Pros and Cons - becoming a real estate agent (commission, Realtor, broker)

[forestpool]

Hi all, I am a lady age 45 and since all kids are grown up (in high school), I am thinking of attending course in real estate and become an agent in 6 months time. I have a degree in Civil Engineering and deeply interested in house construction etc etc

I need your feedback and comments:

• What's the upfront costs to become one? And yearly maintenance costs (of license etc)
• Is this a good career to be in and how competitive is the market right now?
• Would you recommend any on-line or actual physical school?

My intention is expose myself into this line, save some money when we preapre to sell the current house and downgrade, at the same time to revive my self and have a career on my own after 10 years taking care of the kid.

I appreciate whatever advice you have for me.

Thank you.

[NinaN]

I started at 45 when my son started school. It's been a great career for me but there are risks.

Up front costs maybe $1500 depending on your state and cost of courses. Yearly maintenance for me (if I sold nothing and did no advertising) is about $3500. It depends on your state and broker agreement.

The market varies by location but it's doing well here. But I started in 2010 when the market sucked and still did well. It's all what you put into it in terms of professionalism, hard work, ethics, and how you are able to attract customers which is a talent not everyone has.

It helped me a lot that I took off work for 5 years until my son started school. We were used to living on 1 salary so I didn't "lose" any money by leaving a job. I would have found it very difficult to leave a well paying job for a 100% commission job, so I'm very happy things worked out the way they did for me.

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by forestpool

Hi all, I am a lady age 45 and since all kids are grown up (in high school), I am thinking of attending course in real estate and become an agent in 6 months time. I have a degree in Civil Engineering and deeply interested in house construction etc etc

I need your feedback and comments:

• What's the upfront costs to become one? And yearly maintenance costs (of license etc)
• Is this a good career to be in and how competitive is the market right now?
• Would you recommend any on-line or actual physical school?

My intention is expose myself into this line, save some money when we preapre to sell the current house and downgrade, at the same time to revive my self and have a career on my own after 10 years taking care of the kid.

I appreciate whatever advice you have for me.

Thank you.

It's a good career for some. A disastrous choice for others. If you're trained in engineering and thus are detail oriented, that personality trait can both help and hinder you. Ask any Realtor about "engineer" buyers.

Some people are too "smart", literally, to succeed in real estate. They get bogged down with overthinking every detail. Details are important of course, but it's a "lead generation" business first and foremost, and i've seen a lot of newbies focus on just about everything except that before they wash out.

The market doesn't matter. Get in when you're ready. But understand the market you are entering, especially if hot, else you develop a distorted perception of the business. It's very cyclical. Save money in the up years, grind away making less and working harder in the down years, but if you think in terms of 5 and 10 year spans instead of just the next deal, you'll do well.

I would attend live classes so you meet others. I'm in my 25th year and still go to all of my renewal classes in person because you learn a lot from the interaction with others. This is especially true for newbies.

Good luck.
Steve

[davecj]

The degree won't help you sell more homes. I have an MS in Real Estate Development and found all of my fancy financial modeling talent was never going to be used again. I found that the only part I enjoyed was negotiating, which eventually parlayed me into my current career.

[Brandon Hoffman]

Steve said it well.

[KennethAuyeung]

The first and main profit of becoming a real estate agent is that you are your own boss. You don't need to work under anyone and you don't have to follow anyone's order. The loss is that you need to work at that time when others will be resting. Your clients have job of 9 to 6 and they only meet you after their job time.