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I've been wanting to start practicing real estate for a few years now. I never had time to do it because I was always bogged down by menial, low pay jobs. Now, I've been unemployed for five months and I'm getting no callbacks from anyone. I really don't want to go back to minimum wage.
I'd like to get my Salesperson license now, I feel this is the best time. However, we're going to be moving soon from New York back to my home state of Connecticut. It'll be soon, just waiting on getting the funds for the new house, but due to a lot of different circumstances (desire to vote in the primary elections, soon to expire car registration), I probably won't be establishing residency in Connecticut until closer to March or maybe even April. February if I can get everything figured out.
Connecticut and New York are reciprocal states, so does it make much of a difference? I wanted to practice between both states anyway. Should I start on a New York license now, or wait? Only problem and reason I want to speed it up is the crippling unemployment.
Follow your dream but I strongly advise you not to get into a traditional real estate sales position if you don't have some serious money saved up first. It takes a long time to build a successful client base and it is extremely hard to do it on a shoe string budget. In many areas of the country, your first sale doesn't net you enough commission to pay for the fees and expenses that you have accumulated up to that point so you continue living on your credit cards, etc waiting for the second sale, etc.
Ask yourself, if you were a consumer - would you select you as a Realtor over someone else? Start building the reasons to say yes now, then get your license and kick but and take names.
Follow your dream but I strongly advise you not to get into a traditional real estate sales position if you don't have some serious money saved up first. It takes a long time to build a successful client base and it is extremely hard to do it on a shoe string budget. In many areas of the country, your first sale doesn't net you enough commission to pay for the fees and expenses that you have accumulated up to that point so you continue living on your credit cards, etc waiting for the second sale, etc.
Ask yourself, if you were a consumer - would you select you as a Realtor over someone else? Start building the reasons to say yes now, then get your license and kick but and take names.
Thank you, that's very good advice. In all honesty I have this part mostly planned out, up until getting my Salesperson license. I have a feeling it's going to be tough to find a sponsoring broker, but maybe I'm wrong. I'd rather work closer to our new home in Connecticut, so I don't know how having a New York license would help with that. I suppose it's possible to commute an hour or so to the New York border to an office in the beginning, but I wonder if a Connecitcut office would let me start out there since the two states are receiprical.
Clearly, it's something I'd love to do, I just want to get a better grasp on everything first before I drop the money on classes and the state (whichever state) exam.
I have to agree with the previous poster that indicated how much it actually costs to get into a Real Estate Career. From the perspective of a rookie realtor I can definitely tell you that if my husband wasn't making enough money to support our family I wouldn't be able to pursue this career. I've had one closing so far which I am thankful for! I also have another one scheduled for the end of February. What helped me significantly was finding a really strong mentor that is also a top producer. She formed a team and I was lucky enough to get in on the ground floor so I work for her as a buyer's agent with a split that you really can't beat in our area when you join a team. If you do have enough saved to get into real estate I highly recommend joining a team at least for the first few years. That way you can learn from someone that is successful and get help building your sphere as opposed to starting out completely on your own. The first few years of this business are definitely hard but with enough determination and hard work anyone can have a rewarding career in Real Estate. Let me know if you have any more questions regarding the process of getting licensed.
Good luck to you!
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