Thinking about becoming a Real Estate Agent (1 Viewer)

[pizzatyme]

Why should I?

Why shouldn't I?

I know it's a depressed market, but that's when most agents leave. So, it seems like a good time to get my feet wet in the event it picks up later on.

 

[KCitons]

You get to take a dump in a lot of different bathrooms.

Not sure if that's a reason for, or against. That't for you to decide.

 

[bigbottom]

Depending on where you live, it may be an incredibly hot market right now. In Houston, homes in many areas are being sold in a day or two, with multiple offers and sales often above asking price. If there's any problem, it's inventory.

 

[Abraham]

Oof.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

BOATLOADS

 

[trogg78]

I want to be a carpenter, mechanic, and a test pilot.... and maybe king too.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

What do you do now? Something in the peanut industry?

 

[timschochet]

I'm in commercial real estate. Just remember that real estate is a sales job. Much of your success (or lack of it) will come from your personality. Are you personable, and patient? Are you willing to put in the boring hours and hours trying to drum up new leads even when you have deals on the table? Can you afford months of inactivity and disappointment? There's no steady income flow. But the amount of money you can make is unlimited.

 

[jon_mx]

Probably 80 percent of sales are made by 20 percent of agents. Those 20 percent make a good living. The rest suck and only make enough to supplement another income. Kind of a cut throat business with a lot of very hungry people some of whom are annoying to be around because they think they own you.

 

[identikit]

@ those last 2 posts.

They fit so well together.

 

[pizzatyme]

Thanks for the replies thus far.

I am currently in sales and have been for the last 12 years. I have free time on my hands and have always had an interest in real estate sales for some reason. I feel like I'm fairly connected within the community.

Any other input?

 

[xulf]

I used to have my license and tried to do it on the side working for a smaller broker. It didn't work out because you need to be available for showings at almost all times throughout the day. It's tough to do if you are currently employed. There are also a lot of fees involved in getting the education to sit for the exam and then your yearly fees to your state and national board, plus continuing education really adds up. If you want to market yourself at all, that's going to be pricey and you will likely have to pay for your own signs that go in yards, etc. You are also going to run into a lot of competition since it doesn't take a genius by any means to sit and get your license. I also think that the perception of realtors is really crashing since the majority of the work on a new buy is done by the buyers looking at online content. Also, if you are looking to go with a big brokerage they immediately take half of your commission. So, if you are part of a deal and your cut is 3%, they get 1.5% and you get 1.5%. That really can hamper your earnings.

It wasn't for me, but I did learn a decent amount during the whole experiment. I was part of two transactions, one being my own. I probably broke even on the money side of things but I definitely spent a lot of time. It may work for you though.

 

[pizzatyme]

Is 50% to the house pretty standard?

What do you get for that? Leads, marketing, MLS access?

 

[Ignoramus]

It's REALTOR®, BTW.

 

[bushdocda]

Most people who are realtors make like $6k per year.

You need a ####load of transactions to make a good living and the ones that do have been grinding their way up to a good commission split for a long time.

 

[shader]

It's tough work and you have to be prepared to make little to no money for the first few months.

The realtors that make a ton of money are the exception, not the rule.

The good news is that if you are smart and hard working, you will soar past the other realtors. For some reason real estate attracts a lot of people that have failed in other aspects of life.

If you are great at sales and willing to put in the work to make it happen longterm, do it. If you are looking to make great money soon, then don't get into real estate. A great sales person can find a ton of jobs that pay a lot of money really quickly.

 

[cstu]

Probably 80 percent of sales are made by 20 percent of agents. Those 20 percent make a good living. The rest suck and only make enough to supplement another income. Kind of a cut throat business with a lot of very hungry people some of whom are annoying to be around because they think they own you.

This is the truth. In my wife's office there are several people making over a million dollars a year but 20x that who haven't even had a deal in their first year. It's an extremely tough business to get started in so you have to plan on working hard enough to be one of the top agents. If you work hard enough and have some decent people skills you will do well, but most end up quitting because it's not the easy money they were led to believe.

 

[xulf]

Is 50% to the house pretty standard?

What do you get for that? Leads, marketing, MLS access?

50% is standard for the big guys around Columbus. I am pretty sure this is true throughout. I cannot say for certain what you get for that because I worked for a little guy and I got to retain 90% of the commission. If the big guys are providing leads, you have to realize that there are probably hundreds of agents on the leads list with you. They don't come in every day and you are very much on your own. A lot of places are doing "teams" or "groups" (Keller Williams especially) now which I don't know much about but could be better for lead generation.

Being good at sales doesn't really translate into great agents in my opinion. It doesn't hurt and it certainly can help selling yourself to a prospect, but you really aren't in hard-core negotiations. I mean, your "hard-sell" is to another agent, not the person selling or buying the property. The other agent then has to sell your sell to the clients. It is in both agent's best interest to get the deal done as quickly as possible to turn the client over. Sure you do that in a nice way to get referrals but you paying $10,000 lower than what you should only translates into $150 hit to the realtor.

I know I picked my last realtor for a sell and buy because I had an unusual house in a very niche area. The bottom of the streets had very nice, big houses and the top had smaller cape cods and rentals. We had a cape cod amongst the really big houses and also did not have a garage which was unusual. This guy did 95% of his work in this community and he got us more than I would have thought and we were in contract in like 5 days. On the purchase side he didn't do anything other than let us in and show us around. We already knew where we wanted to live and looked at 3 places ready to make offers on each (1 we got outbid, the 2nd had a lien which wasn't disclosed and the 3rd we bought).

 

[skycriesmary]

The timing of this thread couldn't be beat. I'm going in to have an informational interview with a principal broker today. I'm considering getting out of technology/saas sales, and into real estate. From what I understand, going in as a buyers agent is a good way of getting mentoring, and not having to worry about prospecting as much. That being said, the expectation isn't to make much at all during the learning process, but to gleam as much as possible from those who have honed their craft.

I'm sure many here will think it's ridiculous to move from technology/saas sales to real estate, but the former is a grind I'm getting tired of.

Anyone here have direct experience as starting out as a buyers agent?

 

[comfortably numb]

Just got my license last year. I wanted to have something to fall back on and try something different as well as learn more about housing.

Would highly recommend going through the course just for anyone.
I learned a good deal.

RE isn't just buying/selling homes. There are tons of other opportunities that open up to you if you have interest.

-Property management

-Investing in tax liens

-Doing CMA/BPO

-Rentals

-Commercial

-Referrals

not to mention the indirect opportunities with the network of people you come across in banking and construction etc

I still hold a full time job and hooked up with a long time friend who just opened his own office who was looking for agents.

Went through the course.

In NJ it was 2/days week in the evenings and took me about 3 months to complete. You can complete the course in 2 weeks if you go 5/days week.

Then have to pass a school course and a state exam.

The course was about $400.

There will be some yearly fees and i believe every 2 years 12 hours of continuing education (online)
This all varies by state I assume.

There are other fees afterwards here and there

A few hundred to join a realtor association, another one for $50 to have a MLS listing ID, a few other fees here and there.

A broker may offer to pay all/some or none of these.

I have a few clients who are buyers, submitted a few offers no bites yet on popping my cherry.
1st offer could have given me a $5900 commission alone. My brokers office takes 30% of all my sales and anything over 100k in sales in a calendar year he takes only 10%.

My plan is to get my feet wet, any $ i make keep entirely separate. If after a year or 4 I still enjoy it and have built up a decent amount (100k?) I can leave my full time job and do it full time and use the 100K to pay myself a salary should I have a tough time with consistent income.

All the negatives I have seen so far

-cut throat (not personal experience but have heard)

-off hour commitments (driving to get contracts signed at 8PM, weekend showings etc)

-clients dragging you everywhere and then decide they change their mind

-dealing with dozens of different people who you have to chase down for basic info

-inconsistent income

-Its a very social job, if you want to really REALLY succeed you have to sell yourself a good deal and put yourself out there with marketing/networking

-Lots of paperwork. Contracts and cover you but things that all need to be signed

-Could be a negative but i don't mind it...lots of following up, chasing agents down, lenders, appraisers etc...have your #### together and this will be a breeze for anyone.

-Walk in on a guy watching TV in his bedroom who gets scared to death as he never got the call that a realtor and client would be walking through his house.

Positives I have seen so far

-You essentially are your own company. Market yourself, make your own hours, more you put in, the more you get out.

-Meet lot of different people and not the same boring day/day desk job

-Good income as part time job

-Potential to make very good income if you are really committed/good and lucky

-Ability to invest in housing market for yourself

-Sounds corny but this one is important to me. You get to help people.

Most people have no clue what they are doing when buying/selling a home. Some can't even realize the have the ability to buy a home.

Being a small part of that step is enjoyable,

Good luck

I'm fairly new but feel free to ask me any questions.

 

[comfortably numb]

Why should I?

Why shouldn't I?

I know it's a depressed market, but that's when most agents leave. So, it seems like a good time to get my feet wet in the event it picks up later on.

On this last note, I would think its a good time to get in.

If you can succeed in a dead market you will thrive in a market where any idiot agent can make a good living.

I say get your feet wet now when the market is doing 55mph and you can pace yourself make your mistakes as opposed to trying to learn when the market is at 85mph

 

[fantasycurse42]

Depending on where you live, it may be an incredibly hot market right now. In Houston, homes in many areas are being sold in a day or two, with multiple offers and sales often above asking price. If there's any problem, it's inventory.

This sounds so familiar... Can't remember when I heard of these exact scenarios though