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  #1  
Old 11-28-2007, 10:31 PM
Jestli Jestli is offline
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Default real estate career vs. financial planner

Im graduating in June and can't decide which of these to careers i want to pursue

both have potential of making a lot of money

finance you gotta do cold calls and what not to build clients and it seems people are more likely to come to you with real estate

ive always enjoyed checking out real estate and i think i like that better then picking apart companies for finance, and the money i make from whatever i do im always gonna invest

ill be graduating with a personal finance degree and am eligible to take the cfp right after graduation, and if i decided to go into real estate i would get a brokerage license and as many certifications as i could
pretty much when i have my real estate class, i think i wanna go into real estate and when i have my finance classes i think i wanna be a financial planner so looking for some guidance, pros and cons, and any input
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  #2  
Old 11-28-2007, 11:42 PM
SlowHabit SlowHabit is offline
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Default Re: real estate career vs. financial planner

Choose the option that gets you wet.
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  #3  
Old 11-28-2007, 11:55 PM
SenatorKevin SenatorKevin is offline
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Default Re: real estate career vs. financial planner

Real estate is toxic and will be for a few years. No point in starting out a in career in a sector that is going to suck for the foreseeable future.
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  #4  
Old 11-29-2007, 12:00 AM
Jestli Jestli is offline
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Default Re: real estate career vs. financial planner

well i figure right now a lot of people are gettin weeded out and theres not much competition in real estate
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  #5  
Old 11-29-2007, 12:28 AM
maxtower maxtower is offline
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Default Re: real estate career vs. financial planner

If you are talking about becoming a RE agent, I would consider doing something else for awhile. You could get a job and do that on the side if you want. The reason is that the market is very tough right now, and you will have to fight to get clients. Also I don't think that 6% commissions are here to stay. In 10-20 years real estate could be substantially different if the MLS/NAR monopoly breaks down.

If you weren't talking about becoming an agent, then disregard. Perhaps commercial real estate offers better options.
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  #6  
Old 11-29-2007, 10:40 AM
spex x spex x is offline
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Default Re: real estate career vs. financial planner

What do you mean by a job in RE? I assume that you mean as a Realtor, so my response will be based on that.

It takes a high school education and a $200 course to become a Realtor. Its easy. There are no barriers to entry at all. The competition is very very very stiff in EVERY market.

After you do about 50 closings and jump through a crapload of hoops and take some more licensing exams you can become a broker. Brokers make more money. They also work very hard.

One thing that you should probably do is get the CCIM certification after you become an agent. CCIM designated realtors know what they're talking about. You'll get more commercial listings w/ the CCIM designation, however, becoming a good commercial agent is not easy - it takes plenty of time and the parties involved in those transactions EXPECT you to know WTF you're doing. So experience is key to building a commerical RE business.

I'm an RE investor. I deal with lots of realtors, and as a group, I can say that realtors are utterly incompetent. 90% of realtors are focused on making sales to regular people. That's dumb because normal people buy a property every seven years (on avg). Investors buy one or two properties or MORE EVERY YEAR! Good, smart realtors develop relationships with RE investors. You can do that buy understanding RE as an investment - most agents don't.
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  #7  
Old 11-29-2007, 12:22 PM
Jestli Jestli is offline
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Default Re: real estate career vs. financial planner

thanks spex
the truth is i dont know the specific RE job i would want maybe start out as an agent get a brokerage license, do consulting, invest, whatever i enjoy and am most successful in probably a combination of things

also im going to be getting in touch with haymancompany.com in december which is a commercial real estate investment company.

so i dont know specifically what i would do in real estate but im looking for now

and im sure id get ccim designation i know RE agents pretty much have that used car salesman reputation but i feel im smarter and more driven and could be more successful then most, so i figure if people do well that dont have much of any designations or educations i could do pretty well . . .
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  #8  
Old 11-29-2007, 12:28 PM
Jestli Jestli is offline
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Default Re: real estate career vs. financial planner

i know whatever i do right out of school doesn't really matter a whole lot, just need to get out there and get some work experiance under my belt.

and i can could do one and go to the other

itd probably be better to try finance first and itd be simple to change over to real estate and could do it vice versa, but not quite as easily

what do you guys think is easier to be succesful doing or easiest to make the most money in
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  #9  
Old 11-29-2007, 12:32 PM
inishowen inishowen is offline
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Default Re: real estate career vs. financial planner

IMO, get the CFP first, try RE investing as a side thing.

The CFP designation does have value, my guess is you'd always be employable, and if nothing else it teaches you how money works in the real world, which for a recent grad, is very valuable.

A most likely career track would be to start working for an established CFP due to the difficulty of building a client base. Cold calling I think is pretty much done in the industry, it's more marketing meetings after mass mailings or newspaper ads, or, do you have contacts already?

CFP commissions are not based on transactions like a stockbroker, but are tied to assets under management. I think the average management fee is 2.5%, or $25k gross/million under management. That $25k is not net as you will have various expenses and a payout based on your production. Let's say your payout is $18k net/million, you'd need 4-5 million under management to equal the salary of a decent entry level position.

This all said, a 40 year old CFP with a ton of assets under management, makes a lot of money (without working too hard). His book becomes basically annuitized.

Google "Commonwealth Financial Network". They are the leader in the independent CFP market. Find a local CFP and set up a meeting to pick his/her brain. I'm positive you'll get something out of it.
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  #10  
Old 11-29-2007, 12:33 PM
thehun69 thehun69 is offline
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Default Re: real estate career vs. financial planner

[ QUOTE ]

ive always enjoyed checking out real estate and i think i like that better then picking apart companies for finance, and the money i make from whatever i do im always gonna invest


[/ QUOTE ]

Choose real estate. Do what you like and the money will follow you. Don't pick a career because "well the money is good". The reason is, is that if you hate your job, or dislike it, you will never realize that money, because you will hate that job, and it will manifest itself in a lousy job performance, lousy attitude, and you won't be getting those big bucks you think you should have gotten for those reasons. The people who make the big bucks in finance jobs, or any job for that matter, do so because they love what they do, they're focused, passionate and it translates to coin.

Narrow down what type of real estate job you want and go for it with passion and the money will flow to you.

THE HUN.
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