Residential negotiator job description

Agency teams are responsible for acquiring or disposing of property for clients – either those looking to buy/rent a property or those looking to sell/let it. It is the job of agents to advise clients and then act on instructions. The work includes providing marketing strategies, valuations and negotiating to get the best deal for clients.

It’s a varied area that will bring you into contact with a wide range of people and organisations: you could work with both landlords (developers and investors) and tenants (occupiers), and with a number of colleagues in your firm.

The work may involve anything from producing marketing reports to negotiating deals and managing your own projects. You’ll spend plenty of time out of the office, measuring properties, producing marketing information, speaking to agents and negotiating deals. You’ll also be working closely with other departments (such as valuation, rent review and investment) so that you can provide detailed information to your client.

Qualifications and skills

Property graduates with SCSI/RICS accredited degrees are normally recruited to work in the commercial side of the business, where employers offer a well-established structured training programme and a broad range of work experience to help you to achieve chartered status. Entrants with ordinary (level 7) property degrees (in ROI) and HNCs and HNDs (in NI) usually start at the residential end, alongside graduates with non-cognate degrees in subjects such as business studies, construction studies, engineering and legal studies. Entry without a degree is also commonly possible in the residential sector. Once in the workplace there are many opportunities to pursue your property qualifications and employers encourage and support this. Irrespective of where you start, you need to get a breadth of experience and explore as many areas of the business as you can to be successful in the long run. There is good scope for progression to senior levels within the larger agencies, particularly for those who achieve chartered status. In residential and in smaller urban and rural agencies you can gain experience of selling different types of properties and land, all of which will increase your promotion prospects from junior to senior sales negotiator. This discipline is especially suited to outgoing, personable people with entrepreneurial and organisational skills. As with roles throughout the industry, you will need strong negotiating skills and keen commercial awareness.