Branch staff aren’t just the friendly faces your clients see when they first visit your office. They’re the air traffic controllers, directing people, paperwork, and problems to the correct avenues to be handled as quickly as possible. But if there ever was a person you should familiarize yourself with at your branch, it’s your deals administrator.
Your hardworking deals admins collect and amalgamate all transaction paperwork, typically using an online management system like Skyslope or Nexone. They are the main point of contact amid the flurry of follow-ups from clients, lawyers, and agents alike. Depending on the size of the brokerage, they can input, organize, correct, and follow up with dozens of transactions per day.
All of this is to say: deals admins are busy. Having worked behind the scenes at the branch level for over a decade, and even as a deals admin myself for a couple of those years, here are some tips to ensure you and your deals admin are in sync.
Don’t make us chase paperwork
Be aware of the documents and information you’ve already handed in, and more importantly, what’s still outstanding. Most, if not all successful Realtors—and their teams—are organized. It isn’t a coincidence, it’s by design. If you struggle to remember whether you handed in a receipt of funds or exchanged lawyer information with the cooperating Realtor, create a checklist.
Deals admins deal with hundreds of agents and even more transactions. Ensuring you, as an independent contractor, are on top of your transactions is critical to ensuring the deal flows smoothly from signing to closing.
Phone call vs. email
It’s natural for agents to prefer picking up the phone rather than replying to an email from their deals admin. It’s faster, easier, and you don’t have to tell yourself, “I’ll get to it later,” only to forget about it. However, sending and receiving a reply via e-mail ensures there’s a traceable “paper trail,” which phone calls don’t have. This means a deal administrator can save your e-mailed reply and add it to their online file in case of a future audit.
For example, your trade sheet does not explicitly state to give 25 per cent of your commission to a coworker, but you mention it in a phone call. Should this deal be selected for an audit in the future, the auditor may question why the commission was split when it wasn’t mentioned on the trade sheet. Instead, either correct your trade sheet or hit reply.
Send everything in one email
Once a deal is accepted, you need to send paperwork to your deals admin promptly. This ensures it’s quickly reported on MLS and all key parties are notified of the sales, such as accounting to verify a direct deposit, lawyers to speed up the closing process, and so forth.
But deals admins get a lot of emails. Ensure you have as many documents as possible in as few emails as possible, so your deals admin doesn’t have to sift through too many to find what they need. There’s no reason why your purchase and sale agreement, representation documents, and FINTRAC forms should all be in separate emails.
Also, in case it wasn’t obvious: clearly identify your e-mail by putting the property address in the subject line. This makes searching for specific e-mail chains much less painful.
Pointing out errors: it’s not personal, it’s business
Part of the deal administrator’s job is to ensure the documents they receive are as accurate as possible. You’d be surprised at how many little things, like missing initials on a price change on an agreement of purchase and sale, or writing “not applicable” as a job description on an individual identification information record (IIIR, but let’s face it, we all still call it a CIR), are fineable offenses. Don’t take a request to correct your errors as a personal attack. Mistakes happen. Correct them and move on.
The same applies when a deals admin asks you to fix something that’s recently changed. For example, your brokerage may have updated its trade sheet since the last time you submitted one, and it no longer accepts the existing one. Remember, real estate is an ever-evolving industry with rules and regulations that change and improve often. It’s your job as a Realtor to stay up-to-date with documents and policies, including your brokerage’s in-house forms. Asking why things have changed is understandable, but directing your frustration at your deals admin—who doesn’t control these changes—isn’t.
They aren’t your personal assistants
Lastly, remember that your deals admin works for the brokerage. They aren’t hired to give you their undivided attention. Most are more than willing to answer questions or direct you to someone who will help. But if you find yourself leaning on your deals admin too often, it may be time to consider hiring an assistant.
On that same note, while real estate has a knack for never sleeping, most deals admins work office hours. This means whatever comes in after 5 p.m., even if you have a deal that needs reporting as soon as possible, will generally wait until the next morning. Keep this in mind when it’s 9:02 a.m. the next day and you’re about to call your deals admin.
So, there you have it. Don’t think of these as a list of commandments chiselled in stone, but rather a handbook on how to get onto your deals admin’s good side. You never know when you’ll need to call in a favour.
Having stepped into the world of real estate as a receptionist over a decade ago, Diana worked in the industry at different capacities and climbed the ladder since. She has supported Realtors as a front desk assistant, organized incoming paperwork as a deals admin, and processed closings as a head-office accountant. Working at several brokerages gave her insight into their inner workings, from recruiting, social media marketing, commission payouts, and everything in between.
The face of real estate is often portrayed as a confident Realtor, but the hardworking cogs within the real estate machine — office admins, assistants, receptionists, and clerks — are often forgotten. Using her real estate and journalism experience, Diana sheds light on everything going on behind the scenes, while keeping the machine humming along.