Your first 90 days in real estate in Georgia

The first three months decide whether you stay in this job. In Georgia nobody stops you from starting, which is both the opportunity and the trap: newcomers fail because they wait for leads, skip the routine or, for foreigners, start before the permit. Here is a simple plan that works in Tbilisi and in Batumi.

Days 1 to 30: set up and learn

1. Get the right to work. If you are a foreigner, your work permit comes first, employed or self-employed. It takes 30 calendar days, or 10 working days expedited (Legal.ge, February 2026). Use that time to study, not to show flats.
2. Set up your status. Employee contract, or your IE registration and an accountant who knows the reported brokerage exclusion from the 1% regime (lesson 3).
3. Learn the agency’s process. Its commission agreement, how it pulls registry extracts, how it checks developers and clients (lesson 4).
4. Learn one patch. A district of Tbilisi such as Saburtalo or Vake, or one part of Batumi. Walk it and visit every listing your agency has there.
5. Learn the numbers. No transfer tax, the 150 GEL standard NAPR fee, the 5% tax on a resale within two years, the 150,000 USD residence threshold and the GEL advert rule. Clients test you on these first (lesson 6).
6. Consider GNARE. Its voluntary certification course costs 750 GEL for members and 900 GEL for others (GNARE).

Days 31 to 60: find people

Owners are the business. A listing brings buyers to you. Spend at least half your prospecting time on owners.

The portals (Stratos, March 2026; Madloba, October 2026):

• myhome.ge, described as the largest. It is run by TNET, which claims up to 2 million unique users a month across its platforms, and also owns Livo (TNET).
• ss.ge, a classifieds site with many owner listings. Watch it daily and call owners who sell alone.
• korter.ge, focused on new builds, useful to learn every project in your patch.
• place.ge.

Messaging channels. For rentals, Facebook groups and Telegram channels are widely used (Madloba). In Batumi, agencies sell heavily to foreigners in Russian and English over WhatsApp and Telegram. Set up a professional account on each, with a short, sourced profile.

Know the buyers. In Tbilisi, about 90% of buyers are Georgian, then Israeli and Russian buyers (Colliers, via Commersant, December 2025). In Batumi, foreigners bought 52% of flats in 2025, with Israelis at 13% of all sales (Investor.ge, April 2026). Your languages decide which leads you can serve.

Developers. Visit the sales offices in your patch, learn their payment plans, and ask how they work with agencies. On new builds, the developer usually pays the agency.

Days 61 to 90: convert

• Qualify every buyer. Budget, cash, instalments or mortgage, timeline, nationality, home or investment, and whether they want residence.
• Pull the registry extract before every viewing of a resale, not after the offer.
• Read the developer’s contract with every off-plan buyer, and say clearly when a deposit is non-refundable (GeorgiaExpats, 2026).
• Follow up within 24 hours after each viewing.
• Aim for your first registration at NAPR, not just viewings.

A daily routine

Time	Task
9:00 to 11:00	Prospecting: owner calls, ss.ge and myhome.ge checks, network messages
11:00 to 13:00	Viewings and valuations
14:00 to 15:00	Follow-ups, CRM updates, WhatsApp and Telegram replies
15:00 to 18:00	Viewings, developer visits, content, market study
End of day	Plan tomorrow, log three wins and one lesson

In Batumi, adapt the hours to your buyers’ time zones, but keep the prospecting block fixed. It is the first thing to disappear on a busy day, and the reason your pipeline dries up a month later.

Your tools

• A CRM with every contact, viewing and follow-up date.
• Accounts on the portals your agency uses.
• WhatsApp and Telegram business accounts.
• A phone with good photo and video quality.
• Templates: commission agreement, client identification form, buyer qualification sheet and a cost sheet with the NAPR fee and seller’s tax.
• A source list: Galt & Taggart, TBC Capital and Colliers figures from the press, and napr.gov.ge for fees.

Five mistakes to avoid

1. Starting work before the permit, as a foreigner. The fine is 2,000 GEL for you and for the agency (lesson 2).
2. Advertising without the registry extract. You may be marketing a flat the seller cannot sell.
3. Prices only in USD in adverts. The law requires GEL (ISET Policy Institute).
4. Calling an off-plan deposit “safe”. There is no escrow law, and many deposits are non-refundable.
5. Promising that residence comes with the right to work. It does not.

Keep your energy up

Rejection is part of every day. Review your numbers every Friday, keep learning the rules, and build relationships with developers, lawyers and appraisers.

Find openings on CloserPass jobs and compare employers on agencies. Practise with mindset, sales and client training.

Rules change, so check the official source before you act. This lesson is general information.