Becoming a commercial agent

[Barrett E.]

Hello, this is my first post, i've come across an opportunity to be a commercial real estate agent and want to field opinions.

I am a recent college grad, with a good job at a local bank. I am taking real estate licensing classes and was calling around to brokers in order to figure out where I wanted to place my license. I had planned on being an agent only part time, for supplemental income, to gain experience, and cut down on transaction costs for my own investments.

I contacted a brokerage that is widely viewed as the biggest commercial brokerage in my area. I spoke directly with the broker who said that he is actually looking for an assistant to mentor. This particular broker is easily the biggest commercial broker in the area, the local MLS statistics show him having the highest gross sales in the region for the last 4 consecutive years.

He said that I may place my license with him and work part time. He also offered me a position as an assistant - he offered to match my current salary (about 35k) as a base salary and said I can earn commissions on top of that.

I'm torn because im not certain I want to leave the good career job that I currently have at the bank. At the same time, this could be a great opportunity to learn from someone very knowledgeable and get a foot in the door in the commercial real estate market here, which is hard to break into.

I wanted to field opinions on trying to work a bit part time, and just be an agent for family, friends, and my own investments. Or should I take a leap and switch careers already even though i've been working at the bank for less than a year (recent graduate). Although my bank salary is not incredibly high, I have no doubt that it will increase substantially and be a great career over the long term.

I feel that I have the skill set to be a good commercial broker, but of course, I have no experience - so it's difficult to say.

What would you do? Switch careers already and take a unique opportunity to potential get into the commercial brokerage circle sin my town, or stick to the original plan or doing real estate agency part time.

I'm supposed to meet this broker for lunch this week. Any specific questions to ask? I do not want to simply be his paper pusher, I want to learn from him.

Thoughts?