Real Estate Agents

[FULL DRAW]

Any of y'all Real Estate Agents out there? I have been giving a lot of thought about a career change lately. I currently work for the State of Texas as a Contracts Payable Supervisor. I have been with the state for 14 years and am 38 years old. My dilemma is I have decent benefits with them as a retirement, 401K, full insurance (health, life, dental, and vision) on both kids for only $197 a month. With all my insurance, long term, short term, accidental death, life insurance (4X annual salary to the wife), and health plus what I pay for the kids I am still at only $375 a month. I know if I went out on my own the insurance would be probably quadruple that. I feel like I am passing up on a lot of money making potential by giving all of my time to the state. My salary is okay but nothing to brag about. It is my fault. I goofed off and never finished college. Now that I am a supervisor level I am finding without a degree the jobs are few and far between. Living in Austin you can’t throw a rock without hitting someone with two degrees so all the jobs on my level require one now.
I have always like keeping up with the market ever since I bought, remodeled, and later flipped my first house 12 years ago. I have lived here my whole life and know all the areas of Austin well. I have an acquaintance that does extremely well selling houses and has 7 people working for him. He doesn’t even have clients that buy $500K or up. All the other houses are shown and sold by his other employees. His offer to me was this: if I was interested I need to go and take my test so I can come work for him. He offers me all those clients that are his overflow and in turn I will show and get the paperwork started but then him and his wife will do the rest as they are Brokers. In turn he will take 1%. I can also work for him part time in the afternoon and weekends if I wanted to try it out before leaving the state. That is what he recommended. 3 of his 7 employees are State/City employees. He says they make between $24K-$40K doing it part time. My end goal is to be able to work for myself and be able to see that when I work harder I earn appropriately. I would ultimately love to flip houses. I have done it twice and loved every second of it. But it was while working full time. I work evening and a weekend day for a few hours from home now and do not get paid for it. Just Comp time. I feel like I am a hard worker with great work ethic and I work really hard but it is only making other people look good and benefit.
I would love to get some of y’all input or experience with a career change later in life. It is a scary thought.

[txtrophy85]

Do you have any sales experience at all? Are you self motivated? can you handle downturns in the market.

Its an easy business for some and tough for others. I'd say for every successful person that does it there are 5-10 that have quit.

Being able to flip a couple houses doesent necessarily make you a good real estate agent.

You have to have a certain mix of skill sets....motivation, motivation, persistence, motivation, good social skills, motivation, sales and negotiating experience, knowledge of the market and also construction knowledge, and some more motivation.


its not an easy career like the T.V shows make it seem.

[BitBackShot]

Do it part time before leaving your other gig. Way saturated market, but you can certainly have success if you're good at it. I'd just ease in to see if you even like doing it before you leave a stable position.

[txtrophy85]

Do it part time before leaving your other gig. Way saturated market, but you can certainly have success if you're good at it. I'd just ease in to see if you even like doing it before you leave a stable position.

this is good advice, but you have to treat it like a career, not a side job.

I don't know what your current salary is, but ask your broker friend what is the avg. his agents make, compare it to your current salary and see if its realistic to jump from one to the other.


oftentimes, Buyers available times will not work with your 9-5 work schedule. you more than likely are going to have to choose one or the other

[LUCKY AGAIN]

Tougher than most realize, I WOULD GUESS 1 in 100 make it 2 years. You need money for about 6 months minimum put back to live on and that may not be enough. 100's or more of new agents get their license weekly. Getting leads are the key.

[GatorBait]

My wife is a real estate agent, she has only recently started (2 years) she made about 20K last year. She also takes care of the kiddos, so she probably could have made more if she was able to dedicate more time. Her broker gives her 80% of her commission, which is normally 3% of the total sale. So 80% of 3% of sale price. It is very tough, her broker gives leads, and tries to help as much as possible, but some people are just slow to pull the trigger. One lady she has been helping for 2 years now, lots of gas and time spent for no payment. Be ready for that, because it seems like that is the norm. Spend lots of time and gas, most of the time no sale. Good luck, my wife enjoys doing it, and I know it can be lucrative if you can dedicate yourself to it.

[FULL DRAW]

Do you have any sales experience at all? Are you self motivated? can you handle downturns in the market.

Its an easy business for some and tough for others. I'd say for every successful person that does it there are 5-10 that have quit.

Being able to flip a couple houses doesent necessarily make you a good real estate agent.

You have to have a certain mix of skill sets....motivation, motivation, persistence, motivation, good social skills, motivation, sales and negotiating experience, knowledge of the market and also construction knowledge, and some more motivation.


its not an easy career like the T.V shows make it seem.

I have great social skills. I have never met a stranger and have an iron clad memory. I get off of my job now at 3:45 each day but can adjust to get off at 3:15 which would allow me to show houses a little earlier during the week. I had always worked on houses growing up and helped my Uncle who was a contractor. I have always been a self started and self motivated. I have been in my new position here and have received 4 promotions in the past 2 years here. My work is getting recognized, just not compensated. I have knowledge of the city, home building, home remodeling, and being my wife is an Assistant Principal I have knowledge of the schools in the area. I would definitely go in part time before just quitting. My thought is with my work ethic and drive I could potentially make a lot more than my current income. Gonna have college to pay for in 10 years for two kids.
The guy who would be helping me out would provide almost all the leads. He has been doing it in Austin for over 30 years and has a huge return clientele. He said he provides almost all the other of his employees leads because he gets so many and referrals from others.

[BitBackShot]

It sounds like something you should certainly try. If you're willing to put in the hours when you're not working the other job, you don't have much to lose. Good luck.

[txtrophy85]

I have great social skills. I have never met a stranger and have an iron clad memory. I get off of my job now at 3:45 each day but can adjust to get off at 3:15 which would allow me to show houses a little earlier during the week. I had always worked on houses growing up and helped my Uncle who was a contractor. I have always been a self started and self motivated. I have been in my new position here and have received 4 promotions in the past 2 years here. My work is getting recognized, just not compensated. I have knowledge of the city, home building, home remodeling, and being my wife is an Assistant Principal I have knowledge of the schools in the area. I would definitely go in part time before just quitting. My thought is with my work ethic and drive I could potentially make a lot more than my current income. Gonna have college to pay for in 10 years for two kids.
The guy who would be helping me out would provide almost all the leads. He has been doing it in Austin for over 30 years and has a huge return clientele. He said he provides almost all the other of his employees leads because he gets so many and referrals from others.

If this is the case I would say yes, you may want to pursue it, but be warned it can be difficult starting out. But if you are getting leads fed to you then that’s a big plus right there

Is there a senior agent there that you could shadow for a month or two?

[Bmarsh9]

Do it as a side gig, there's something to be said for the benefits that you currently have with the state. Very few places will ever offer you comparable benefits which adds to your pay substantially. I think your better play may be to continue your education so you can advance yourself through your current job or another, either way it seems as you can make school work with your schedule. Just my two cents

[texan4ut]

Stick with the State until you can draw your pension. Then get into real estate. I have two friends husband wife. Both worked for the State and that is what they did. They are having some success too.

[kingranch]

good luck man, my bro just started this and i went to one of the realtor meetings last week and agents were pouring out like ants..

its def flooded here in austin but if you have an in with your buddy it wont hurt to try it on weekends as the test is only a couple hundred or so. and broker should cover your extra license with him

[Throwin Darts]

I'm licensed and I've spent the last 15 years in real estate. Finance, building and selling.

Real estate is cyclical and we are at the tail end of the current cycle. We've had a great run and its been running for a long time. There is no way that I would start a career as an agent right now. Real estate has been hot so people are like moths to the flame to become agents and most burn out and then even more flame out when the market slows, which will come.

Brokers will always hire you because you work for free. I'd stick with my current gig and benefits and when the market turn hits then see if you really have the stomach and the skills to be in the no barrier to entry world of being an agent.

[kumathebear]

I'm licensed and I've spent the last 15 years in real estate. Finance, building and selling.

Real estate is cyclical and we are at the tail end of the current cycle. We've had a great run and its been running for a long time. There is no way that I would start a career as an agent right now. Real estate has been hot so people are like moths to the flame to become agents and most burn out and then even more flame out when the market slows, which will come.

Brokers will always hire you because you work for free. I'd stick with my current gig and benefits and when the market turn hits then see if you really have the stomach and the skills to be in the no barrier to entry world of being an agent.

"I am licensed as well, current with all TREC guidelines."

I agree with "most" of these comments. Not sure we are at the end (but I have experienced this also,) but I'm retired now so can't argue that too much. I retired specializing in Land Sales ONLY, so my perspective. Just to clarify, my company was not a typical Agency, we had medical benefits/401 plan, etc., which is relatively rare in the Real Estate genre.

The points I want to make are:
*Too many "Pie in the Sky" new agents who think they are going to get rich immediately!
*Many DON'T do their research on who the TOP Agencies are in their area when deciding on who to work for/with.
* Many NEW Agents have NO idea of their initial costs...Board of Realtors dues to be on MLS, TREC (Texas Real Estate Commission) rules/regulations/continuing education requirements and the list goes on and on including office space/broker commission split, etc.!!!
*YOU have to WORK, spend the time, think OUTSIDE THE BOX to be successful or you are NOT going to make what you "thought" you would make!
*Decide "what" you want to sell.....residence, leases, property management, land/ranch/farm selling, listing agent/buyers agent?

ALL of these factors come into play depending on your expectations & financial needs.

Last comment...WAY too many LAZY Agents who do NOT know their product and give professionals a bad name! If you are going to do it, then COMMIT 100%, understand the down times and you will be successful!! Good Luck and Best Wishes.....Kuma

[DFWPI]

My wife started last June after being laid off from her almost 35-year career with IBM. She hasn't done to bad her first year, about 12 transactions.

I just got my license back in November and slowing weaning myself from the PI field to the real estate field. I've been slow to start because of a bunch of cases I've had, but in the past two-weeks, I've made about 40 contacts and looking to get some clients.