Real Estate Sales Agents

Rent, buy, or sell property for clients. Perform duties such as study property listings, interview prospective clients, accompany clients to property site, discuss conditions of sale, and draw up real estate contracts. Includes agents who represent buyer.

Most important skills

Active Listening
Speaking
Negotiation
Social Perceptiveness
Coordination
Persuasion
Service Orientation
Critical Thinking

Key knowledge

Customer and Personal Service
Sales and Marketing
English Language
Computers and Electronics
Administration and Management
Administrative
Mathematics
Communications and Media

What the work involves

Present purchase offers to sellers for consideration.
Confer with escrow companies, lenders, home inspectors, and pest control operators to ensure that terms and conditions of purchase agreements are met before closing dates.
Interview clients to determine what kinds of properties they are seeking.
Prepare documents such as representation contracts, purchase agreements, closing statements, deeds, and leases.
Coordinate property closings, overseeing signing of documents and disbursement of funds.
Act as an intermediary in negotiations between buyers and sellers, generally representing one or the other.
Promote sales of properties through advertisements, open houses, and participation in multiple listing services.
Compare a property with similar properties that have recently sold to determine its competitive market price.

Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Social.

Qualifications and licensing

Most common education

High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (52.2% of expert ratings)

Related experience

None (91.3%)

On-the-job training

Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (36.4%)

Preparation level

O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed

Licensing

License required (national summary): All states require real estate brokers and sales agents to be licensed: typically prelicensing courses and an exam; requirements vary by state and licenses usually do not transfer between states. source (checked 2026-10-25)

Limits

Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections; State licensing authorities (curated, see evidence links) · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0

Work environment

How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).

Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.

Rankings compare typical U.S. occupation-level work conditions; individual jobs and employers vary. Data: O*NET 31.0 Work Context and BLS wages (May 2025).
Condition	Level	Compared with other occupations	Most common answer (O*NET survey)
Contact with others	High	Higher on contact with others than 72% of occupations compared	82% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others”
Dealing with the public	Very high	Higher on dealing with the public than 82% of occupations compared	57% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Teamwork	Very low	Lower on teamwork than 83% of occupations compared	35% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important”
Freedom to make decisions	Very high	Higher on freedom to make decisions than 98% of occupations compared	91% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom”
Time pressure	Moderate	Lower on time pressure than 52% of occupations compared	43% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day”
Conflict situations	Moderate	Higher on conflict situations than 58% of occupations compared	39% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month”
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people	Moderate	Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 57% of occupations compared	43% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month”
Consequence of error	Low	Lower on consequence of error than 66% of occupations compared	35% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious”

Work-pressure profile

Time pressure: moderate
Conflict situations: moderate
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
Consequence of error: low

Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.

Full answer distributions

Contact with others

No contact with others: 4.55%
Occasional contact with others: 0%
Contact with others about half the time: 4.55%
Contact with others most of the time: 9.09%
Constant contact with others: 81.82%

n = 22, Occupational Expert 08/2026