is your current plan resulting in repeat business and referrals? If not, it’s time to re-think your post-close plan.

Lucky for you, I have a tried-and-true plan, ready for you to implement today!

Here’s a simple 3-step process for building a referral business:

Step 1: Showing Genuine Gratitude

Some agents are bucking the trend of closing gifts. They have already provided quality service, so they don’t see the need to spend part of their hard-earned commission on a closing gift.

But failing to give a closing gift is a huge missed opportunity.

First, many clients expect a closing gift because of the tradition of closing gifts. And your goal is always to exceed expectations, never to disappoint your clients.

Then there’s also the fact that closing gifts give you the opportunity to express your appreciation for your clients’ business. Without their business, you don’t survive as a real estate agent. So cultivate that attitude of gratitude and show your thanks with a thoughtful closing gift.

Lastly, closing gifts are an opportunity to make a lasting impression. A thoughtful closing gift helps your clients remember you. And a carefully selected closing gift can even generate referrals! Check out our list of 20 affordable closing gifts guaranteed to impress your clients .

Step 2: Providing Ongoing Value

Most agents consider the job done when the deal closes. Savvy agents know that a little ongoing effort pays off HUGE in referral and repeat business.

How can you help your clients after the sale? First-time homeowners are pretty clueless when it comes to home maintenance. Maybe you can send them a friendly list of home maintenance issues to tackle each season.

Offering property tax appeal services is a great way to provide value to your clients every year! Surprise and delight your clients by conducting a “complimentary property tax assessment review” every year. All you have to do is compare the assessed taxable value to the market value.

• If the assessed taxable value is lower than the market value, you can send the client a letter to let them know that you’ve confirmed that their property taxes for the current year are fair and ready to be paid in full.
• If the assessed taxable value is higher than the market value, you can let your clients know that your calculations indicate they are being over-taxed, and you’re happy to file a property tax appeal on their behalf to try to lower the taxes for them. (you can download a done-for-you letter template from our post on property tax appeals).

You should also send custom value estimates to your clients every 6-12 months to let them know how much their home has increased in value (just in case they’re thinking of selling).

Step 3: Maintaining the Personal Relationship

Don’t just rely on blanket marketing to stay in touch with your former clients. Schedule some personal touches as well to make sure your personal relationship is maintained.

Here are a few examples of effective personal touches:

• Send a Happy Housiversary Card every year. And maybe a small gift for that first year (if you really want to wow your clients!)
• Host an annual appreciation event , and invite all your formal clients. A simple party at home is nice and personal. But it’s certainly not the only option. Hosting an outdoor movie night is perfect for families. Offering a “Hidden Gems” tour of your city is great for areas with lots of non-natives. And renting out a boat for a sunset cruise with drinks and live music would be ideal for luxury market clients.
• Check in out-of-the-blue. Send a quick text just to say, hey I was just thinking about you and wondering how you’re doing. Is anything new and exciting going on? These messages are great because there’s no agenda. You’re just reaching out to an old friend to see how they’re doing.

With these personal touches, you’re not just staying in front of clients, you’re building on your personal relationships with them!

Congrats on Completing Your Real Estate Agent Business Plan!

Whew…I know that was a long read (or a long scroll, anyway).

But if you follow the steps outlined in this post, you’re going to end up with a complete real estate agent business plan to provide direction and accountability to your real estate business.

You owe it to yourself to complete your real estate agent business plan and set yourself up for a career full of success.

All the best to you and your business!

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Real Estate Agent Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Real Estate Agent Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 10,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their real estate agencies. On this page, we will first give you some relevant information with regard to the importance of real estate business planning. We will then go through a real estate agent business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Real Estate Agent Business Plan Template here >

What is a Real Estate Agent Business Plan?

A business plan is a living document that provides a snapshot of your real estate agency as it stands today and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for a Real Estate Agent69

A business plan can help you stay up-to-date on market trends, stay ahead of your competitors, and helps you set measurable goals But most importantly, it will force you to think through every step of starting and growing your real estate agency so that you can avoid potential roadblocks along the way. This also helps you monitor the effectiveness of the campaign over a given period.

If you’re looking to become a realtor or grow your existing real estate agency business you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your real estate agency in order to improve your chances of success. Update your business plan regularly as your agency grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Real Estate Agencies

With regard to funding, the main sources of funding for a real estate business are personal savings, credit cards, and bank loans. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable. But they will want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to write a business plan for a real estate agency.

Below is an example of a real estate plan template:

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of real estate agency you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a real estate agency that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of real estate agencies?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the real estate agent industry. Discuss the type of real estate agency you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target market. Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.  

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of real estate agency you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types:

• Residential Sales and Rentals : this type of real estate agent specializes in serving the private residential market.
• Commercial Sales and Rentals : this type of real estate agent specializes in commercial, industrial, medical, etc. properties

In addition to explaining the type of real estate agent you operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include sales goals you’ve reached, new contracts, etc.
• Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the real estate business.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the real estate industry educates you. It helps you understand the niche market or focus area in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy particularly if your research identifies market trends. For example, if there was a trend towards aerial videos of the listed property, it would be helpful to ensure your plan calls for a drone or drone operator.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section:

• How big is the real estate business (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• How much growth is expected for the industry over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your agency? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your realtor business plan must detail the prospective clients you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: residential, office space, retail space, etc.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of real estate agency you operate. Clearly, homeowners would want different services and would respond to different marketing promotions than manufacturers.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most real estate agents primarily serve customers living in the same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other real estate agents.

Indirect competitors are other options customers have that aren’t direct competitors. This includes For-Sale-By-Owner and similar DIYers. You need to mention such competition to show you understand that not everyone who sells or purchases property uses the services of a realtor.

With regards to direct competition, you want to detail the other real estate agents with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be agents who cover the same target market.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses or analyze using a SWOT Analysis. Unless you once worked on other real estate teams, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What services do they offer?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regard to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you provide superior services?
• Will you provide services that your competitors don’t offer?
• Will you make it easier or faster for customers to engage your services?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.  

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a real estate agency, your marketing plan should include the following:

In the product section, you should reiterate the type of real estate agency that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to listing properties, will you offer home staging on those property listings?

Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price subsections, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.

Place refers to the location of your agency. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your real estate agent located next to a heavily populated office building, gym, etc? Discuss how your location might provide a steady stream of prospective clients.

The final part is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some marketing efforts you might consider:

• Cold calling
• Direct mail and flyers
• Making your real estate agent’s storefront extra appealing to attract passing customers
• Social media marketing
• Advertising in local papers, magazines, and websites
• Reaching out to local bloggers and websites
• Local radio advertising
• Banner ads at local venues

Developing a marketing strategy and implementing it helps you identify and locate your current value proposition in the real estate market with specific time frames to execute. This strategy will be included in your business strategy and plan as well as establishing your overall objectives. It can also involve referral marketing strategies, retention strategies, and ways of gaining new clients.

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your realtor business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two key elements as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your real estate agency such as prospecting for new customers, advertising listings, going on showings, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to sell your 100th house, or when you hope to reach $X in average sales price. It could also be when you expect to hire your Xth employee or launch a new location.

Management Team

To demonstrate your agency’s ability to succeed as a business, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in the real estate business. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in real estate agencies and/or successfully running small businesses.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets

While balance sheets include much information, to simplify them to the key items you need to know about, balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. For instance, if you spend $100,000 on building out your real estate agency, that will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $100,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a real estate agent:

• Location build-out including design fees, construction, etc.
• Cost of equipment like signs, software, etc.
• Cost of advertising materials and maintaining an adequate amount of office supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Taxes and permits
• Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your location lease.

Putting together a business plan for your real estate agency is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the real estate business, your local competition, and your potential clients. You will have developed a marketing strategy and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful real estate agency.

Real Estate Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my real estate business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Real Estate Business Plan Template  allows you to quickly and easily complete your Real Estate  Business Plan.

What Are Some Common Lead Generation Strategies For a Real Estate Agency?

Lead generation strategies can increase sales and increase the customer base. Lead generation can be conducted through organic and paid marketing campaigns to reach potential customers.

A successful lead generation program will help an agent generate leads, nurture leads through the process, and renew contacts in order to maximize potential. It can take several steps for leads to be cultivated using multiple-pronged approaches. Using organic strategies includes organizing a meeting or networking event in your field or interacting with people.

How Can I Write a Mission Statement For My Real Estate Agency?

All real estate business plans must include the mission statement. It will help you realize your business goals. When you have crafted an influential mission statement, all other components of your realtor marketing efforts should fulfill this statement. You should list the target audience, the products/ services you offer, and the uniqueness of your own business. Typically, if your mission statement is short and simple it should summarize a business objective.

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Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

Real Estate Agent Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Business Plan Outline

• Real Estate Agent Business Plan Home
• 1. Executive Summary
• 2. Company Overview
• 3. Industry Analysis
• 4. Customer Analysis
• 5. Competitive Analysis
• 6. Marketing Plan
• 7. Operations Plan
• 8. Management Team
• 9. Financial Plan

Real Estate Agent Business Plan & Example

You’ve come to the right place to create your real estate agent business plan.

We have helped over 100,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans and many have used them to start or grow their real estate agencies.

Real Estate Business Plan Example

Below are links to each section of your real estate agent business plan template:

• Executive Summary – The Executive Summary is the most important part of your business plan. It is a brief overview of your real estate agency, its products and services, niche market opportunity, and competitive advantage.
• Company Overview – In the Company Overview, you will provide a detailed description of your real estate agency, its products and services, company structure, management team, and Founders.
• Industry Analysis – The Industry Analysis is a critical part of your real estate business plan. Here, you will provide an in-depth analysis of the industry in which your real estate agency operates. You will cover topics such as industry trends, major players in the industry, market size and growth, and profitability.
• Customer Analysis – In the Customer Analysis, you will identify your target market and provide insights into their needs and buying habits. You will also segment your target market and discuss your marketing strategy for reaching them.
• Competitive Analysis – In the Competitive Analysis, you will identify your competition and provide insights into their strengths and weaknesses. You will also discuss your competitive advantage and how you plan to stay ahead of the competition.
• Marketing Plan – In the Marketing Plan, you will discuss your marketing strategy and tactics. You will also provide a sales forecast and budget for your marketing activities.
• Operations Plan – In the Operations Plan, you will discuss your business’s day-to-day operations. You will also provide business milestones that you plan to achieve and a budget for your operational expenses.
• Management Team – In the Management Team section, you will provide an overview of your management team and their experience in the real estate industry.
• Financial Plan – In the Financial Plan, you will provide a three-year financial projection for your real estate agency. This will include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.

Next Section: Executive Summary >

Real Estate Business Plan FAQs

What is a real estate business plan.

A real estate business plan is a plan to start and/or grow your real estate business. Among other things, it outlines your business concept, identifies your target customers, presents your marketing plan and details your financial projections.

You can  easily complete your real estate business plan using our Real Estate Business Plan Template here .

What Are the Main Types of Real Estate Businesses?

The most commonly known type of real estate business is residential real estate sales. This involves the sale and purchase of homes. The other type of real estate business is commercial real estate, where businesses focus on commercial properties.  Other types are real estate investors, lease companies and property management.

What Are the Main Sources of Revenues and Expenses for a Real Estate Business?

The main source of revenue for a real estate business are commissions earned from client real estate sales and rentals fees. Other revenue generated in this business are profit income, interest income and dividend income.

The key expenses for property management companies are salaries and wages, advertising, travel and supply costs for each transaction.

How Do You Get Funding for Your Real Estate Business Plan?

Real estate businesses are typically funded through small business loans, personal savings and credit card financing.

What are the Steps To Start a Real Estate Business?

Starting a real estate business can be an exciting endeavor. Having a clear roadmap of the steps to start a business will help you stay focused on your goals and get started faster.

1. Develop A Real Estate Business Plan - The first step in starting a business is to create a detailed real estate business plan that outlines all aspects of the venture. This should include potential market size and target customers, the services or products you will offer, pricing strategies and a detailed financial forecast.  

2. Choose Your Legal Structure - It's important to select an appropriate legal entity for your real estate business. This could be a limited liability company (LLC), corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship. Each type has its own benefits and drawbacks so it’s important to do research and choose wisely so that your real estate business is in compliance with local laws.

3. Register Your Real Estate Business - Once you have chosen a legal structure, the next step is to register your real estate business with the government or state where you’re operating from. This includes obtaining licenses and permits as required by federal, state, and local laws. 

4. Identify Financing Options - It’s likely that you’ll need some capital to start your real estate business, so take some time to identify what financing options are available such as bank loans, investor funding, grants, or crowdfunding platforms. 

5. Choose a Location - Whether you plan on operating out of a physical location or not, you should always have an idea of where you’ll be based should it become necessary in the future as well as what kind of space would be suitable for your operations. 

6. Hire Employees - There are several ways to find qualified employees including job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed as well as hiring agencies if needed – depending on what type of employees you need it might also be more effective to reach out directly through networking events. 

7. Acquire Necessary Real Estate Equipment & Supplies - In order to start your real estate business, you'll need to purchase all of the necessary equipment and supplies to run a successful operation. 

8. Market & Promote Your Business - Once you have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s time to start promoting and marketing your real estate business. This includes creating a website, utilizing social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, and having an effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy. You should also consider traditional marketing techniques such as radio or print advertising. 

Learn more about how to start a successful real estate business:

• How to Start a Real Estate Business

Where Can I Get a Real Estate Business Plan PDF?

You can download our free real estate business plan template PDF here . This is a sample real estate business plan template you can use in PDF format.

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Real Estate Business Plan

People would always need to find places. Be it for offices, homes, and whatnot.

Finding the ideal place irrespective of your needs and requirements is never a cakewalk, to begin with.

You can go through a number of real estates business plan templates before you write your plan.

Industry Overview

The market size, measured by revenue, of the Real Estate Sales and brokerage industry, is $156.2bn in 2021, and the industry is expected to increase by 0.4% in 2021.

Also, the market is changing at a rapid rate and the way people use spaces is changing at a rapid rate too.

Hence, to get on or stay on the higher end of the spectrum you’ll need to upskill and change the way you do business constantly.

But that is a fair trade for the amount of growth and profitability this industry has to offer.

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Things to Consider Before Writing a Real Estate Business Plan

Be specific.

The real estate industry is broad when it comes to work and what you can do. It can either be a source of primary or passive income. At the same time, you might be involved in the industry as an investor, agent, or builder. Decide what you want to do and plan on that basis.

Do your research

The trends of the real estate business change constantly, hence doing your research and updating it constantly is a crucial part of your profession.

As your knowledge and expertise is your greatest asset in this industry, keep expanding it to stay at the top of things.

Build a team of skilled professionals

Having a team you can build your real estate business with is essential.

Select a group of individuals with a diverse set of talents ranging from good communication skills to brilliant analytical skills. Given the dynamics of the real estate business, you never know what skills might come in handy in your business journey.

Be ready for change

As we have constantly discussed, real estate is a dynamic industry. Change is the only constant you’ll have in this business.

Thus, it is important for everything from your plan and way of doing business to be change-friendly.

Sources of Funding for a Real Estate Business

Gaining funds is one of the major reasons for writing a business plan. And here are a few good funding options for your real estate business:

A traditional loan is one of the most basic options for getting funded. You can opt for this if you have a good credit score.

Non-bank mortgage lending

This is a good option if you don’t want to go through a lot of paperwork.

The asset-based mortgage

For this, the lenders look at the rental value of your property and provide a loan on that basis. It is a good option if you don’t want or can’t get a loan based on your personal assets or income.

Above all, it is essential to plan your business to figure out your funding requirements and the right way to fulfill the same.

Write Your Business Plan

If you have enough connections, and the ability to find places for people that have attributes they want and need then a real estate business can be a profitable one for you.

A business plan helps you get funded, explain your ideas to the stakeholders of your business, and make better decisions.

Hence, planning is an important aspect of starting or growing your business.

It has been created using Upmetrics online business plan software that helps you create dynamic and customizable plans anywhere and at any time.

Our sample real estate business plan can help you with writing a well-rounded business plan for your business. It can act as a guide and prevent you from getting stuck in a certain section for too long.

Real Estate Business Plan Outline

This is the standard real estate business plan outline which will cover all important sections that you should include in your business plan.

• Market Opportunity
• Demand for Housing
• Financing & Investment Forecast
• Introducing Kegan
• Business Model
• Short Term Goals
• Long Term Strategies
• Keys to Success
• Contemporary Living for the 21″ Century
• The Complete Package
• Pricing Strategy
• Implementation Strategy – Action Plan
• Target Market Overview
• Housing Shortage Overview in Saudi Arabia
• Housing Shortage Overview in Riyadh
• Housing Prices
• Kegan Home Prices
• Market Positioning & Brand
• Marketing Strategies
• Sales Strategies
• Sales Process
• Competitive Landscape
• Competitive Advantages
• Rashid Bin Said
• Director of Construction
• Member name
• Chief Accountant
• Director of Marketing & Sales
• Other Staff
• Independent Directors
• Solid Balance Sheet
• Impressive Cashflow
• Financial Summary
• Financial Assumptions
• Income Statement (Five-Year Projections)
• Balance Sheet (Five-Year Projections)
• Cash Flow Statement (Five-Year Projection)

After getting started with Upmetrics , you can copy this sample real estate business plan into your business plan and modify the required information and download your real estate business plan pdf or doc file.

It’s the fastest and easiest way to start writing your business plan.

The Quickest Way to turn a Business Idea into a Business Plan

Fill-in-the-blanks and automatic financials make it easy.

Download a sample real estate business plan

Need help writing your business plan from scratch? Here you go;  download our free real estate business plan pdf  to start.

It’s a modern business plan template specifically designed for your real estate business. Use the example business plan as a guide for writing your own.

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Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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Business Plan Template for Real Estate Agents

• Great for beginners
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Thinking of entering the real estate market? Don't make a move without a solid plan! Real estate agents and agencies know that a business plan is the backbone of their success. That's why ClickUp's Business Plan Template for Real Estate Agents is an essential tool for anyone in the industry.

With this template, you can:

• Define your goals, strategies, and financial projections
• Establish a clear direction for your operations
• Maximize your success in the competitive real estate market

Whether you're a seasoned agent or just starting out, this template will guide you every step of the way. Get ready to dominate the real estate game like never before!

Business Plan Template for Real Estate Agents Benefits

A business plan template for real estate agents provides a roadmap for success in the dynamic world of real estate. Here are some of the benefits of using this template:

• Helps you set clear and achievable goals for your real estate business
• Enables you to develop effective marketing strategies to attract clients and generate leads
• Assists in creating a comprehensive financial plan and budget to manage expenses and maximize profits
• Provides a framework to analyze market trends and identify opportunities for growth and expansion
• Allows you to track progress and make adjustments to your business strategies as needed for continued success.

Main Elements of Real Estate Agents Business Plan Template

ClickUp’s Business Plan Template for Real Estate Agents provides a comprehensive framework to help you create a solid business plan and achieve success in the real estate industry.

Key elements of this template include:

• Custom Statuses: Track the progress of different sections of your business plan with statuses like Complete, In Progress, Needs Revision, and To Do.
• Custom Fields: Utilize custom fields such as Reference, Approved, and Section to add additional details and organize your business plan effectively.
• Custom Views: Access different views like Topics, Status, Timeline, Business Plan, and Getting Started Guide to easily navigate and manage your business plan.
• Collaboration Tools: Collaborate with your team members by assigning tasks, leaving comments, and attaching files directly within the business plan template.
• Goal Setting: Set specific goals and timelines using ClickUp’s Goals feature, ensuring that you stay on track and achieve your objectives.
• Document Management: Seamlessly integrate with ClickUp’s Docs feature to create and store important documents related to your business plan.
• Progress Tracking: Monitor your progress and make data-driven decisions using ClickUp’s Dashboards feature.
• Integration Capabilities: Connect ClickUp with other essential tools and software through ClickUp’s wide range of integrations, such as Email, AI, and other popular business applications.

How To Use Business Plan Template for Real Estate Agents

Creating a business plan is essential for real estate agents looking to grow their business. Follow these steps to effectively use the Business Plan Template in ClickUp:

1. Define your goals and objectives

Start by clearly defining your goals and objectives for your real estate business. Do you want to increase your sales volume, expand into new markets, or improve your online presence? Identifying your goals will help guide your business plan and set a clear direction for your success.

Use Goals in ClickUp to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for your real estate business.

2. Analyze your target market

Next, analyze your target market to understand your clients' needs, preferences, and demographics. Research the local real estate market trends, competition, and potential opportunities. This information will help you tailor your marketing strategies and services to meet the demands of your target audience.

Use the Table view in ClickUp to organize and analyze market research data, such as demographics, market trends, and competitor analysis.

3. Develop your marketing and sales strategies

Based on your target market analysis, develop effective marketing and sales strategies to reach your ideal clients. Determine the best channels to promote your services, such as social media, email marketing, or networking events. Additionally, outline your lead generation and conversion strategies to ensure a steady flow of potential clients.

Use Automations in ClickUp to automate repetitive marketing tasks, such as sending follow-up emails or scheduling social media posts.

4. Track your progress and adjust accordingly

Once your business plan is in motion, it's crucial to track your progress and make adjustments as needed. Regularly review your key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of your strategies. If certain tactics are not yielding the desired results, be open to adapting and trying new approaches to achieve your goals.

Use Dashboards in ClickUp to monitor and visualize your KPIs, such as lead conversion rate, sales volume, or website traffic.

By following these steps and utilizing the Business Plan Template in ClickUp, real estate agents can effectively strategize, execute, and track their business goals for success in the competitive market.

Get Started with ClickUp’s Business Plan Template for Real Estate Agents

Real estate agents and agencies can use the Business Plan Template for Real Estate Agents in ClickUp to create a comprehensive plan for their business and stay organized.

First, hit “Add Template” to sign up for ClickUp and add the template to your Workspace. Make sure you designate which Space or location in your Workspace you’d like this template applied.

Next, invite relevant members or guests to your Workspace to start collaborating.

Now you can take advantage of the full potential of this template to create a solid business plan:

• Use the Topics View to outline the main sections of your business plan, such as marketing, sales, and financials
• The Status View will help you track the progress of each section, with statuses like Complete, In Progress, Needs Revision, and To Do
• The Timeline View will give you a visual representation of your business plan's milestones and deadlines
• The Business Plan View will provide a comprehensive overview of your entire plan, including goals, strategies, and financial projections
• Use the Getting Started Guide View to access helpful resources and tips for creating a successful business plan
• Customize the Reference custom field to add links or notes to relevant resources or documents
• Use the Approved custom field to indicate which sections or strategies have been approved by stakeholders
• The Section custom field will help you categorize and organize different sections of your business plan

With this template, you can create a well-structured and organized business plan that sets you up for success in the real estate industry.

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8 Business Plan Templates You Can Get for Free

8 min. read

Updated April 10, 2024

A business plan template can be an excellent tool to simplify the creation of your business plan. 

The pre-set structure helps you organize ideas, covers all critical business information, and saves you time and effort on formatting.

The only issue? There are SO many free business plan templates out there. 

So, which ones are actually worth using? 

To help remove the guesswork, I’ve rounded up some of the best business plan templates you can access right now. 

These are listed in no particular order, and each has its benefits and drawbacks.

What to look for in a business plan template

Not all business plan templates are created equal. As you weigh your options and decide which template(s) you’ll use, be sure to review them with the following criteria in mind:

• Easy to edit: A template should save you time. That won’t be the case if you have to fuss around figuring out how to edit the document, or even worse, it doesn’t allow you to edit at all.
• Contains the right sections: A good template should cover all essential sections of a business plan , including the executive summary, product/service description, market/competitive analysis, marketing and sales plan, operations, milestones, and financial projections. 
• Provides guidance: You should be able to trust that the information in a template is accurate. That means the organization or person who created the template is highly credible, known for producing useful resources, and ideally has some entrepreneurial experience.
• Software compatibility: Lastly, you want any template to be compatible with the software platforms you use. More than likely, this means it’s available in Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or PDF format at a minimum. 

1. Bplans — A plan with expert guidance

Since you’re already on Bplans, I have to first mention the templates that we have available. 

Our traditional and one-page templates were created by entrepreneurs and business owners with over 80 years of collective planning experience. We revisit and update them annually to ensure they are approachable, thorough, and aligned with our team’s evolving best practices.  

The templates, available in Word, PDF, or Google Doc formats, include in-depth guidance on what to include in each section, expert tips, and links to additional resources. 

Plus, we have over 550 real-world sample business plans you can use for guidance when filling out your template.

Download: Traditional lender-ready business plan template or a simple one-page plan template .

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2. SBA — Introduction to business plans

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) offers two different business plan templates along with a short planning guide. 

While not incredibly in-depth, it’s enough to help you understand how traditional and lean plans are structured and what information needs to be covered. The templates themselves are more like examples, providing you with a finished product to reference as you write your plan.

The key benefit of using these templates is that they were created by the SBA. While they may provide less guidance, you can be assured that the information and structure meet their expectations.

Explore: The SBA’s planning guide and free templates

3. SCORE — Planning workbook

SCORE’s template is more like a workbook. It includes exercises after each section to help you get your ideas down and turn them into a structured plan.

The market research worksheets are especially useful. They provide a clear framework for identifying your target market and analyzing competitors from multiple angles. Plus, they give you an easy way to document all the information you’re collecting.

You will likely have to remove the exercises in this template to make it investor-ready. But it can be worth it if you’re struggling to get past a blank page and want a more interactive planning method.

Download: SCORE’s business plan template

4. PandaDoc — A template with fillable forms

PandaDoc’s library offers a variety of industry-specific business plan templates that feature a modern design flair and concise instructions. 

These templates are designed for sharing. They include fillable fields and sections for non-disclosure agreements, which may be necessary when sending a plan to investors.  

But the real benefit is their compatibility with PandaDoc’s platform. Yes, they are free, but if you’re a PandaDoc subscriber, you’ll have far more customization options. 

Out of all their templates, the standard business plan template is the most in-depth. The rest, while still useful, go a bit lighter on guidance in favor of tailoring the plan to a specific industry.

Explore: PandaDoc’s business plan template library  

5. Canva — Pitch with your plan

Canva is a great option for building a visually stunning business plan that can be used as a pitch tool. It offers a diverse array of templates built by their in-house team and the larger creative community, meaning the number of options constantly grows.

You will need to verify that the information in the template you choose matches the standard structure of a traditional business plan. 

You should do this with any template, but it’s especially important with any tool that accepts community submissions. While they are likely reviewed and approved, there may still be errors.

Remember, you can only edit these templates within Canva. Luckily, you only need a free subscription, and you may just miss out on some of the visual assets being used. 

To get the most value, it may be best to create a more traditional planning document and transfer that information into Canva. 

Explore: Canva’s business plan gallery

6. ClickUp — The collaborative template

Out of all the project management tools that offer free business plan templates, ClickUp’s is the most approachable.

Rather than throwing you into all the features and expecting you to figure it out—ClickUp provides a thorough startup guide with resource links, images, and videos explaining how to write a plan using the tool. 

There’s also a completed sample plan (structured like an expanded one-page plan) for you to reference and see how the more traditional document can connect to the product management features. You can set goals, target dates, leave comments, and even assign tasks to someone else on your team. 

These features are limited to the ClickUp platform and will not be useful for everyone. They will likely get in the way of writing a plan you can easily share with lenders or investors. 

But this is a great option if you’re looking for a template that makes internal collaboration more fluid and keeps all your information in one place.

Sign Up: Get a free trial of ClickUp and explore their template library

7. Smartsheet — A wide variety of templates

I’m including Smartsheet’s library of templates on this list because of the sheer number of options they provide. 

They have a simple business plan template, a one-page plan, a fill-in-the-blank template, a plan outline, a plan grading rubric, and even an Excel-built project plan. All are perfectly usable and vary in visual style, depth of instructions, and the available format.

Honestly, the only drawback (which is also the core benefit) is that the amount of templates can be overwhelming. If you’re already uncertain which plan option is right for you, the lengthy list they provide may not provide much clarity.

At the same time, it can be a great resource if you want a one-stop shop to view multiple plan types.

Explore: Smartsheet’s business plan template library  

8. ReferralRock affiliate marketing business plan

I’m adding ReferralRock’s template to this list due to its specificity. 

It’s not your standard business plan template. The plan is tailored with specific sections and guidance around launching an affiliate marketing business. 

Most of the template is dedicated to defining how to choose affiliates, set commissions, create legal agreements, and track performance.

So, if you plan on starting an affiliate marketing business or program, this template will provide more specific guidance. Just know that you will likely need to reference additional resources when writing the non-industry sections of your plan.

Download: ReferralRock affiliate marketing business plan template

Does it matter what business plan template you use?

The short answer is no. As long as the structure is correct, it saves you time, and it helps you write your business plan , then any template will work. 

What it ultimately comes down to, is what sort of value you hope to get from the template. 

• Do you need more guidance? 
• A simple way to structure your plan? 
• An option that works with a specific tool?
• A way to make your plan more visually interesting?

Hopefully, this list has helped you hone in on an option that meets one (or several) of these needs. Still, it may be worth downloading a few of these templates to determine the right fit. 

And really, what matters most is that you spend time writing a business plan . It will help you avoid early mistakes, determine if you have a viable business, and fully consider what it will take to get up and running. 

If you need additional guidance, check out our library of planning resources . We cover everything from plan formats , to how to write a business plan, and even how to use it as a management tool . 

If you don’t want to waste time researching other templates, you can download our one-page or traditional business plan template and jump right into the planning process.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Kody Wirth is a content writer and SEO specialist for Palo Alto Software—the creator's of Bplans and LivePlan. He has 3+ years experience covering small business topics and runs a part-time content writing service in his spare time.

Table of Contents

• Qualities of a good template
• ReferralRock
• Does the template matter?

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Agents: Get ready for spring selling season with these free templates

• April 8, 2024

We’ve all heard the old rhyme about April showers bringing in May’s flowers, but those of us in real estate know the real truth about April: it’s prime time for selling a home . You’ve got the perfect blend for a springtime boom with a mix of above-average prices, increased buyer demand, a quick market pace, and lower competition from other sellers.

Did you also know our internal survey found that 75% of sellers contact an agent as soon as they begin thinking about the selling process? April’s finally here, so it’s time you start getting set up to be seen by buyers and sellers ASAP. Don’t sweat the clock — we’ve got you covered. Let’s get your head in the game of the springtime season by getting your marketing plan in order. Once you’re set there, we’ll give you a collection of nifty springtime templates you can use to get all geared up for the spring buying season in no time at all.

Excited to dive in? So are we! Let’s go.

5 steps to spring clean your seller marketing game plan

Sellers are eager to connect with agents and list their homes in April, so you need to get your real estate business front and center so they can easily find you. A solid seller-focused marketing plan is the best way to do this. After all, you need to let sellers know you’re the agent they need to sell their home during peak season. While you likely already have your marketing and promo activities dialed in, April is here, and it’s still a good idea to spring clean and get your game plan together. This bit of prep work will help you be able to start using the templates we’ve created more quickly and more efficiently.

Follow the five steps below to get your marketing game plan in gear:

#1. Get your content calendar ready

You’re ahead of the curve if you already have a content calendar! If not, there’s no worries either. We recommend you create a new content calendar focused on and dedicated to your promotional efforts for the springtime selling season. You can either duplicate your existing content calendar template if you have one or download a free one online, like the one we’ve created here . Use the content calendar to give yourself a one-stop shop, eagle-eye view of what content you plan to post, on which channels, and on what day.

If you start now, you can also block out time on your own work calendar for content creation for each of these pieces. Think of your content calendar as the ultimate game plan on a page: by seeing what’s coming, you can plan ample time to create the content, get it just right, and pre-schedule it, all stress-free.

#2. Prioritize your high-performing social media channels

The springtime selling season is also a great time to examine what social media channels work well for your business. Look at the numbers regarding your account’s reach, typical post impressions and views, and number of followers, and which has the highest potential for generating leads. Review the data on your platforms for the last few months or so, and even see what worked well for you last spring.

This exercise will help you understand which platforms to prioritize in which order so you can get the most bang for your content-creating buck.

#3. Get your email platform tidied up and ready to launch

Email marketing is a must, without a doubt. So get your email platform in proper, working order before April hits your calendar. Start by identifying and segmenting your contact database by filtering down to who you’ve identified as seller leads. Then, review your notes on each cohort. Who are the sellers within these segments who are eager or just waiting for the right time? Who are FSBOs or sellers who had a deal fall through or hit pause? Asking these questions will allow you to segment even deeper, so you can target the right sellers with the right message at the right time. Continue to refine and drill down your list, then start thinking about spring season-specific drip campaigns or newsletters you can send to these audiences.

( Pssst. Bonus points for adding these sends to your content calendar.)

#4. Get Listing Toolkit so you have everything you need to win more listings

Listing Toolkit, one of Realtor.com ® ’s latest and greatest offerings, provides you with everything you need to be a best-in-class agent in your local market and get ahead of even the toughest competition.

It’s a first-of-its-kind collection of powerful features designed specifically to help agents win more listings and get them sold. It also helps you get seen by more sellers using Realtor.com. You can get ahead of the competition with:

• Automated proposals to sellers
• Interactive listing presentations powered by top-tech
• Key intel on prospective buyers
• Promoting your listing on the first page of search results on Realtor.com

It gives agents like you increased visibility, deep consumer intel, and follow-up tools to win more listings and get them sold. Simply put, it’s just what you need to position yourself perfectly for the primetime selling season of April — and beyond! Check out Listing Toolkit here .

#5. Get excited!

This time of year is blossoming with opportunity, figuratively and literally. The days are longer, the weather is warming, and a new season of opportunity is beginning. It’s also important to note many sellers likely aren’t aware of how important this time of year is for making the most of selling their home, and they need you to be the one to educate them. 

Follow these steps, get yourself (and your mind) geared up, and use the templates below to maximize your marketing for this crucial, exciting real estate season.

Use these templates to get ready for peak selling season

With all your systems and platforms in place, you’re ready to start building up your content bank to wow springtime sellers at every stage. We’ve crafted various templates you can tweak, adjust, and quickly upload for email, social media, and even a handy PDF to use with prospective seller clients. So get ready, fire up your Canva account, and start watching the content bloom!

Email templates you can use specifically for spring selling season

Use the templates below for your email campaigns to the segments of sellers you’ve identified during your spring cleaning exercises earlier. We’ve created emails for various seller scenarios, so take a look at each!

Templates to use for new seller leads

A template to use for sellers who weren’t quite ready the last time, a template to use for sellers who want to sell it themselves, (a.k.a. fsbos), a template to use for sellers who had to take their home off the market previously, a little bonus for your templates.

We weren’t gonna leave your emails totally dry from a visual template perspective. While we always recommend keeping the amount of images you add into your emails to a minimum, we did whip up a nice handful of springtime email signature options for you to customize, save, and use along with the templates above! Check them out:

Click here to get this template

Springtime selling season social media template selections

These templates are kinda totally the really fun part! With the templates we’ve created below, you can jazz up your usual content creation and posts to perfectly match the month of April’s theme of selling season. We’ve created templates for the top three social media platforms real estate agents use most — Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn — but you can easily drag, drop, and repurpose what we’ve created if you’ve found a good niche on other social platforms.

Facebook post template:

For the templates we created for you below, simply upload and drop in one of your latest listings, or a recently-sold one, into the background. Feel free to drop in copy tweaks to the fun fact, and get ready to start the marketing drumbeat of the springtime selling season.

Facebook story template:

Stories are one of the best ways to capture your followers’ attention quickly and effectively. With spring-themed graphics and a simple “recipe” for peak selling season, you can hook in your followers and make sure they’re ready for April.

Instagram post template

Use the template below to drop some knowledge into your Instagram feed. Similar to the Facebook post template we created earlier, drag and drop in your latest and greatest listing photo. This one is a good hook to catch sellers’ eye by handing them a pro tip directly.

Instagram story template

For your Instagram story template, you know the drill: upload your listing photo, drag, and drop into the template. Let Canva take care of the rest!

LinkedIn post templates

Last, but certainly not least, we have a LinkedIn template you can use. This may be a bit more buttoned-up, but it’s still full of the intel they need to know to understand why spring is so crucial for selling. This is another great spot to drop in your listing photo.

A handy springtime one-pager you can use, too

Whether they know about how important April is to sell or not, it’s important to equip potential seller clients for this crucial time of year. Use the customizable PDF one-pager template below to capture and share key info these consumers need, quickly and easily. Having this at the ready and pre-loaded will save you plenty of time and stress, and excite these sellers with how quick and prepared you are.

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