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I've been drawn to the idea of getting into selling real estate for quite a while now.
I know that every day is somewhat different, but in general, can you professionals describe your day/week?
Would you recommend this field for a parent of younger kids (ages 3 and 9)?
Would I be out late every night and work all day every weekend? (I know that ultimately my schedule would be up to me somewhat, but I also know I'd be working nights and weekends if I want to make it.)
Last edited by lawmom; 08-27-2009 at 04:17 PM..
Reason: typo
Lots of evenings (our centralized showing service turns off at 8:00 pm) Most weekends if you are lucky enough to be busy. You'll have to have very flexable child care arrangements so you can hurry to drop off the kids any time or day of the week and go meet a client. One good note is most of your mornings will be free. My wife and I are both agents and we have a 5 year old and a 2 year old. It is hectic but it can work.
It totally varies. When I am busy - there are not enough hours in the day. When it is slow, I wonder if my phone will ever ring.
Most of my showings take place during the weekends and Open Houses on Sunday. I do all my previewing during the week so I can be prepared for showing the short list to my client either in the evening or over the weekend.
In Atlanta, we typically have our Agent Caravans on Tuesday so we are supporting and previewing on Tuesdays.
I figure that when I am really crazy busy that I can take time off when it slows down. It's either all or nothing for me. It is not a 9-5 job.
In law firms, there is something called "face time" -- some firms expect lawyers to be there for so many hours in the day (like 7-6 -- no thank you). Do brokers expect the same? I've heard of "floor time", which from what I gather is to take calls or walk-ins from potential clients.
I guess what I'm getting at, is it possible to, within reason, to attend school functions, go to kid's medical appts, etc?
In law firms, there is something called "face time" -- some firms expect lawyers to be there for so many hours in the day (like 7-6 -- no thank you). Do brokers expect the same? I've heard of "floor time", which from what I gather is to take calls or walk-ins from potential clients.
I guess what I'm getting at, is it possible to, within reason, to attend school functions, go to kid's medical appts, etc?
Sure. I have people who cover floor on a 'fill-in' basis not normal schedule, but do bang up marketing to people in the states, VT, networking etc. I also have ones who live for floor duty. You get the most leads when you're covering floor and one of the nice things about RE is you're self-employed. Downside is like in any other profession, you get what you put into it. As an example (for someone with kids), when I practiced in the states one of the other agents had a young daughter - she was signed up for floor and needed to leave early to take her daughter to dance class and asked if I would finish her floor duty. About 30 minutes after she left, buyers walked in and I made the sale. Her child was her priority, so she did what she wanted/needed to do. Though in her case, she didn't understand why she wasn't doing the business that others did. That's why it's important to have realistic expectations.
So sure you can do both - just depends on what you want to get out of it and how much business you want to generate. We have buyers who want to go out first thing in the morning, others late in the afternoon and weekends are huge showing times - then there's the follow up especially for buyers or inquires off of marketing on listings that can mean working in the evenings (unless you have a slow day and can bang it out then). Good luck to you because I've read your posts and think you'd be an asset to the field.
Typical schedule here is admin/followup/fight fires in the am. Rare early am appointment to sign/close something or show something. After lunch, show people/do presentations until 6, respond as needed until 8, sometimes 10, then nighty-night. Save it for another day.
Get up by the crack of 10 am & go to the spa to get massage & pedicure. Check emails & voice mails and enjoy a catered brunch by all the local builders. Drop by bank & deposit all the closing checks from the day before.
After lunch, go home & take a nap, walk the dog. At 2pm call all our sellers and listen to them whine about all the buyers submitting low offers. At 3pm call all our buyers and encourage them to low ball a few more houses today to see if anyone is desperate.
At 4pm, exhausted from all the calls I might need another nap or head out to the boat club in my new Lexus. Go on line to make sure checks cleared the bank.
5pm forward multiple offers on several listings to sellers and convince them buyers are hard to come by & they better take offer as written with no counter offers.
5:30 -6 Go to 3 back to back closings since I'll need the money to pay off my new condo in Colorado.
7:00 Dinner, go dancing but be home before midnight since I have another hard day tomorrow.
Seriously, though, my husband's job is such that he does not work M-F 9-5. He has some weekdays off, so he can take the kids to appointments sometimes. And he makes a salary such that we won't have to rely on my income, which is nice, too.
It is the difference between "flexibility vs unpredictability".
When I worked full time it was very frustrating to need to "drop everything" to get some things done. Even good customers do, quite frequently, have major disruption and need their agent to cover for them.
If you do not mind doing this and can make things work with husband and child care that is going a long way toward success -- if you leave clients hanging, regardless of how good a reason you have, you will not survive.
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