How far from the office would you live?

Question

The subject says it all!!  How far do y'all drive to get to your office?  I'll have my license by the end of the year, and starting to second guess my original decision to work for a large brokerage, CB, in the town where I live, which is fairly rural.  Another option would be to drive 45 minutes to work at a kw office in a much faster moving market.  How often do you actually go to the office?  What would you do?

John Rogers · Answer

At my brokerage, there is no "brick & mortar".

All of our Realtors are also investors and all of us work from home.

This works well because we are spread across Central Florida from coast to coast and everyone has their own farming area.

My "commute" is to drive my slippers to the kitchen, fill a cup with coffee, then drive it and myself to the office down the hall... simple!

Pat L. · Answer

We have 3 good sized (legit) offices in the home (my wife claims 2 of them) & my wife has another 30 mins away (my daughter commandeered mine at this location). But I usually sit in the 20x20 room off the kitchen watching the sunrise & lamenting the 1.5 hour drive I once did for a 9-5 JOB. During the spring the odd Blue Jay & Yellow finch male will bang their heads against the darkened windows of this room & it reminds me of the frustration of a 9-5.

John Dirgo Deweese · Answer

@Josh McCullough  - here's a couple of questions to consider.You said that the CB brokerage in your town is "large" - does that mean that its large enough that its the biggest player in that market?  What about its location and facilities?  What is the behavior of the other agents in that office (work from home, in the office)?

The thought behind these questions is this - if the company is a major player in your market, and has a location that draws people in (walk-in traffic) and you have the opportunity to take shifts "on floor" to work with those walk-ins, it could be best to be there.  If, however, the CB brokerage is large in terms of number of agents that are physically there to snatch up the walk-in traffic or the brokerage has a location that doesn't lend itself to walk-in traffic, then being a part of a large brokerage in a smaller market just means there's more big fish in a small lake and not much left for you.  In these days of Internet real estate searching, there's a belief that physical real estate office location doesn't matter and that walk-in traffic doesn't exist.  For some places, that is true.  But not in all places.  Which type of place is the town where you live?

What is your personal discipline like?  If you had an office that was 45 minutes away, would you go there?  Or would you say to yourself "well, I don't have a reason to go today so I'll just 'work from home;" and then at the end of day you find you've done nearly nothing for your business because there was no structure.  Many people need the structure of an office to go to every day, and 45 minutes away may be just the excuse you need to not do it.  You need to be brutally honest with yourself and ask that.

Many of the agents that I know that were that went from zero to success were at the office every day - listening, watching and learning from the more established people around them. I once saw' an agent listening in as someone went through a contract explaining it to a client.  He was following along, line by line, in a blank contract so he could hear how it was explained. I don't think its a surprise to anyone that he became one of the most successful agents in that office very quickly.

Ronald Bourgeois · Answer

I work from my Home Office, The Brokerage office is  1 to 1.5 hours away.  In fact all the agents in our office work remotely from home.   I cover mostly Towns in my territory (FARM) Working from home has it Plus/Minus attributes, but it beats the commute.

If you just starting out in the business I strongly suggest you research and join a brokerage that has strong training program covering all the Real Estate disciplines.  Your first year is the time when you get to know who you are, what you want to do.   One other small note for what it's worth.  Agents and Brokers in your office are not always your friends, heads up!

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@Josh McCullough  most offices are ghost towns these days... most agents work from home and go to the office for meetings pick up mail etc. Now I am talking RESI agents specifically.

I sold my office building 2 years ago as I was building a new home and I customized it to accomodate myself and 3 desks... so no communte anymore.. I commute to my projects though all over the US  almost 75k miles flown so far this year.. !!! but I love to fly..

Joel Owens · Answer

Well I am the principal commercial broker and owner.  The office building which I own is 10 minutes from my house............ : )

I bought it to house my office assistant. Make sure whoever you are associating with they specialize in your niche.

Most of the time you do not need to be in the office. You need to define if mainly you want to invest yourself or are you looking at your local market to see if there is enough business there? In town 45 minutes away might have a more active market but also have 10 times the licensed agents.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@Ronald Bourgeois  Excellent advice for a new agent... when I had my shop we were 50 agents so in our market thats little or boutique .. it was not the place really for a new agent. The best I could do for a new agent was to just give them one of my properties to list ( at a reduced fee) to gain experience doing the real thing.

the bigger companies have the focus on training and that is what most need in the first year.  If they want to be a resi side of the business

Rico S. · Answer

Its so awesome to read such great information from great people.

I just want to say thank you for the information. As a newbie to RE it really gives me confidence.

@Ronald Bourgeois

@John Dirgo Deweese

@Pat L.

@Joel Owens

@John Rogers

@Jay Hinrichs

Josh McCullough · Answer

Thanks everyone for the insight!  @John Dirgo Deweese, the CB office in my town is a fairly slow office. The kW office 45 minutes away is booming. I just don't know enough about the "day to day" of an agent to know how often I will actually be at the office. This will be a second career, and I will be putting in full time effort, so I want to have a strong start! Thank you for taking time to respond!

How far from the office would you live?

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