In Vietnam, people used to think being a real estate agent was just a temporary job — a little charm, a few good contacts, and some luck were enough to make a living. But times have changed.
The real estate market now faces tighter regulations, limited listings, and increasingly savvy clients. You can no longer just wing it and hope to make a deal. Being a real estate agent today is a serious profession — one that demands market mastery, strong advisory skills, negotiation tactics, and a strong ethical foundation.
It’s no longer just about asking, “How can I close this sale?” The smarter question is: “How do I build a sustainable career as a real estate agent — one that brings income, respect, long-term clients, and doesn’t lead to burnout?”
Let’s explore how Tuong Phat Land helps you uncover the secrets to making it big — without burning out — as a professional real estate agent.
1. Really understanding what the Real estate agent job is about
In recent years, real estate brokering has become a popular career choice for young people — especially those who want financial freedom, flexible time, and unlimited income. The image of agents proudly posting “deal closed” boards and earning big commissions makes the job look super attractive.
But here’s the truth: over 65% of new real estate agents in Vietnam leave the job within just 1–2 years. Why? Because they come in unprepared. They don’t realize that this job takes effort, discipline, and long-term strategy.
Being a successful real estate agent isn’t just about knowing how to talk or having a large contact list. It’s about understanding your clients’ needs, navigating legal processes, reading the market, and connecting people with the right property solutions.
Each property — whether it’s a plot of land, a luxury apartment, or a small townhouse — involves legal documents, zoning rules, ownership rights, and risk factors. If you don’t have proper knowledge, one wrong piece of advice could put your client in serious legal or financial trouble — and damage your reputation as a real estate agent.
In this career, showing houses is only the surface. Behind every successful deal is hours of behind-the-scenes work: verifying property papers, calculating ROI, researching urban planning, and most importantly — understanding different buyer profiles.
2. Build strong market knowledge – a real estate agent’s survival tool
In today’s volatile property market, prices can shift dramatically in a matter of months. Solid market knowledge is no longer optional — it’s a must-have if you want to survive and thrive as a real estate agent.
If you want to build a long-term career, you can’t just memorize a few numbers or project names. You need solid knowledge in at least five key areas:
- Legal knowledge: Know the rules about land and housing. Understand important legal documents like pink books, red books, capital contribution contracts, sale agreements, etc., so you can give the right advice and protect your client’s rights.
- Finance – Banking: Know how interest rates work, understand how mortgage loans function, and stay updated on bank promotions or special offers. This helps you give clients the best financial options.
- Market analysis: Know how to read price tables, estimate property value, compare similar listings, and spot growth potential based on infrastructure, city planning, and actual demand.
- Customer psychology: Understand different customer types – who wants to flip for profit, who’s buying to live in, who just wants a safe investment – so you can adjust your approach and give advice that fits each person’s goals and expectations.
- Marketing: The difference between a great agent and someone just chasing projects is how they market. Even if you know your stuff, if you can’t reach the right people or build your personal brand, it’s hard to sell. Today, tech – especially AI – gives you chances to use video, images, and digital content to share info and build trust. You need to keep learning, stay up-to-date, and be active on the platforms your target customers use.
For example, when a client asks: “Is this project worth investing in?”, instead of just saying “It looks good and has potential,” a smart agent would say: “Within a 3km radius, this is the only project with full legal clearance. It’s about to get a metro line nearby. According to CBRE, prices have been going up by 12% per year since it started, and rental returns are around 6.2% per year – that’s higher than savings interest.”
Not everyone can do that. But if you study, practice, and gain real experience, you’ll become the kind of agent people trust!
3. Build your personal brand as a real estate agent
There are tens of thousands of real estate agent out there, and new ones are joining every day. So what makes a client choose you — trust you — instead of someone else?
The answer is your personal brand — that’s what makes you stand out.
Think about it: lots of agents sell the same project, post the same property, even at the same price. So why would a client go with you? The difference is trust. And that trust comes from the personal brand you’ve built over time. In the early days, your clients might come from real estate offices or ads. But later on, if you’re a true professional, you’ll become your own “personal brand” — attracting clients directly, without relying too much on outside platforms.
In real estate, building a personal brand doesn’t mean going viral on TikTok or spending a ton on ads. It’s about being consistent — in your knowledge, your way of working, your communication style, and the trust you create with clients.
To become a well-known and trusted real estate agent, focus on:
- Clear expertise: What are you focused on? Luxury apartments? Land in the provinces? Townhouses in the city center? Don’t try to sell everything. Pick the area you know best — where you have an advantage.
- Valuable content: Share posts, videos, market updates, and your expert opinions. When you consistently provide useful info, clients will naturally see you as someone who knows what they’re doing.
- Consistent presence: Don’t disappear after a deal is done. Send thank-you messages, share useful updates, check in during holidays — these small things help you build long-term connections with your clients.
A happy past client can refer you to 5 more people. And if you take good care of 100 clients, you’ll have a solid network that keeps growing. That’s one of the most valuable assets a real estate agent can have.
4. Communication and customer care skills – the foundation of every deal
According to a survey, 78% of homebuyers decide whether they want to keep working with an agent within the first 5 minutes of talking. That alone shows how communication isn’t just a “soft skill” — it’s a core foundation that directly affects whether a deal succeeds or fails.
Communication in real estate isn’t about “talking a lot.” Talking too much doesn’t mean you’re saying anything helpful. What really matters is saying the right things, listening well, asking focused questions, understanding the client’s mindset, giving honest and clear responses, and helping solve their problems.
For example, first-time buyers often have a lot of worries: How does a bank loan work? What’s a pink book? Is this a scam? If all you do is try to “push the deal,” the client will feel pressured and walk away. But if you calmly explain the process, support them with legal advice, and guide them carefully, you won’t just get a deal — you might earn a client for life.
Some clients are quick — they decide after just 1–2 meetings. But others can take 5–6 months, with dozens of property viewings, asking the same questions again and again. If you don’t have patience and confidence, you might give up halfway. But if you develop strong persuasion skills and know how to put yourself in the client’s shoes, you’ll slowly build trust — and that leads to a successful deal.
Especially when clients start to hesitate or compare options, it’s important to listen — understand why they’re unsure, then adjust your approach to meet their concerns.
At the end of the day, real estate is all about working with people. If you want to stay in the game for the long run, you need to build from the ground up — and that foundation is strong communication and real customer care. It’s not just about closing deals fast, okay?
5. Embrace Technology – The Modern Real Estate Agent’s Edge
The days of “spreading flyers and posting signs” are over – today’s brokerage profession needs to know how to take advantage of technology to increase work efficiency. Today, a broker who wants to work long-term and effectively needs to know how to take advantage of technology – not only to save time, but also to create a clear competitive advantage compared to the majority who still work manually.
In fact, a broker who knows how to use technology effectively can reach tens of thousands of customers in just a few days – something that traditional methods cannot do. And that gap in work performance will eventually create a big gap in income, opportunities and career development speed.
Instead of taking notes by hand or saving customer information scattered on your phone, you can use CRM software to systematically manage customer data: who has visited the house, who is interested, who needs a call back, who has just signed a contract… Thanks to that, you do not miss any customers and work more systematically.
You can also use ChatGPT to write attractive product descriptions, edit consulting content for each customer file, making your posts more professional and accessible. In addition, you can run ads on social networking platforms to increase targeting of the right customer files based on behavior.
Technology does not replace people, but people who know how to use technology will replace those who do not. In the digital age, investing in technology is no longer an option but a mandatory requirement if you want to work as a real estate broker professionally and sustainably.
6. Professional Ethics – Your long-term value as a real estate agent
In the real estate environment, each transaction can bring in tens, even hundreds of millions of dong in commissions, so temptation is inevitable. Some people, due to sales pressure, tell lies, hide legal information, inflate prices, or use “law-circumvention” tricks to close deals quickly. But what you can achieve by doing so is often just short-term profits – in return, your reputation is lost forever.
In reality, customers today are no longer easily led by the nose. They can go online to look up planning information, check prices on reputable channels, consult with experts or ask friends who have bought a house.
If you give wrong advice, are ambiguous or intentionally ignore important details such as suspended planning, unclear legal documents, unseparated books… the customer will know – if not now, then after signing the contract. And then, you not only lose a client but also the entire market around them: friends, relatives, online community…
On the contrary, if you choose a clear and honest path – even though it may take more time to close a deal – you are building a solid foundation for your career. Even if they don’t buy this time, they will still come back when they need it later, or refer you to others. There are long-term brokers who don’t need to advertise or call new clients, because they already have a stable source of clients from the referral system – all built from initial kindness.
Professional ethics are reflected in every small detail such as how you advise, how you respond to clients, how you behave when problems arise. In a competitive and skeptical market like real estate, transparency and honesty are not only valuable qualities – but also vital factors if you want to go long term, build a strong personal brand and truly make a good living from your profession.
7. Never stop learning – The winning attitude for every real estate agent
The Vietnamese real estate market is inherently unstable. Sometimes it is as hot as a “land fever”, sometimes it freezes for years. A successful real estate broker is not someone who is only good during favorable market times, but someone who knows how to adapt, change and maintain efficiency even when difficulties surround.
Whether you have 1 year of experience or have been “rolling around” in the profession for 10 years, the real estate market is always a constantly changing playground. Just a tightening credit policy, a newly approved bridge, or a land fever suddenly appearing in a suburban district – all plans, strategies, and even old knowledge can immediately become outdated.
Therefore, if you want to go the long way and be sustainable, brokers must have a “lifelong learning” mindset. Not only learning from books, but learning from everywhere: learning from negotiation skills training courses, learning from seniors with practical experience, learning from the questions that customers ask every day, and especially learning from failures, because every missed deal, every negative feedback, every opportunity that slips away has its own reason, and if you look back, that is a “bloody” lesson for you that is not in any textbook.
In the brokerage profession, qualifications do not determine your success, but attitude. People who are always ready to learn new things, listen, adjust and improve themselves will be the ones who go far and go steadily. Qualifications can be learned later, but the right attitude must be there from the beginning. And a broker with a truly progressive attitude will sooner or later become the leader of his market.
Hopefully, through this article, we have brought you many perspectives on the real estate brokerage profession. Although the market still has many challenges and the road ahead is not easy, but if you are truly serious about the real estate brokerage profession, know how to learn continuously, maintain your heart in the profession and always work with perseverance, then success will come.
You don’t need to be the best from the beginning. You just need to be someone who constantly improves every day. And one day, when you look back on your journey, you will smile because you know: you have chosen the right profession, lived the right way, and built a truly proud career.
Tuong Phat Land wishes you to keep the faith and go far on the path you have chosen!
Contact Information – Tường Phát LAND
📞 Hotline: 0909.61.45.69
🌐 Website: https://tuongphatland.com/
📘 Facebook Fanpage: facebook.com/tuongphatland
📺 YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@tuongphatland
