side biz - real estate agent or broker?
 

Hi all,

i currently have a 9-5 dayjob and am exploring ways for other employment options where i would get to choose my own hours and make more money. i would like to keep my dayjob right now, but may explore doing something on the side, like as a real estate agent. is this feasible to do something 5-10 hrs a week like this, to gain experience and just dip my feet in? can someone point me in the right direction to even begin something like being a real estate agent or broker? resources? thanks...

Re: side biz - real estate agent or broker?
 

unless you have a very large sphere of influence who would give you deals just because you are you, then I would be hesitant to 'dabble' in Real Estate. It would likely be a waste of your and your potential client's time.

In order to be good and gain the transactional knowledge base you will need, you simply have to take the jump and do it full time.

Re: side biz - real estate agent or broker?
 

I agree with Sossman.

I know agents that do this job part time and still make a decent living out of it, but you will be losing a lot of clients as well as throwing money away because you are unable to be attentive to the property as well as the buyers.

You can definately do it part time and then when you establish yourself after 1-2 years you can jump fulltime into it, but don't count on making much money working that many hours.

Re: side biz - real estate agent or broker?
 

The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller is a book I would recommend to you.

I have not read it, but I have read the millionaire Real Estate Investor by the same author and Gary Keller knows his stuff cold. As well as does a ton of research before writing his books.

Re: side biz - real estate agent or broker?
 

My real estate agent (I'm currently selling my house) told me the average income of agents in NJ is around $15K due to part-time brokers - keep in mind it's one of the most expensive states for real estate.

It's not a lot of income compared to the amount of time you'd likely have to put in. You said 5-10 hours per week, but even if you're selling one property the open houses, attending to clients, etc. will take at least that much time. Not to mention the other research that needs to be done (e.g. comps, evaluating trends, etc.).

Re: side biz - real estate agent or broker?
 

Good question. It's something I have thought about myself.

First, real estate is a very cyclical business. And there are very high start up costs. It can take you many years to learn the ropes and build up enough clientele to survive.

So it's very risky to give up a steady 9-5 job.

As I see it, ideally, you would get into real estate very young, when your parents could support you initially. Or you would need to have a spouse with a steady 9-5 job to support you, while you took the risk of jumping into real estate 100%.

If you are a single person with no experience in real estate, I would think twice before leaping into real estate. Not to mention, you are getting into the game while real estate sales are DECLINING.

If you want to get into real estate, I see nothing wrong with dabbling a bit at first, to see if it is for you. Furthermore, it may be awhile before the market recovers. So you may have 3-5 years to learn the basics.

You may discover you dislike it. Or you may discover that you can gradually build a solid client base and may be ready to jump in full time. You may find that brokers don't want to work with part time agents. There are just a lot of unknowns.

But I am a big proponent of people TRYING new career paths that they may be curious about. You can learn a lot about yourself, your likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses.

And you can learn a lot about the real estate game and real estate markets.

Having said that. Don't build up some false fantasy world or illusions that you will make a killing in real estate and retire early.

It may take you many years of long hard work to learn what you need to learn. And basically, if you don't sell, you don't eat. A commission business can be a difficult career financially, particularly when the market is slow.

So I would encourage you to try it. But don't risk your entire career on one roll of the dice

You can limit your losses if you limit the size of your bet.
I wouldn't bet my whole bankroll on a new real estate career, certainly not in the middle of a down cycle.

But it wouldn't necessarily hurt you too much to play a few hands at a low limit.

Try and see if you can get into it part time. If you can't make it work you can't. If you don't like it you can quit.

But I wouldn't go full time until you get more info about the career and about your likelihood of success in it.

Re: side biz - real estate agent or broker?
 

So if you are curious, give it a shot. But realize that it will only be a side business and don't give up your day job.

If you can sell 1 home every 6 months to supplement your income, fine. If not, no big deal.

Re: side biz - real estate agent or broker?
 

hmmm... thanks for the tips and advice.

and the mind continues to turn...

Re: side biz - real estate agent or broker?
 

unless your '9 to 5' is really '40oish hours, whenever i want' i don't think you have much chance at making money as a part time realtor. you need to be available pretty much round the clock to be competitive with the pros. you might average 5-10 hours a week, but to actually close a sale, you'll need to put in more than 40 hours in the week leading up to closing.

Re: side biz - real estate agent or broker?
 

I'm an agent in San Diego.

I was working a full-time job and decided to quit my job and either sink or swim.

If you do it part-time, you simply will not have enough time to immerse yourself in all of the education.

However, you could get your license and when someone you know is looking to buy or sell, you can refer the clients and collect 25-30% each time with minimal effort!

Best of luck to you either way.

Re: side biz - real estate agent or broker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
However, you could get your license and when someone you know is looking to buy or sell, you can refer the clients and collect 25-30% each time with minimal effort!

[/ QUOTE ]

This is kind of what i had in mind...

and then when i am ready to purchase for myself in the future, it would be also a big benefit to have my license and some knowledge/experience.

Re: side biz - real estate agent or broker?
 

Here is my input as someone who is doing this.

You must have a flexible day job. If you can't leave for 1-2 hours when you need to to meet an inspector, or present an offer or something this will never work. So you need to be able do things like come in to work at 10 and then work late, or come in early and leave at 3pm, or take a 2 hour lunch from time to time.

You will probably not be able to handle more than two clients at the same time. If you have two clients, you will have ~0 freetime. You will be likely doing things for one or the other 5 nights a week and on both weekend days as well.

You will do far fewer transactions. You must be an extremely fast learner, and you have to have the right office situation. You will need escrow coordinator, and people you can run things by and ask lots of questions especially for the first several transactions. Several new situations come up on almost every transaction at the beginning.

I have gotten every single client from a personal referral. That is my focus, I have never done any paid advertising. Not even mailers. If you have a large local social network of people that know you and are comfortable with you level of knowledge that will be a big help.

This is not the best way to approach this business, FT is the way to go, but if you can find a place that is setup the right way then it might work. My inital plan was to do this PT for a year or so, but I think having seen the level of competition, I will likely continue PT for a couple years until my wife is more established, and we have a bit more money in the bank so I can potentially have lower income for up to 2 years. For me personally the license is useful in other ways too as I am getting started with my own RE investing as well.

Pancho

Re: side biz - real estate agent or broker?
 

I will share my opinions with you as someone who has been selling real estate since 1995 and a REALTOR since 1996.Selling general real estate is not something you can do very effectively if you only do it part-time. Would you use a part-time attorney? If you are interested into getting into real estate here are a couple options. You might want to look into selling new homes on-site for a builder or developer. The builder typically pays for all costs and you just receive a check at closing(or sometimes at each draw). They typically need people to work weekends so you could keep your job and sit at a model home on the weekends. When I did this in 1995 you did not need a real estate license to sell at a model home, check the laws in your state. I did this for 1 year before starting to sell general real estate at a brokerage. If you go this route make sure to get your compensation amounts put in writing, do not take their word that you will get paid "x" number of dollars for each deal, tell them to put it in writing. Another option for you to get started is to find an agent in your area that is looking for an assistant/buyers agent. They can refer buyers to you and you can work with them on the weekends and evenings. Most of your established agents typically concentrate on getting listings so it should not be that hard to find 1(or more) agents who would be happy to refer their buyers to you. It will honestly be near impossible for you to work with seller's as a part time agent. At the minimum you must be always available for your seller's and also it takes a lot of money to advertise listings. I answer my cell phone 9am-9pm 7 days a week and just 1 of my monthly full page ads cost $450. each month. I was fortunate to be able to start at the age of 25 and at the time my wife had a good 9-5 job with benefits(she is now a full-time REALTOR). Selling general real estate is a lot like poker "It is a hard way to make a good living". Oh yeah, the part about choosing your own hours really does not apply, you will have to be available whenever their is work to be done. I hope this helps and fell free to pm me if you'd like.(sorry for no paragraphs)