Real Estate Agents

[big4rt]

Any of you bros real estate agents? What's the real deal with this line of work. Most folks I talk to LOVE IT. However, I read (no one told me/I read it) that on average real estate agents make less than $36k/year and only close 4 houses in that same time frame. I'm looking to at least do this part time for supplemental income then maybe leaving construction to do it full time if the money is right. Somebody let me know... Thanks in advance!

 

[ksharp01]

My mom just got into real estate and does love it!! In her 1st year she only made around 20,000....everyone says it takes a good 3 years to really make any money. She does kinda make her own hours but she can get calls at all hours, since she is pretty new she does allot of phone duty at the company she is at for any call ins.

 

[big4rt]

My mom just got into real estate and does love it!! In her 1st year she only made around 20,000....everyone says it takes a good 3 years to really make any money. She does kinda make her own hours but she can get calls at all hours, since she is pretty new she does allot of phone duty at the company she is at for any call ins.

What company is that?

 

[ksharp01]

CJ Brown

 

[big4rt]

I guess how much you make in one year depends on who you work for as well.

 

[bran987]

there have been some good threads about this on the EF Success Wealth & Entrepreneurship board

 

[big4rt]

there have been some good threads about this on the EF Success Wealth & Entrepreneurship board

Thanks.

 

[slat1]

I am in commercial real estate. Its a whole different animal then residential.
The first year in commercial you will lose money. The second you may break even. The third you start to make money.

 

[fistfullofsteel]

i know the biggest sleaze bag in my high school became a real estate agent and is making a killing from what i hear. he has been doing it for almost 10 years i think. he would also make a great politician.

 

[ponyfitness]

Have a long term client who's been in the biz for 6 years. She works long hours and makes about 150k a year but closes 40 houses a year and busts her ass, plus she's hot and gets a lot of word of mouth referrals.

It took her 2-3 years to get a good base and now she still works hard but makes good money. She always says if you do it part time you will never make any money. Sales jobs are all about volume.

 

[gettinripped]

i'm a real estate agent in florida. this May will make 5 years. i was in construction prior too like yourself. real estate is a good life. it is however feast or famine.

for instance, i have not had a paycheck since November 14th of 2006. Prior to that I did well. Gross income was right @ $100k for '04 & 05. last year gross income was $65k.

Real estate is not a part time job. it's a lifestyle. you can't just sell real estate on the side and expect to be successful. part time job = part time pay. what you need to do is go to school after work at nite. save ALOT of money and pay bills off. then when you are financialy equipped, you jump in head 1st!! hit it hard, meet people, go to school and go to more school. knowledge is power.

you can make alot of money in real estate but you can also make no money. if your not a go getter you might as well hang it up. nobody is going to tell you where to be, what to do or when. you have to make it happen.

overall, i enjoy what i do. i'm currently trying to break in the commercial sector like slat is but it's a whole other world. you must know your shit or you'll just look dumb.

good luck with whatever you do and let me know if I can help.

 

[gonelifting]

i'm a real estate agent in florida. this May will make 5 years. i was in construction prior too like yourself. real estate is a good life. it is however feast or famine.

for instance, i have not had a paycheck since November 14th of 2006. Prior to that I did well. Gross income was right @ $100k for '04 & 05. last year gross income was $65k.

Real estate is not a part time job. it's a lifestyle. you can't just sell real estate on the side and expect to be successful. part time job = part time pay. what you need to do is go to school after work at nite. save ALOT of money and pay bills off. then when you are financialy equipped, you jump in head 1st!! hit it hard, meet people, go to school and go to more school. knowledge is power.

you can make alot of money in real estate but you can also make no money. if your not a go getter you might as well hang it up. nobody is going to tell you where to be, what to do or when. you have to make it happen.

overall, i enjoy what i do. i'm currently trying to break in the commercial sector like slat is but it's a whole other world. you must know your shit or you'll just look dumb.

good luck with whatever you do and let me know if I can help.

This is a great post... but looking from the oputside in, one would think the past few years were the best you could ever hope for in RE. How about when it slows down, like NOW? ESPECIALLY for someone just jumping into the whole RE scene. They'll surely struggle IMO. The seasoned pros with contacts and expertise would stay above water, but it's every (RE) man for himself when the shit hits the fan.... The newbie will be spinning in circles wondering what happened.


I'm frankly taken aback by the salaries posted, considering we've had the best RE years in history. I guess the RE Companies are making the big bucks? I thought people would make $200k/$300k+ in a hot market like we've had.

You could have bought and sold and made that much, especially being a Realtor with the first dibs on houses coming out.

 

[bw1]

i'm a real estate agent in florida. this May will make 5 years. i was in construction prior too like yourself. real estate is a good life. it is however feast or famine.

for instance, i have not had a paycheck since November 14th of 2006. Prior to that I did well. Gross income was right @ $100k for '04 & 05. last year gross income was $65k.

Real estate is not a part time job. it's a lifestyle. you can't just sell real estate on the side and expect to be successful. part time job = part time pay. what you need to do is go to school after work at nite. save ALOT of money and pay bills off. then when you are financialy equipped, you jump in head 1st!! hit it hard, meet people, go to school and go to more school. knowledge is power.

you can make alot of money in real estate but you can also make no money. if your not a go getter you might as well hang it up. nobody is going to tell you where to be, what to do or when. you have to make it happen.

overall, i enjoy what i do. i'm currently trying to break in the commercial sector like slat is but it's a whole other world. you must know your shit or you'll just look dumb.

good luck with whatever you do and let me know if I can help.

I am an RE Agent, this is well said. Depends on how hard your work.

 

[jnevin]

I am an RE Agent, this is well said. Depends on how hard your work.

True. I've been a lender for years now and have seen so many realtors come and go. The ones that work it and keep in touch with their clients are the ones with 20-40 closings per year and 6-7 fig incomes.

 

[gettinripped]

This is a great post... but looking from the oputside in, one would think the past few years were the best you could ever hope for in RE. How about when it slows down, like NOW? ESPECIALLY for someone just jumping into the whole RE scene. They'll surely struggle IMO. The seasoned pros with contacts and expertise would stay above water, but it's every (RE) man for himself when the shit hits the fan.... The newbie will be spinning in circles wondering what happened.


I'm frankly taken aback by the salaries posted, considering we've had the best RE years in history. I guess the RE Companies are making the big bucks? I thought people would make $200k/$300k+ in a hot market like we've had.

You could have bought and sold and made that much, especially being a Realtor with the first dibs on houses coming out.

I'd say you are correct. if you re-read my post you'll see that I'm nearing 5 years in the biz. This would mean that for my 2nd and 3rd years in the biz I neared $100k. Sure there were SEASONED agents making $200k+. They also have been in the business for 10 years + most of them more than that. I come from a small county, about 130k people. When i started there were maybe 500 agents. Before this year there were over 1000 in our association.

Thats nearly 100% increase in agents. Every agent taking a little piece at a time. So to do as well, with little time was pretty good. Not to mention that I've been the top producer in my office for 3 years running now.

I never tried to make it out like it was a get rich quick scheme, to the contrary it's very hard work and all about follow up.

This gentleman was asking about real life experiences and I gave him mine.

As for the buying real estate, well, i've got my first remodel on the mkt , own about 5 vacant land parcels and remodeled my personal home with the funds I've created for myself.

The boom years are over now and it's getting down to the bare bones. Deals are happening just much more complicated deals. Many contingent upon the buyers selling their home 1st.

the RE association I belong to stated there has been a 30% drop out rate of the agents that jumped in while things were good and had no sphere of influence, only standing around picking up the scrap buyers that were coming out of the wood work. well now, if you ain't listing, you ain't lasting.

so back to the point of the post, the original thread starter asked about real estate, times are tuff now in most markets, pay off all of your bills, have enough money saved up to live off of for at least 6 mos. hopefully you've got a significant other who can help with the bread. it will be tough, but in the end, if you last, you will have created yourself a CAREER and not just a J.O.B.!!

Good luck and pm me with any questions. I'd be very eager to help you.

 

[medical]

I got into RE in 1999 just for grins and giggles. I made about 20k that year and then over 100k in 2000 and 2001. I got out of it and don't make as much money now but I also don't work as hard. Just wasn't my gig.....hated dealing with yuppie scum. Even though I probably AM YS!

 

[solidspine]

I guess how much you make in one year depends on who you work for as well.

I think it is where you work, you know, location, location, location,


You should be able to easily make 7 figures in Newport Beach, California

Just selling houses.

 

[gonelifting]

I'd say you are correct. if you re-read my post you'll see that I'm nearing 5 years in the biz. This would mean that for my 2nd and 3rd years in the biz I neared $100k. Sure there were SEASONED agents making $200k+. They also have been in the business for 10 years + most of them more than that. I come from a small county, about 130k people. When i started there were maybe 500 agents. Before this year there were over 1000 in our association.

Thats nearly 100% increase in agents. Every agent taking a little piece at a time. So to do as well, with little time was pretty good. Not to mention that I've been the top producer in my office for 3 years running now.

I never tried to make it out like it was a get rich quick scheme, to the contrary it's very hard work and all about follow up.

This gentleman was asking about real life experiences and I gave him mine.

As for the buying real estate, well, i've got my first remodel on the mkt , own about 5 vacant land parcels and remodeled my personal home with the funds I've created for myself.

The boom years are over now and it's getting down to the bare bones. Deals are happening just much more complicated deals. Many contingent upon the buyers selling their home 1st.

the RE association I belong to stated there has been a 30% drop out rate of the agents that jumped in while things were good and had no sphere of influence, only standing around picking up the scrap buyers that were coming out of the wood work. well now, if you ain't listing, you ain't lasting.

so back to the point of the post, the original thread starter asked about real estate, times are tuff now in most markets, pay off all of your bills, have enough money saved up to live off of for at least 6 mos. hopefully you've got a significant other who can help with the bread. it will be tough, but in the end, if you last, you will have created yourself a CAREER and not just a J.O.B.!!

Good luck and pm me with any questions. I'd be very eager to help you.

My post above came out a little wierd. I was just surprised by the initial numbers. Nothing to do with anyone here, and it definately depends on location...

Both of your posts were very informative. I like to see that around here, and coupled with the eagerness to help, as well.

I had no idea what RE incomes were and it just caught me by surprise. Maybe it is the area in which different people live. Like the poster above said, in Cali, it may be different. or maybe Minami...

I'm certainly not singling anybody out, just seeing things from the outside in. People make $50k and people make $500k... Everybody does something... No matter.

Anyway, good posts. We need more people like that here.


Now how can I fix my frozen pipes!?!? lol

 

[dead_reggin_storage_fashi]

everyone and their mom has an Real estate licence in california so I cannot take them serious.

 

[chewyxrage]

Seems like a lot of the baby boomer generation have been retiring somewhat early and
trying out the whole realtor thing. Just an observation. They prolly don't last long.

 

[nimbus]

it's good to have land

 

[dead_reggin_storage_fashi]

why not get into the stock market? I am all or none currently in the foriegn sectors

but the term real estate agent just makes me think of someone who goes and takes the state test and barely makes it by

 

[gettinripped]

everyone and their mom has an Real estate licence in california so I cannot take them serious.

you are right. this is what skews the numbers too. too many licensees that dont do anything but part time activitites. there used to be a rule in real estate. its the 80-20 rule, " 80% of the money is made by 20% of the agents, well now it's more like 90-10, " 90% of the money is being made by 10% of the agents".

The stereotype of an agent is not your fault. It's the agents that come and go, fly by nite if you will, make bad deals and get people or themselves in trouble. They tend to make everybody have a bad perception of agents. Not adhering to the code of Ethics all Realtors(R) are bound to. There is a difference between a "Realtor(R)" and a licensee.

Anyway, there are a lot of good agents out there that go unheralded. It's just like anything else, if something good happens to somebody, they tell 3-5 people. If something bad happens, they tell everybody.

So to assume that all agents are the stereotypical "real estate agent scum" is ignorance. You claim, why not get in to stock broking?? Well. there are some very low people in that profession as well.

I have a customer who has lost everything he had to a trader that was supposed to be looking out for his best interest. In a time when the mkt. is at all time high, his nest egg, $350k, dwindled down to a mere $70k before he pulled it out. He now has a good case against this gentleman and may recoup some funds back minus the 30% the atty is taking off the top.

Long and short is, there are always going to be the few that make the majority of do gooders look bad. So be it.