How I Structure My Day as a Real Estate Transaction Coordinator
Welcome to a day in my life! While we could start with me brushing my teeth.. how about we skip to the part where I sit down at my desk?!
A few things to note:
I have always been an early bird - I am most productive in the morning
This is real estate - people! Every day is different, even for the person sitting behind the desk (me)
I find myself most efficient when I time block, so except for the inevitable crazy real estate days - I try to stick to a time blocking schedule as best I can
This is going to be a long post - after re-reading what I wrote - I think I might be a little schedule obsessed
Okay, let’s dive in, shall we!
Contrary to what every other time/productivity guru will tell you, I start most of my days by checking my emails. Because - this is real estate, people! Anything could’ve happened in my inbox overnight! A new contract, moving up a closing date, a small crisis…you get the point, in this industry it’s imperative I get on top of my inbox in the morning and it helps me plan for the day ahead. (Sorry productivity gurus!)
But before we hit that email inbox, we’ve got to handle our absolute, number one, no expectations, MOST IMPORTANT part of our job. Checking on our deadlines. Before I do ANYTHING ELSE - I triple-check on any transaction deadlines we have that day, following up on them or sending reminders to the agents as needed.
Okay - now to our emails. I love checking my email second thing in the AM because clearing out that inbox before I start my workday is a great feeling, it allows me to start time blocking my other tasks without worrying an email has gone too long without responding to it. I usually set about 30 minutes in the morning to go through my emails, without a time limit, they could go on all day!
Next up is what I alternate between calling (FROGS and MITS - most important tasks). I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase '“Eat the Frog” for doing the hardest/most dreaded task first thing in the morning, and well.. let me say there is a reason it works. I always feel so relieved checking anything urgent off my list early in the morning because - this is real estate, people! there are urgent things happening all the time.
If there aren’t any major items to be taken care of, I like to move on to what I call “Outgoing communication”. This is when I send the majority of my emails out for the day, checking in on appraisals, following up on missing documents, confirming a closing time. Basically, anything where I need an answer from someone else. The benefit of sending out all of this communication in the morning is that answers will start to trickle in while we are working on our other tasks.
Now, if any new contracts have come through at this point in the day, it’s time to jump on those.
Once we’ve eaten the frog and taken care of the new contracts, I like to time block some time to work on compliance. Review documents, submitting files for review, obtaining missing items, etc.
Now I’ve likely been away from my inbox for a while, so it’s time to respond to emails, calls, and texts until I’m ready for lunch. I like to set aside roughly 30 minutes here to return all my messages.
LUNCH BREAK!
Depending on how busy the day is, I may need to check messages again. If not, I like to use the afternoons for what I call “General Servicing”. What I mean by this, is touching all the items on my to-do list that did not fall into any of those earlier categories. By keeping miscellaneous/non-urgent tasks for the afternoon, it makes it easier to roll with the punches if anything comes up.
I always like to end the day by clearing out my emails one more time and taking a look ahead at tomorrow’s to-do list to see what is most important.
I would LOVE to hear how you structure your day or any of your productivity tips!
Want to know what I do before I hit my desk for the day? Watch my morning routine VLOG here: https://youtu.be/lecb0mKRhVk
