Do Real Estate Agents work Remote?

Question

Currently I'm in Italy as my wife gets her US Visa. In the meantime, I'd like to get my Texas Real Estate License, but would like to know if I could do a few deals remotely before return back stateside to Texas, and can come into the office.

Do agents work remote? Do brokers sponsor remote agents?

Thanks for reading!

Do agents work remote? Do brokers sponsor remote agents?

Thanks for reading!

Nathan Gesner · Answer

This is a terrible idea.

87% of all real estate agents quit within two years. Why? Because it's easy to get a license, but it's hard to build a business.

Who is going to list their home with a guy who lives in another country? You can't even look at it. You aren't in the area to view other homes and see what's happening in the market. You can't show the home to potential buyers. You can't meet with buyers or sellers to review contracts, answer questions, or even shake hands.

Any intelligent buyer/seller will look for an agent with experience. New agents can often compensate for lack of experience with enthusiasm, professionalism, hard work, or even their good looks. I don't know how you would present any of that to potential clients from thousands of miles away.

No, Brokers are not all the same. Here's a video with some tips, but I recommend you watch several videos, read some blogs, and educate yourself on what to look for in a brokerage:

Edgar U. · Answer

Chris, I work full time remote and specialize in land. I have multiple listings across different parts of Florida and I don't even live in FL.

A couple of caveats though:

*I've been doing this for 5+ years. Have a big database, sellers who look up my brand/appeal.

*I know the markets really well even better than some local agents.

*Have a USP right of the bat to convert leads

*Have a huge/constant flow of leads from investors, sellers, partners, etc.

If I was doing it for houses, I'd do the same thing, just work on the leads. I would then partner with someone local to take on the listing. It would lead to less conversions, just keep that in mind.

Chris Magistrado · Answer

Thanks for your reply!

Are there benefits of joining a specific brokerage or are they all about the same? I have a buddy who offered sponsorship, but he has been doing it for over a decade and maybe only sells one house a year, and never to investors. While I want to work with investors, do much more volume, and am okay picking up the phone and making calls (he is not). I want to get into commercial multifamily but it sounds like residential is the best way to start. What are your thoughts on this?

Patricia Steiner · Answer

Geez...if only there was a license that built wealth on its own.

Reality TV isn't reality...

Nathan Gesner · Answer

The point he's making is that the agent must take responsibility for building and maintaining their business, and the Broker won't play much of a role. This is absolutely true . . . once the agent is rolling. However, the right Broker is very important when first starting because they can train the agent how to run their business and find success. He's an agent with RE/MAX, one of the largest franchises with a great training program and a lot of tools for their agents to use and build a successful business. They have larger offices with more agents to network and learn from, training meetings, etc. A non-franchised Broker with six agents won't have professional training and resources, so a new agent won't be trained as well and will struggle to get started.

If you were comparing RE/MAX Broker A to RE/MAX Broker B, then I would say it probably doesn't matter. In my market, most agents work for non-franchised Brokers, so the Broker is more important when it comes to training and helping an agent get started.

I hope that makes more sense.

Chris Magistrado · Answer

Just watched this again, and even more confused. You say not all brokers are the same. And this guy goes onto saying they only matter 5%-10%. If all things being equal, the largest distinction between brokers would be splits, given that the brokerage doesn't do any value-add.

It sounds like what he's saying is, if you're lazy, you're lazy. No brokerage will fix your poor work ethic. But everything about getting leads, branding, marketing, etc. is all on your own, just like any other business. This just sounds like a normal B2B relationship w/ the brokerage. To your point about agents quitting in the first 2 years, that sounds very realistic. I would even think it might be sooner. If all prospects and leads come from yourself, then you are operating your own business. I've been an entrepreneur for over a decade, most recently launching a successful recruiting agency the last 4 years. In recruiting, it's called running a 'full-desk', when you generate your own clients, and then place candidates directly in them.

I don't know if I agree with his statement of the brokerage only making up 5%-10% of your success. There's a reason why people refer to the founders of PayPal as the PayPal Mafia. Notable members like Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX, X.com/Twitter, Neuralink; annual revenue: Tesla $81.5B, SpaceX $4.6B est.), Peter Thiel (Palantir, Founders Fund; Palantir valuation: $45B), Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn, acquired by Microsoft for $26.2B), Max Levchin (Affirm, valuation: ~$5B), and others like David Sacks (Yammer, acquired by Microsoft for $1.2B) and Steve Chen/Chad Hurley/Jawed Karim (YouTube, acquired by Google for $1.65B), who collectively shaped the tech industry through groundbreaking venturesHigh performers who push one another, often go farther than solo business owners. Just the same as being surrounded by average performers. This could be just specific to the real estate industry, but in both recruiting and cybersecurity consultants (hackers for hire), the ones that start their own business/consultancy, are the ones who after spending 2 years (usually exactly 2 years which is when recruiters will message them), the high performer will either 1. Look for growth in a new company or 2. Start their own consultancy (either recruiting agency since they are the top recruiter like I did, or if they were pentesting for different clients like banks, fortune 500, etc, they start their own pentesting consultancy/firm).

The translation to this in real estate would be, a highest performer of a brokerage, (after learning the ropes and killing it),then creates their own brokerage. You can measure the success of the brokerage by the number of agents that leave after a few years, to start their own brokerage, and whom become successful (some just leave because it's bad and try it on their own and never quite get it).

@Nathan Gesner, have you seen this in real estate, where high performers come out of a great brokerage, start their own, and it becomes very successful? Or does this not happen in this industry? (I honestly have no idea)

Chris Magistrado · Answer

Thanks for the resources Nathan!If I can't work remotely for the first few transactions, do you have a solution? Without being able to make money as an agent remotely, the only other viable option I see is just go back into cybersecurity with a W2, and invest on the side. I'm at a $140k starting salary if I go return to cybersecurity. I understand I'd take a pay cut being an agent for the first few years, but in exchange, I'd be learning about the market and building a network as I move towards Commercial multifamily. I don't want to only be an investor, I'd much rather be a GP and lead syndicates, raise funds, all the things I've been doing already with my recruiting agency. I heard when you're young, it's the best time to take risks, at job that might pay less, but offers knowledge, experience, and growth. Does this sound right? Are there other solutions you might have?

Do Real Estate Agents work Remote?

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