Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My husband was a realtor for a couple years in NoNJ and while he did sell a few homes, we considered his income merely extra spending money versus something to be relied upon since it was so sporadic. However, there were other realtors in his office who would sell a few homes *per month* and did VERY well.
When we moved south, he tried RE for a year in our new town, and didn't sell a thing in nine months even though we live in a HOT HOT market. So after nine months he opted to join the regular 9-5 workforce again.
If you are in a continuously popular market, are prepared to HUSTLE HUSTLE HUSTLE to get business and work with all kinds of clients (such as the one my husband worked with that saw over 70 homes before finally settling on one that met most of his very nitpicky requirements), then real estate could be good for you.
The failure rate is very high in Real Estate. Someone told me recently it was about 90% failure rate. If it is true, I'm not surprise by it. A career where you eat what you killed is very hard on people simply because most people who go into this type of career have no idea what they are doing and have no idea of how to generate business. Most people do not have the discipline to be self employ. No one telling them what to do. No consequences, no punishment equals slack off.
In the world of you eat what you kill...No salary. My suggestion is that you get yourself educated real quick on Networking and Marketing. These will serve you well. The sooner you know how to network and build relationships, the more referrals you will get. The sooner you know how to Market, the more clients you'll have. Most people fail to realize that sales is really not sales....The majority of the time, you aren't selling, you are marketing and building relationships. You can be the world's greatest pitch/salesman, it won't do you sh*t if you have no one to pitch it to.
Some realtors have told me if you want to get started, it's best to have a decent amount of savings to fall back on. You ought to talk to some realtors in your area to get their opinions as well.
I personally think it is a tough way to make a living, but if you like the challenge of sales, maybe it is a good fit for you. Another thing to keep in mind, lots of realtors work evenings and weekends. That's when you show most working folks a house for sale. That's a huge factor to consider if you really enjoy having weekends to yourself. As a realtor, you need to be working nearly all weekends throughout the year.
I know realtors that have made mid 6 figures for more than a decade, and I know at least 10 times more than never made more than $30,000 a year in gross revenue and ended up losing money. The 3 biggest things in Real Estate is having enough money to not have to depend on the income for at least 2 years, you have to learn or know marketing very well, and you better be good at sales. All can be developed but if you do not have the bankroll going in than you are in significant trouble.
Location: In a perfect world winter does not exist
3,661 posts, read 2,947,010 times
Reputation: 6758
The TV show Million Dollar Listing NY must be an illusion to reality. Those 3 guys make in one month what most people make in 5 to 10 years. Is this show fake?
Location: In a perfect world winter does not exist
3,661 posts, read 2,947,010 times
Reputation: 6758
Quote:
Originally Posted by calnbs
The failure rate is very high in Real Estate. Someone told me recently it was about 90% failure rate. If it is true, I'm not surprise by it. A career where you eat what you killed is very hard on people simply because most people who go into this type of career have no idea what they are doing and have no idea of how to generate business. Most people do not have the discipline to be self employ. No one telling them what to do. No consequences, no punishment equals slack off.
In the world of you eat what you kill...No salary. My suggestion is that you get yourself educated real quick on Networking and Marketing. These will serve you well. The sooner you know how to network and build relationships, the more referrals you will get. The sooner you know how to Market, the more clients you'll have. Most people fail to realize that sales is really not sales....The majority of the time, you aren't selling, you are marketing and building relationships. You can be the world's greatest pitch/salesman, it won't do you sh*t if you have no one to pitch it to.
90% fail rate. Wow, thats something to think about since the general public thinks RE agents have a cakewalk making money sitting around doing nothing but turning a key to a house every few days. Kind of like being a mail carrier for the Post Office, the drop out rate is 50-65% percent walking around all day dropping letters in a box . Really I just hate they type of people who say everything is easy till they try it themselves. Snobs? Maybe? Assho@@ YES!
90% fail rate. Wow, thats something to think about since the general public thinks RE agents have a cakewalk making money sitting around doing nothing but turning a key to a house every few days. Kind of like being a mail carrier for the Post Office, the drop out rate is 50-65% percent walking around all day dropping letters in a box . Really I just hate they type of people who say everything is easy till they try it themselves. Snobs? Maybe? Assho@@ YES!
People buy houses or watch tv shows and all they see is the RE Agent do is open the door and say, "Look around and tell me if you like this house?" After they are done, RE Agent locks the door and moves on to the next appointment. It looks like a simple job. They think, I can do that!
What most people failed to see is the 80% work that a RE Agent had to do behind the scene to get that 1 client who want to buy or sell to come to them.
Showing the house and selling it, that's the easy part. Acquiring a client who wants to buy or sell, that's the hard part no one see or fail to realize. Here is where the 90% failed rate comes from. Most people going into RE do not have the proper skill set to acquire clients. This is why I often say, a sales job is not really sales job.....it's more a marketing job. When I started in the insurance industry in the late 90s, I spent more time marketing then I did sales, so I asked my manager, "Why call this sales, when I spend 80% of my time marketing?"
Like any sales job, if it fits your personality, you could make a killing. But if it's not a perfect fit, it can be a disaster. Do you have that "sales" personality? That is a big thing.
You can spend a ton of time with someone who ends up not buying a house. Or ends up not selling. And people are a PITA -- have you watched some of those shows on HGTV? My husband actually said he could never be a realtor because of what they go through -- all the complaining about nothing by clients.
It also depends on the market. If you're in a market where almost every house is $1 million or more, you could sell three houses a year and have a great salary. (Although it might be hard to sell even three if the competition is intense.) If you're in a market where most houses are $75K, you'll have to sell a great many houses to earn a living wage.
While, yes, you do have flexibility in your schedule, as you're mostly your own boss, and you could arrange a schedule so that you could, for example, pick up kids from school, etc., you're also working the most when most people are off of work. Weekends and weeknights can become totally filled with taking clients to see houses, meeting prospective clients, answering calls, hosting open houses, etc. So if your family and friends still all work 9-5 jobs, you might not be able to get together with them when they have time off.
For some people, it is a perfect career and they make a lot of money. But for most people, it's a lot of thankless hours with uncertain compensation.
Not a good gig to get into, especially since the top 1% do 80% of the business.
That right there tells you it's over saturated. In a large city like Los Angeles there are probably a few thousand realtors. The truth is that maybe a 20 realtors could handle the needs of an entire city that size on their own.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. Really I just hate they type of people who say everything is easy till they try it themselves. Snobs? Maybe? Assho@@ YES!
