Anyone in Real Estate?

[bfisher88]

So for the past few years I have always wanted to get into the real estate biz. My dad is an owner/broker of a Remax up here and I have been wanting to get in with him for a while but decided to wait til I am a little older. Lately I have been thinking about it a lot and I just got done speaking with my dad and I'm thinking I may jump into real estate school this summer and get my license. After talking it over with him it seems like it would work out well. He does not like to deal with buyers so he just throws all his buyer leads to another guy and gets 50% commision if the guy makes the sale. If I got my license I could just work through him and deal on the buyers end.

Only thing is, initial startup costs seem a little out of my bankroll at the moment. So, I'm just in search of suggestions, tips, advice, anything from someone experienced in real estate to help me out here as a new guy starting out. Feel free to pm me I would love to hear your thoughts. Also any books that you know of that are helpful in this area would help as well.....

 

[kiltedcraftsman]

I went through RE school a few years back. I practiced for about a year, then the cost caught up to me. Up here the market is so soft right now, only people with cash to keep them going, or a bunch of referrals can make it. There is continuing ed, advertising, broker fees, etc that add up very quickly when you don't bring anything in. My GF is also an agent and has been off and on for the better part of 10 years. Her mom is also. Mom has a pretty solid business, but also does alot of work in a resort town north of Boise. So it's hit and miss for her too.

Its great education, but imo, a tough business to break into.

 

[bfisher88]

Yeah thats mainly why I'm so hesitant to do it. I may need to delay it until next summer or something and save of some funds...Anyone else have experience with this?

 

[xRanger]

After our youngest was born, my wife decided to get her real-estate license. But like was mentioned earlier, the market is so soft, it was a hard time for us. She was working with her sister, and they did the same thing you are describing. She would handle all of the buyers, and her sister would handle the sellers. One of the major drawbacks that she seen about it, was all of the time showing, but then no follow through from the buyers. But then again, she also seemed to be a flake magnet when it came to buyers.

I would definitely save some funds up to get you through if need be though.

Good luck!

 

[Breedy]

My wife sells real-estate here in Ohio. Like other people have mentioned it is a tough market right now for a variety of reasons. We are in the position that my job allows us to pay or bills and have a little extra, if that were not the case selling real estate probably wouldn't be an option. It would be difficult to budget with out having any idea as to when your money might come in. Sure you could make 40k a year, but that may all come in a brief period, and its hard to stick through the droughts.

Further, at least in Ohio, most agents have a broker split as well. Say, commision is 7%, 4% to selling agent (as they incure advertising cost and such) and 3% to Buyers agent (all this is negotiable). So as a buyers agent yoy get 3,000 on a 100,000 sale, but there is a split with your broker (some may be 50/50, 60/40 depending, also the scale may slide depending on amount of yearly sales). So now your down to 1500, then there are certain fees depending on county, or company rules. Add to that the fact you have CE, possible a desk fee, and other cost of business related items, your not really making much.

It does, however, allow a certain level of flexibilty of schedule and there is potential to make money, it is just hard to make it through the first couple of years.

 

[bfisher88]

Thanks for the responses guys. As far as the market goes up here, the average price per home sold is around 600k. One bedroom condos can hardly be bought for under 200k. So the payout at closing is wuite a bit higher here than in some other places im sure. It is a huge help as well that my dad has been in it and established for a number of years and constantly gives away leads because he does not want to deal with the buyers. I'm still thinking about it, but I'm leaning towards starting the real estate school in a couple weeks and getting my license, and going from there.

 

[Breedy]

THats good. Honestly 200k for a condo is way out of my league. Sounds like a good gig, though. Whats the cost of living like? You said your dad doesn't want to deal with buyers, around here it is the oppisite most people don't want to deal with sellers. That may have something to due with the crummy market, but I don't know.

 

[sigar_zealot]

I'm not sure what your living situation is currently, but getting into a new business when the market is soft is a tough nut to crack. You mention the start up cost is above your means. You really should consider it's very likely once you get your license you won't do anything but spend money for 3-6 months. Most buyers don't buy in the 1st month or two from when they start looking. In the 15 years I have been selling real estate I have had many buyers that took a year to buy, some more, some less and many that never bought at all.

The #1 reason most people fail in this business is they can't afford the start up time it takes to get this business rolling. 80% of the people you graduate RE school with will be out of the business inside of 1 year and 90% inside of 2 years. Starting out on shaky grounds financially probably raises the numbers even higher.

I'm not trying to scare you and you certainly have an in with your father handing you buyers from his business. Most new agents don't earn a decent living the 1st year or 2 in the business. I hope you are willing to sacrifice the time it takes and have the means to survive until them. Good Luck with whatever you decide.

 

[steamboat]

I will give you a tip that sounds way to simple to be true but it was given to me by the Broker that trained me in 1989 and it is still solid gold.

Get a legal pad, the long one that has 26 lines if I remember correctly. Every night before you go to bed, fill out all 26 lines with the name and phone number of someone that might be interested in buying or selling and call them the next day.

This one little thing will increase your chances of success exponetially.