Real estate agent--is this a good career here? (San Antonio, Center: apartment, broker)

[grace72]

I'm thinking about a career change and wondered if anyone knows anything about real estate. I know the economy probably makes this a bad choice, right? I'm looking for something flexible that I can do part time or full time depending on my children's schedule. I would love to hear from anyone who has made this a career or knows something about it. Is it a good idea or not?

[Spock's Beard]

I doubt it is right now due to the economy.

[majormadmax]

I suspect you are asking about the San Antonio area, since this is a SA forum. Given the current state of the market, I would expect that it's not the lucrative profession it was a few years back.

I know there are a few REs on this forum, to include one young lady who recently got into the business. I'm sure they'll offer some better insight, but from the outside it would appear that it won't be as profitable as you might suspect.

Cheers! M2

[TrapperL]

The fall out rate for new agents is about 95%. It's not a job for everybody. You'll have to first pass the state exam which requires you attend classes to get the classroom hours. You must pass all sections of the test or you get to pay and take it over. Once you have a license you have to get a broker to sponsor you or you can go to some of the independents and pay for a desk and office. With a broker, you split the commission. With an independent you get all of the commission but you have to turn the desk and office nut every month regardless if you sell or not. If you think folks are lining up to give you listings, you'd be wrong, and that's where the money is at-listings. Dealing with buyers is a major pain as most want way more than they can afford, are not usually willing to get pre-qualified, can't make up their mind on what they want, and it's your time and your gas going out the window. My pastor just bought a house. Her Realtor drove her all over the northside looking for the "right" house. For a year, every Friday they went looking- give ya an idea about real estate sales? If you're with a broker, the commission is 6% normally, you'll get 1.5% if another agent lists the house or if one of your listings sells by another agent. You need to sell at least a house a week to make any money. Like I say, the fallout rate is absurd for new agents. Beware the broker who likes for you to "farm" an area. While it sounds great, all it's doing is promoting his firm and if it doesn't work out, you've spent the money to do it and he still gets the advertising free. Not a good business to be in regardless of the economic environment but it's extremely tough these days with the firmly planted, older agents doing most of the business. If you don't mind working weekends and at night, it might be for you. But you'll work those hours as that's when the normal folks with jobs are available.

[jules07]

So, I've recently gotten back into general RE after a several year break (suspect that I'm not the one that M2 is talking about, as I'm FAR from young! ). Here's the deal about working this biz around children - ya can't. Or at least, it's UBER hard! It's not a biz that you can make a part-time income by working part-time (anything under about 45 hours a week). You're either all in or all out. At least when you're starting out. I loooooooooooove RE, but am still not sure that my family life will work for it (I have 4 school age kids, 1 adult son back home, and 2 grown daughters {1 with 4 kids} and am basically a "widow" as my husband travels with his job a lot and is not able to help with really any of the kid stuff.) As much as I WANT to be back "in the game", it's tough. As Trapper mentioned, the fall out rate is astronomical! And NOT cheap! (several thousand $$$ to get and maintain your license). Also, just the test isn't exactly "easy" (current pass rate is around 48% on first try). So think long and hard before jumping in!

However, if you've got the time and $, the classes are actually pretty interesting! I really LOVE taking any RE class, but then again, I'm really weird.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

[kevcrawford]

There are two extremes. You're either very successful, or you aren't. And there's not much middle ground. If you're not willing to put in 50+ hours a week, it's going to be tough going. As said in previous posts, the attrition rate is HUGE. If you think you're going to get in and dabble in it and make some money, don't waste your money or time. Won't happen. You may get a couple closings a year, but that's it.

Like Jules said, you're all in or you're all out. There are some of us that are very successful in it, but I'll tell you what, we work insane hours and while people think real estate is a "flexible" job, it's not. You're always on. I've been blessed to get to the point that I can take time off, but I still work over 50 hours a week.

To be a success in this career you have to LOVE it, because it consumes you and becomes your life. Not your job.

I think that a slow market is the best time to get into the field if you want to learn the business. Mainly because you will actually learn HOW to go out and get business, and what it takes to succeed. Those that got in when buyers were falling out of the sky don't know how to survive in a slow market. Now is the time to learn the business, and when the market picks up, that's just gravy.

But don't get in thinking that it's a good job to work part time and make full time money. It's not even close. It's not for the faint of heart.

[Bideshi]

May I alter the question a bit: is it worthwhile to get an RE license if you only intend to buy your own property?

[jbiggs]

Originally Posted by Bideshi

May I alter the question a bit: is it worthwhile to get an RE license if you only intend to buy your own property?

The short answer is no. There is no advantage to obtaining a used home salesperson license if you are buying property as I expect an investor. The license gives you nothing for the cost of obtaining it and having to hold it. The only advantage you will get is access to all of the available information on the back end of the MLS system. If you want that just make friends with one, or more, of these struggling used home salespeople and pay them under the table for it. Many will be happy to oblige you whether it is allowed, legal, or not.

[jbiggs]

Originally Posted by grace72

I'm thinking about a career change and wondered if anyone knows anything about real estate. I know the economy probably makes this a bad choice, right? I'm looking for something flexible that I can do part time or full time depending on my children's schedule. I would love to hear from anyone who has made this a career or knows something about it. Is it a good idea or not?

Not worth it as a part time career as the system has been established basically as "Indentured Servitude". You can read all about it at the used home salesperson licensing board site TREC - Home Page.

If you really think you are interested in it then go to that site and the public data page. There you can download a complete list of all licensed used home salespeople. You can import it into a spreadsheet and sort out the area around you to see just how many used home salespeople you would potentially be competing with. The list is HUGE and you can not import it directly into programs such as Excel without breaking it in half. The current license statistics for Texas as a whole can also be found on that site. On the left side is a licensee count menu option that will provide those graphs. As you can see there are over 146,000 licensed used home salespeople in Texas. What is interesting is that even with this bad economy the number is growing as more people seem to think it is a way to get through this economy.

If you want to see how many homes are sold in your area, as well as other real estate info, you can go to the TAMU real estate center web site where they have all kinds of interesting charts and statistics. It is located at Home -- Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University.

[sleeptech210]

Apartment locators do okay...I know a few and are well off. Look into it.