Become A Real Estate Agent

Careers in Real Estate

Or, as many agents call it, the most expensive hobby I ever had. Can you become a Real Estate Agent and make a good living at it?

Ever wondered if Real Estate might be the right career for you? I have to admit it is the most interesting job I have ever had. So much to know. So much to learn. And you can really help people, really make a positive difference in people's lives. A home is such an important thing, and helping people get just the right one is so satisfying.

Real Estate has all the addictive aspects of a combination of hunting, fishing and gambling. The thrill of the big deal that goes right. The pain of the big client who wastes your time, spends your money and then simply disappears, never to be heard from again. There are lots of these. The careful preparation for the deal. You never know if, until the the check changes hands, it will result in a commission paycheck.

It's a lot like deer hunting. Sometimes the deer just stumbles out in front of you on the first day. Sometimes you sit in a cold tree, weekend after weekend all season long, and never see a doe, let alone a buck.

I love it. But can you do it? Ask yourself a few questions. Do you like joining groups and being involved in planning events? Do you meet lots of new people every day? Do you have lots of friends, relatives, and co-workers who trust and love you, and will be happy to pass your name on to potential clients?

Answer yes to all of these and maybe you can make it in Real Estate. No to all? Oh well, maybe you had better become something else. Driving big rig trucks pays more on average than Real Estate. Check out that link, to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

And maybe most important, can you afford to go six months without a paycheck? I did, my first six months. Then things got OK for a while. Then they didn't. Etc. Real Estate is ups and downs. If you or your spouse can't stand the stress of never knowing when your next paycheck will be, this isn't the job for you.

Tips for becoming sucessful:

1: Join a church and become active. The more friendly people you meet, the better. No place better for that than church. But please don't join a church for that reason alone. That is simply cheating.

2: Volunteer for every activity you can find. I suggest this for people who aren't the church-going type. Do good for others, and good will come to you.

3: Start bar-crawling. Seriously. I didn't do it, because I used to drink too much and I got tired of that scene, but I personally know several very successful Real Estate Agents who get a lot of business from people they meet in bars. This works particularly well if you are an attractive woman. (Sorry guys, but you know you respond better to a sales pitch from a woman in a bar. We are dumb that way.) But if you do use this technique, do NOT EVER EVER EVER sign any form of contract with a client either in a bar, or after a drink. Serious legal consequences could follow. The real world is not like a TV show.

4: Give your business card to every single person you meet, even if you have known them for years. I got business from old friends who gave my card to other people to call me.

Getting the drift of these hints? Meet as many people you can every day. Meet them in situations where they will be friendly towards you automatically, such as Church, volunteer activities, clubs, sporting events. If you are an anti-social loner, you probably won't make much money in Real Estate. Check out that link above on occupations and salaries. Plenty there for loners.

"But," I hear you saying, "the Real Estate market is so bad right now, isn't it a bad time to get into Real Estate?"

Absolutely not. Now is the right time to take your classes and get trained and get your state license. Sometime soon, probably at the end of next year (this was written in late 2010) the market will start to climb again. Pent up demand for housing will force people to start buying. Investors will realize that this is the classic down market that everyone is always hoping to cash in on. People will start to buy. Mortgage interest rates are as low as they have been in three generations! They will probably never be lower in your lifetime.

If you were able to answer yes to the sociability questions above, now may be a great time for you to get into the Real Estate field. In the last three years many thousands of former Realtors were forced to drop out because the market was so bad that they couldn't make a living. When the market turns back up, there will be openings for new agents to replace those who fell out. Even now in the want ads I see plenty of openings for Realtors.

Check out the local classified ads in your paper. The next training class is always coming up soon. Take the class, study hard, take your state exams and get your license now. You won't regret it even if you never actually do become an agent.