real estate business planning for 2024

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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.

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 , Jan. 16, 2024)

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

How to Write a Mission Statement pdf ( 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 , Oct. 30, 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?

Setting Business Goals & Objectives: 4 Considerations ( Harvard Business School , Oct. 31, 2023)

What are Business Goals? Definition, How To Set Business Goals and Examples ( Indeed , Jul. 31, 2023)

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 , Feb. 2, 2024)

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

Developing a Marketing Plan pdf ( 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 Build a Real Estate Team + 7 Critical Mistakes to Avoid ( The Close , May 17, 2023)

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 , Jul. 18, 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. 3, 2024)

How to Write a Real Estate Business Plan (+Free Template) ( Fit Small Business , Jun. 30, 2023)

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 , Apr. 23, 2024)

Guide to Creating a Business Plan with Template (Business News Daily, Mar. 28, 2024)

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:

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.

Your 2024 Real Estate Business Plan Checklist

November 10, 2023

Real Estate Business Planning, Real Estate CRM

We’ve all been there – we put the work in to build out a business plan for your real estate team for the new year, only for it to fall apart come March. All of that time spent business planning in the trash. And here we are again, nearing the end of the year and we’re starting to look ahead to 2024. Instead of going through the same motions in anticipation that your business plan will, again, meet its demise, try changing your approach. See how you can build a real estate business plan that’s flexible, can change as the market does and better yet – be used and employed.

Start by taking a look at your business to see where you can make improvements to generate more money, while also saving money. This is especially relevant if your market is down by 40% or more, which is the case in some areas. A helpful tip you can use to better understand what’s going on in your market is to leverage MLS to look at the units closed last year compared to this year. Identifying realistic growth levers for your business will help set your real estate team up for success. We cover this and more in our latest webinar with our partners, Sisu and Spring B, team leader of the #1 team in Utah and a Sierra Interactive power user. You can watch it here .

Forty percent is a pretty intimidating number, and we know it’s not realistic to try and cut 40% of expenses. So that brings us to the question – how do we bring in more revenue? Using a revenue waterfall methodology to examine your business and identify growth levers will help get you there. There are four main levers that real estate teams can pull to increase revenue:

• Increase per-agent productivity
• Increase price point
• Increase agent count
• Manage expenses

Increase Per-Agent Productivity

When looking at ways to increase revenue outside of ancillaries, you can start by focusing on increasing per-agent productivity. Start by making sure you have standard operating procedures for speed to lead, number of attempted contacts and types of attempted contacts. Accountability here is key, so it’s good to get in the habit of auditing your database weekly to ensure agents are following through on your expectations. If not, pull them off lead flow until rectified. Additionally, setting up action plans with automation to streamline processes and automate messaging, touchpoints and tasks will make it easier for agents to get more done with less. This allows them to focus on the most high-intent, transaction-ready leads while the CRM nurtures the others until they’re ready . Setting up lead ponds is another tool that agents, including new hires, can use to self-source leads and create opportunities. Over everything, the biggest takeaway is that if it’s not in the CRM, it doesn’t exist, or it didn’t happen. Building adoption of the CRM across your entire real estate team is critical to increasing per-agent productivity.

Increase Price Point

The concept of increasing your price point may seem simple, however, it’s easier said than done. It’s far from an easy button, rather a lever you really need to put some sweat equity into. It isn’t even possible in every market. With that said, where do you start? First, ensure that you have content pages set up and optimized on your website targeted to the neighborhoods, cities and areas that have your ideal price point. You should also consider running paid ad campaigns for those areas to increase your brand awareness in your target neighborhoods. The focus here is to farm your target areas and plant seeds through direct mailers, blog posts with a local focus, or a neighborhood website. This begins establishing a presence where you want your increased price point to grow.

Increase Agent Count

The first rule of increasing your agent count? Recruit. The second rule of increasing your agent count? Recruit. Cue Brad Pitt. For many real estate team leaders, this may be the answer and the biggest growth lever you have if expenses are in line, price points are firm and agent productivity is in check. When increasing your agent count, set your new agents up for success with the following:

• A bootcamp to get them ramped and productive quickly
• Train on systems, processes and expectations included in your real estate business plan
• Have new agents shadow veteran agents
• Provide them with a pond or specific lead sources to work. This will get them on the phones early to gauge if they’re going to do the work and fit the profile
• Set benchmarks for performance and clear expectations, meeting frequently to coach on these

Having a good CRM in place that’s simple and intuitive will make the onboarding process much smoother and reduce friction when introducing new agents.

Managing Expenses

The final growth lever is to make sure you understand your expenses and profit margins. The benchmark for real estate profit margin is 30%, and 40% for COGs. It is decidedly difficult to cut much of your expenses, but significantly easier to trim the fat. You can do this by simply looking at your tech stack and identifying what’s working for you and what’s not. Steer clear of shiny object syndrome (as hard as this is), and focus on the technology that your team will actually use. This includes your website, CRM, reporting and action management tools. In addition, look at your paid lead sources – which ones are working, which ones are not? Find the ROI of each to help determine this. When you have this, turn off the lead sources that aren’t working for you and double down on the ones that are. Another option is to partner with a lender to share expenses. 

Build Your Real Estate Business Plan

With these four growth levers in mind, which includes increasing per-agent productivity, increasing price point, increasing agent count, and managing expenses, you can build a more informed real estate business plan with realistic goals and clear areas of improvement. Sierra Interactive’s real estate CRM software will help you thread the needle through efficient lead management, smart lead follow-up and nurturing. See how Sierra Interactive can help put some rocket fuel into your 2024 real estate business plan – schedule a demo with us today.

Kelly Sanchez is the Content Marketing Manager at Sierra Interactive.

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Creating a comprehensive business plan is essential for real estate agents who want to stay organized, maximize productivity and win market share. Here are 9 steps an agent should take to design a dynamic strategic plan.

1. Define Your Mission Statement

Take some time to reflect on why you are in this business. What are your primary reasons? What benefits will you provide to your potential clients? What do you hope to accomplish by taking on this responsibility?   

2. Define Your Target Audience or Niche Think about what types of clients you want to work with. It could be a category of people (such as new homeowners) or a specific niche (such as retirement communities). Will extra resources or measures be needed to reach them?

3. Evaluate Your Resources

Will you be working by yourself? Determine if it would make sense to hire an assistant or another agent to help manage lead generation. If you have a team, create a flow chart with each member’s responsibilities. That will help you to see who is doing what and identify any gaps to fill.

4. Set Clear Goals

A great model to follow is SMART goals : specific, measurable, achievable, relevant.

Include both short- and long-term objectives, such as annual income targets and the number of transactions you aim to complete.

5. Establish Budget and Financial Projections

Create a detailed budget that accounts for business expenses, such as licensing fees, marketing and advertising, office space and transportation.

Lead generation is your most important priority. A comprehensive, well-designed, multi-faceted marketing campaign is crucial for your business to succeed. As part of your budgeting step, be sure to include this important category and analyze if it makes sense to do in-house or to off source.  

6. Create Strategic Action Steps  

A great customer relationship management (CRM) system will help you run your business with maximum productivity.

• It allows you to organize all your contacts and their detailed information in one place. It also lets you rank contacts by importance and informs you when and how those clients and leads should be contacted.
• It has functionality that creates detailed reports so you can track your transactions and expenses. It should also be able to generate reports, so you know if you are on target to meet your financial goals and what to do to reach them.   
• It helps you stay aligned with your goals, to-do lists and calendars. A CRM can also create action steps based on your goals and current progress and can generate your priority list.

7. Create a Plan for Evaluation and Review

Regularly review your progress and adjust your business plan as needed. Use key performance indicators (KPIs) to see if you are hitting your benchmarks and if you need to adjust your plan.

8. Consider Support and Accountability

Consider working with a real estate coach to help you strategize and implement measures so you can reach your goals. A coach will also help you deal with issues head on to keep you accountable and on task.

9.  Commit to Continuous Learning

Commit to ongoing professional development by attending training seminars and staying updated on industry trends.

Buffini & Company – We’ve Got You!

Buffini & Company’s coaches have already been working to establish systems and resources in place to help get their clients ready and positioned for a strong 2024 selling season. To learn more about how a coach can help you take full advantage of the extraordinary year to come, schedule a free Business Consultation .

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Real Estate Business Planning for 2024: Your Path to Success

As we step into the promising landscape of 2024, real estate professionals are gearing up to set their business goals and strategies for the year ahead. Whether you’re an experienced agent or just starting in the industry, effective business planning is key to navigating the ever-evolving real estate market. In this blog post, we’ll explore essential tips to help you create a robust business plan for a successful 2024.

1. Reflect and Analyze Your 2023 Performance

Before you set your sights on 2024, take a moment to look back at 2023. What were your biggest sources of leads? How effective was your marketing strategy? What worked well, and what needs adjustments? Reflecting on the past year’s performance can provide valuable insights into areas where you excelled and areas that may require improvement.

For newer agents, finding leads may be a primary focus. Building relationships within your existing network can be a powerful way to generate leads. Consider connecting with people you naturally engage with, such as those from your place of worship, former colleagues, fellow parents from your kids’ sports teams, or even your social media contacts.

2. Set Clear and Measurable Goals

One of the fundamental components of your business plan is goal-setting. Start by writing down your goals for 2024, making them visible in your workspace. Prioritize your personal life, ensuring that you allocate time for your family. It’s essential not to put your loved ones last on your list.

Next, create a comprehensive business plan that outlines the specific targets you aim to achieve throughout the year. Consider factors like how many contacts, listings, and sales you’ll need to meet your monthly, quarterly, and annual financial goals. Having clear, measurable objectives will provide you with a roadmap to track your progress and stay motivated.

3. Craft a Strategic Work Schedule

Your daily and weekly work schedule plays a crucial role in supporting your goals. Assign priority to activities that directly contribute to your income. These income-producing activities may include lead generation, client follow-up, contract writing, roleplaying, and skill development. Prioritize these activities in your schedule to maximize your earning potential.

4. Develop a Targeted Marketing Plan

In today’s real estate landscape, a well-thought-out marketing plan is essential. Identify the primary sources of business that work best for you. These sources could include social media marketing, geographic farming, targeting expired listings, or focusing on new-home construction. Create tailored marketing plans for each of these sources to maximize your reach and effectiveness.

5. Balance Professional and Personal Growth

Achieving success in real estate is not solely about professional growth; it’s also about maintaining a balanced personal life. Outline both professional and personal growth plans in your business strategy.

Professional growth goals may encompass activities such as reading regularly, enrolling in relevant courses, obtaining professional designations, or attending industry-related seminars and conferences. These pursuits enhance your skills and knowledge, positioning you as a more valuable asset to your clients.

On the personal front, it’s crucial to set goals that prioritize your well-being and happiness. Dedicate quality time to your loved ones, pursue hobbies or interests, and establish a savings plan to secure your financial future.

As you embark on your journey in real estate for 2024, remember that effective business planning is the foundation of your success. By reflecting on past performance, setting clear goals, crafting a strategic work schedule, developing targeted marketing plans, and balancing personal and professional growth, you can create a robust business plan that guides you towards achieving your aspirations. Here’s to a prosperous and fulfilling year ahead in the world of real estate!

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To achieve your goals, you have to have the right plan in place. So we’ve created a 2024 Business Planning Worksheet that will help you consider (and capture):

• ✅ What you need or value most in your business
• 🤓 Your overarching career vision and mission
• 🌟 The unique value you provide to your clients
• 💪 Your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
• 📊 Your business and financial goals

You’ll come away with a clearer understanding of what you’d like to accomplish, the key areas you should focus on, and the tactics you should use to make 2024 your best year yet.

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