Real Estate Agent Business in India: RERA, Leads, Follow-Ups (2026 Playbook)

The Indian residential real estate market did roughly 4.5 lakh crore in primary sales in FY2025, with another 6 to 7 lakh crore in resale and commercial transactions. Roughly 70 to 80 percent of those deals were assisted by an agent. The market for real estate brokerage is healthy, but it has also become formal, RERA registered, and increasingly competitive on lead acquisition.

For a new agent or a small brokerage starting in 2026, this guide walks through every step: RERA, business setup, lead channels, the actual sales process, and the CRM and follow up systems that separate top earners from struggling agents.

Table of contents

1. Pick your niche and micro market
2. Business entity and registrations
3. RERA agent registration
4. GST for real estate agents
5. Portal subscriptions: 99acres, Housing.com, Magicbricks
6. Paid ads and lead generation
7. The real estate sales funnel
8. Site visit conversion playbook
9. Paperwork and closure
10. CRM and follow up discipline
11. Real estate agent unit economics
12. Building the long term moat

Step 1: Pick your niche and micro market

Real estate is hyper local. The agent who sells 3BHK flats in Whitefield is not the agent who sells villas in Sarjapur Road, even though both are in Bangalore. Trying to cover an entire city in year 1 is the single most common failure mode.

Niches that work for new agents in 2026

• Single micro market residential resale. Pick one neighbourhood (4 to 8 sq km). Know every project, every builder, every average rate. Brokerage on each deal: 1 to 2 lakh.
• New project pre-launch sales. Tie up with 2 to 3 builders launching new projects. Builder pays 2 to 4 percent. Volume play. Strongest in Tier 2 cities.
• Commercial leasing. Pick a single business corridor (BKC, Cyber Hub, ORR, OMR). 2 months rent commission per side, deals are smaller in number but bigger in ticket.
• NRI investor sales. Pick one or two project segments aimed at NRI buyers. Higher ticket (1.5 to 6 crore), longer sales cycles, but lower competition.
• Rental management. Recurring revenue play. 1 month rent on signup plus 5 to 8 percent of monthly rent for managed properties.

Step 2: Business entity and registrations

Most new real estate agents start as proprietors. A few partnerships and LLPs spring up after year 1 once revenue stabilises.

• Proprietorship. Fastest, free. Income tax filed in the proprietor's name.
• LLP. 8,000 to 12,000 setup. Useful if you have a partner or want some asset protection.
• Pvt Ltd. 10,000 to 15,000. Only if you plan to raise capital or scale to a 15+ person brokerage.

Even as a sole agent, get Udyam registration. Free, takes 15 minutes, gives you Micro enterprise status and access to MSME schemes including priority sector loans if you ever need them.

Step 3: RERA agent registration

RERA (Real Estate Regulation and Development Act, 2016) requires every agent who facilitates RERA registered project transactions to be registered with the state RERA authority. Skip it and the penalty is 10,000 per day, up to 5 percent of property value.

State-wise agent registration fees (2026)

What you need to submit

1. PAN of agent or firm
2. Address proof and photograph
3. Education qualification certificates
4. Income tax returns of last 3 years (if available)
5. RERA training certificate (some states like MahaRERA now require this, 40 hours of training)
6. Application form filled on the state RERA portal
7. Fee paid online

Time to issue: 30 to 60 days in most states. The RERA Agent Number is mandatory on every brochure, website, social media post about a RERA registered project, and on every brokerage agreement. Failure to display = penalty.

Step 4: GST for real estate agents

Brokerage is a service. GST applies at 18 percent. You must register for GST once turnover crosses 20 lakh (or 10 lakh in special category states). Most agents serious enough to make this a career hit that threshold in year 1.

A 50 lakh apartment sale at 1 percent brokerage = 50,000. GST collected from client at 18 percent = 9,000. Net to agent: 50,000. You can claim ITC on inputs (advertising, portal subscriptions, office rent, telecom).

For more on getting GST right, see our complete GST invoicing guide.

Step 5: Portal subscriptions: 99acres, Housing.com, Magicbricks

The big 3 portals send most paid leads in residential. Pricing changes constantly. Indicative 2026 monthly costs for an active package in a single city:

A new agent serious about volume usually spends 25,000 to 50,000 monthly across one or two portals in year 1. Negotiate, sales reps offer 15 to 25 percent off the rate card.

Conversion math you should track

• Leads per month per portal
• Site visits scheduled / leads received
• Deal close rate per site visit (industry: 6 to 12 percent for residential resale)
• Brokerage per close
• Cost per close = portal spend / closes from that portal

Step 6: Paid ads and lead generation

Beyond portals, the two scalable channels are Facebook/Instagram ads and Google Ads.

Facebook/Instagram ads

• Targeting: location radius (5 to 15 km from a project), income proxies (Apple device, premium interest categories), age 28 to 50.
• Creative: 30 to 45 second video walkthroughs convert 2 to 3x better than carousel ads.
• Lead form: Meta Lead Ads with name, phone, "looking for 2BHK/3BHK", budget range.
• Realistic CPL (cost per lead) in 2026: 80 to 350 rupees for residential, 250 to 800 for luxury.

Google Ads

• Bid on neighbourhood + property type keywords: "3 bhk for sale in koramangala", "flats in hadapsar".
• CPC: 18 to 70 rupees, depending on city.
• Landing page should be project specific with WhatsApp click-to-chat for site visit booking.

Step 7: The real estate sales funnel

A typical residential resale funnel from a paid lead to a registered sale:

End to end conversion of an inquiry to a registration: 2 to 6 percent for a tight process. Median agent without CRM: 0.5 to 1.5 percent. The compounding gap is fully process discipline.

Step 8: Site visit conversion playbook

Site visits are the single most important moment in a real estate transaction. A buyer who goes on a site visit is 7 to 10x more likely to close than one who has not.

Before the visit

• Confirm by WhatsApp the night before AND morning of, with Google Maps pin.
• Ask about parking, family members joining, lift availability (signals seriousness).
• Send 2 to 3 photos + amenities list 30 mins before, so they arrive informed.

During the visit

• Be there 15 mins before the buyer.
• Walk the unit + amenities + neighbourhood in that exact order.
• Ask "What did you like, what did you not like" before talking price.
• If they object on price, do not immediately offer to negotiate. Say "let me check what the owner will accept".

After the visit

• WhatsApp summary within 2 hours: photos, key points, your reading of the owner's flexibility.
• Day 2 nudge with 1 alternative property to anchor.
• Day 5 nudge with builder/owner update (real or invented).
• Day 10: closing question. "Should we put down the token at X amount?"

Step 9: Paperwork and closure

Once a buyer says yes, the next 30 to 90 days are paperwork. Mishandle them and the deal cracks.

• Token agreement. 50,000 to 2,00,000 to lock the price. Standard format, sign all parties.
• Title verification. Get a lawyer to verify mother deed, encumbrance certificate, RERA registration of the project, OC and CC for completed projects.
• Loan sanction. Buyer applies for home loan. Typically 30 to 60 days.
• Sale agreement. 10 to 20 percent of property value paid. Stamp duty payable here in some states.
• Sale deed and registration. Balance amount paid. Stamp duty (varies by state, 4 to 7 percent for residential) and registration fee (1 percent) paid at the sub registrar office. Property changes hands.
• Brokerage payment. Standard practice: 50 percent on token, 50 percent on registration. Always document who pays what in writing before showing the property.

Step 10: CRM and follow up discipline

This is the make-or-break system for any serious real estate agent. The math is brutal:

• Average buyer takes 8 to 14 touches before booking.
• Average agent does 3 to 5 touches per buyer.
• Agents who do all 14 close 3 to 5x more deals on the same lead spend.

A CRM built for real estate handles:

• Auto-capture from 99acres, Housing.com, Magicbricks, NoBroker, Facebook Lead Ads
• Pipeline stages (Inquiry, Qualified, Visit Scheduled, Visit Done, Negotiation, Token, Registration)
• WhatsApp template messaging from inside the CRM
• Site visit calendar with buyer confirmation reminders
• Auto follow up reminders if a buyer is stuck in a stage for more than 7 days
• Brokerage and GST invoice generation
• Reports by source (which portal closed best), by agent (in a team), by micro market

IndiaCRM does all of this, free. See our deeper real estate CRM piece for the day to day workflow.

Step 11: Real estate agent unit economics

Realistic year 1 numbers for a solo agent in a Tier 1 city, residential resale focus:

5 closes a month x 1.2 lakh = 6 lakh monthly revenue. Subtract 35,000 portal/ad spend, 18,000 GST on inputs net, 25,000 office and phone, leaves 5 lakh monthly contribution. After tax and savings, agent take home: 3.5 to 4 lakh a month, 40 to 48 lakh a year. Top agents in Mumbai and Bangalore do 1 to 3 crore a year as solo operators by year 4 to 5.

Step 12: Building the long term moat

The asset that compounds across years is not the portal subscription. It is your database of past clients, prospects, and builder relationships.

• Stay in touch with past clients every 90 days. A WhatsApp ping with property market updates keeps you top of mind. Referrals from past clients close at 25 to 40 percent vs portal leads at 4 to 8 percent.
• Build a builder rolodex. 5 to 10 builders who give you first call on new launches is worth 3x portal spend.
• Document everything in the CRM. "What did Ramesh like in 2024? Where might Anita want to invest in 2027?"
• Move into rental management. Recurring revenue smooths out cash flow between big sales.

Common mistakes new agents make

• Skipping RERA registration. A 10,000 per day penalty can wipe out a year of brokerage.
• Spreading across 5 micro markets. You know none of them well. Pick 1 to 2.
• No CRM, all in WhatsApp chat. By month 4 you cannot remember which buyer is at which stage.
• Calling the buyer once and waiting for them to call back. The buyer never calls back. You call 5 to 8 times.
• Ignoring the post-deal client. A happy client is a future referral. Stay in touch.

Where IndiaCRM fits in

IndiaCRM was built with property teams in mind. Lead auto-capture from all major portals, a property pipeline (Inquiry, Visit, Negotiation, Token, Registration), WhatsApp templates for site visit reminders, brokerage and GST invoicing, and team reporting if you grow beyond solo. See our real estate industry page.

Ready to start?

Real estate brokerage in India in 2026 is one of the few businesses where a focused solo operator can earn what a senior corporate executive earns, within 3 to 4 years, with under 10 lakh of starting capital. RERA brought formality. Portals brought scale. The agents who win are the ones who pair those with discipline: tight follow ups, a CRM, and a database of clients they actually stay in touch with.

Frequently asked questions