Thread: Selling real estate as a career... what are your thoughts

So I'm kind of at a turning point in my life where I need to focus my efforts on a single direction. Since graduating college, I've been involved in real estate- specifically flipping homes.

I've never actually had the desire to be a "agent". It's not the most appealing idea to me. Why, I'm not sure. I've always felt like unless it's being done at the highest level, it's not the most prideful career path.

I have an offer to join a successful real estate team that basically does any product type but for the most part their listings are $300-600K. I'm torn on whether I should take it and commit myself to becoming the best that I can be at it and then transition to the high end luxury market. The benefit would be that the guy who's team it is a great coach and he's highly successful at his age.

Are my doubts right about becoming an agent? I'm a visionary type person at heart and have a long list of what could be great projects that I'd love to work on. I suppose the daunting task of actually working on them is what's throwing me off and making me consider becoming an agent.

Hoping to get some good feedback about how you view real estate agents, especially from people who share my same ambition and lifestyle.

Give us your honest estimate of how long you believe it will take you to achieve the level if success you're striving for.

As you know, all good things take time and success is a process, but I'd assume that it would take a good 6 months to get fluent in the daily habits of a successful agent with a smaller deal here or there. Maybe after a year I'd be able to grow into the high end luxury market which would then be yet another little transition. Real estate sales is more about personality, hustle, and skills and within a year I could really start seeing success.

Originally Posted by Amongst Kings

As you know, all good things take time and success is a process, but I'd assume that it would take a good 6 months to get fluent in the daily habits of a successful agent with a smaller deal here or there. Maybe after a year I'd be able to grow into the high end luxury market which would then be yet another little transition. Real estate sales is more about personality, hustle, and skills and within a year I could really start seeing success.

Jordan, email me back. My buddy is working for a real estate company in Time Square, and he can explain all about the hustle etc. etc. He could be a good connection. He's in the process of flipping a home. They got investors, bought the home and are refurbing it now.

Originally Posted by Amongst Kings

As you know, all good things take time and success is a process, but I'd assume that it would take a good 6 months to get fluent in the daily habits of a successful agent with a smaller deal here or there. Maybe after a year I'd be able to grow into the high end luxury market which would then be yet another little transition. Real estate sales is more about personality, hustle, and skills and within a year I could really start seeing success.

That's an extremely aggressive timeline if you're trying to break into the high-end luxury market. It typically takes many years to build up the Rolodex of buyer and seller connections to be relevant in that space. Heck, even being relevant in the mid-range of the market takes a ton of work and luck. I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but someone's gotta be devil's advocate if you're going to be entering an industry known for being super-competitive with a high rate of failure.

Go for it, only live once. In that industry, the money comes if you are doing it right.

Originally Posted by Amongst Kings

As you know, all good things take time and success is a process, but I'd assume that it would take a good 6 months to get fluent in the daily habits of a successful agent with a smaller deal here or there.

The average income for a first year agent (in a non luxury home market) is $15,000. I will tell you that 2 years ago I made the move into the "high-end" market and it is TOUGH. You have agents whom are VERY established in the communities that you will be going up against meaning one of 2 things; 1. you better have DEEP pockets for advertising or 2. you better have one hell of a marketing presentation.

I would assume in California that $300-$600k isn't exactly "high end" so we may not be comparing apples to apples. Do real estate because you have an interest for it not because you think you can make a ton of money off of it. The statistics are out there, I can tell you our office gets about 20 new agents/month that may last 3 months doing it full-time. 10 will keep up with it part time, then of those 10 probably 5-8 will give it up entirely. Fees (in Florida) are around $2000/year for licensing, the class, state test, fingerprinting, etc. will run you around $500-$750 (Florida).

If you have a good mentor, it will help you greatly. 99% of the stuff you learn in the classroom is irrelevant to real world real estate dealings.

Originally Posted by dtheo

Go for it, only live once. In that industry, the money comes if you are doing it right.

Agreed! Do it right and work hard and it will come.

Not to sound like an idiot here or a repeater, but always remember this: BUY LOW SELL HIGH. Don't get emotional over one potential property, same with stocks. If you aren't good at doing house stuff with your hands and need to hire people to do it for you (like me), forget it unless you know a cheap mexican somewhere. Neighbor of mine thought he could pull that off, he's like me I can't do crap at all with a house. Hired people to do everything even the cheapest labor out there and made a lousy 5 grand on a house all said and done -- took 9 months to get rid of the house lol.