Anyone a real estate agent?

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superdad

Pre-takeoff checklist
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superdad
Been taking classes to get my lic. Been in my current field for 22 years. I think I burned out 20 years ago. lol

Looking forward to a new chapter. Anyone else a real estate agent?
 
superdad said:
Been taking classes to get my lic. Been in my current field for 22 years. I think I burned out 20 years ago. lol

Looking forward to a new chapter. Anyone else a real estate agent?
Click to expand...

I took a little over a two year break from aviation about 10 years ago. I tried real estate during that period. The hardest part is getting clients whether they be buyers or sellers. The transactions that I handled went real well and my broker said I had a good feel for it but I could not get enough of a clientele to make a living. You might want to break into it slowly / part time before quitting your current gig. You may do better. I hope so. Good luck.
 
The ones I've seen that made money, a good living, ( 100 grand plus) were devoted. Worked constantly, weekends included. It became their entire life. One then became a broker and started his own company, working every day , all day. He had been in steel sales, saved a lot of money , had a good reserve when steel sales went south some years ago which tided him over for two, three years. Usually, The broker makes the money.
 
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Being in the house selling/buying market right now, I'm very happy with my agent, who I've known for many years (he is a residential general contractor too). My observation is, however, most other agents suck. They either drag their clients around to far more houses than their clients could possibly be interested in (wasting the sellers time too), or they're flat-out incompetent. I think we're in the home stretch now (current house in escrow, new house in escrow), but we've had so many false starts due to agent/client f-ups (not our agent's fault) already, I'm totally conditioned to think of all the things that are still left to go wrong.

If you choose this as a career, whether part time or full time, please do your clients and all the folks on the other side of the deals a favor, and be competent at your job!
 
Ughhh!!!! I absolutely hated it. My broker said the new guy could expect several years of cold-calling, door-knocking, and open-houses to get anywhere.

You've got to hustle your butt off to get listings, then you've got to hustle your butt off to close.

The real estate agents in my office that seemed to do the best were a couple of gray haired ladies that knew everyone and everything about everyone for miles. All their business was through referrals.

I quit after a year. My best advice is make sure you have enough savings to live off of for 2 to 3 years, until you get established. Bank those first couple of commissions. Because, there's a good chance it may take awhile before they become a regular thing.
 
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It's a sales job. If you're not comfortable selling, selling yourself, and facing rejection and setbacks on a regular basis, it's not for you. It's tough, and you need to be tougher.

Getting the license is relatively easy for anyone that's even of below average intelligence. Getting a "job" with a broker is fairly easy if you can fog a mirror. But like many careers, it can be a great career and lifestyle if you can deal with it. I'm in the commercial arena - no open house weekends, evening showings, housewives making irrational emotional decisions. (I experienced enough of that as a home builder for 10yrs).

The advice to have 1-2yrs of living expenses is good, and I received the same warnings. The first year sucked. But by the end of it, I had a full pipeline if no commissions. The second year will likely be a good one and appears to growing momentum for a great third year. Make no mistake, I'm working lots of hours. But if I want to go flying during the week. Or fly to Vegas for a "conference" for a week, I don't have to ask for time off.
 
I have been selling real estate for 9 years now. 5 in FL and 4 in PA. It takes time to get started and there are tons of ways to waste money, (including) advertising on the big name websites. Make sure you set time aside and don't cancel plans consistently to accommodate a new buyer. Like others said, it can overtake your life pretty quickly.
 
Did it for 3 years as a "2nd job". 2nd job in that, your on call 24/7. It can consume your life at first. I wasn't married at the time, so I hustled all I could. My best year was my last year, I closed 7 transactions. My first job started taking off, no stress and stable income so I left real estate.

It can be a cutthroat business. Incompetent agents from my own brokerage did it for me. i had several deals fall apart because of moronic lazy agents. A husband wife team who tried to sue me over commission. Onceyouvegot a good base it can be lucrative.
 
As a buyer and seller of property, I found real estate agents to be the lowest of the low. Most weren't worth the time to talk to, many were outright dishonest. They don't work for the buyer or seller, only to make the deal and their commission. On our current house, the agent screwed the seller they were representing over in order to close the deal.

I guess that's what it takes to get ahead in sales. If you're that kind of person, go for it.
If you actually want to make money, you don't want to be the salesman. You want to own the brokerage house.
 
I have known only honorable realtors. Maybe I'm just lucky.

I've heard enough horror stories to know that this is not necessarily normal.
 
Have you ever worked higher end commission sales before?
 
Anything sales is not my cup of tea.
 
Thanks for the great advice everyone, I have never been in high end sales before but was told I could sell ice to an eskimo LOL

I do have some savings but also work 11pm-7am home to sleep 3-4 hours and I am good to go. So I do plan on keeping my job for at least another year. How many people want to look at a house at that time of night? :D:D

I am half way through my classes and then sit for the exam. I have been wanting to do this for the past 3 years, what drove me to start now was that in the past 3 months I could of been a buyer/seller agent for 7 of my friends. It sucked to give the referrals to someone else. :mad2::mad2:

Everyone I talked to said to find a niche. So I have been trying to figure out a way to incorporate flying into selling/showing houses.
 
The "Hey, would you like to barf on your future home", tour specialty? "Hush, I know you can't see the granite countertops from up here!"
 
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