Working ‘for’ an estate agent is not easy. As others have pointed out, one is paid uniquely on commission: no sales = no income.
However, if one takes the time to become an “agent immobilier” as opposed to an “agent commercial” (which are what Leggetts are looking for,) then it’s a totally different story.
This is what I did 10 or so years ago, without any previous knowledge of the profession. … other than it was universally hated and scorned … and have done ok out of the business. Of course it takes up a lot of your time as all jobs worth doing tend to. You have to be on top of a number of fairly technical aspects that are invisible to the vendor or buyer: like website creation, website management, internet marketing, etc as well as the legal side of things.
Dealing with clients is the easier part: the key is to let them wander around at will in a property, speak freely with the vendor and never, ever, show them a property that they haven’t asked to see.
Of course not everyone can just set up as an agent immobilier. You need a law degree from a EU university or 10 years experience working for an agency. There are top-up courses to take every three years to make sure you are up to speed with the latest laws.
As it happens I am selling my agency this year: I’m well over 70 and can’t take the driving any more. If anyone is interested in taking it over I can talk them through the different hurdles they would have to jump …