Commercial Real Estate company

[Dan Payne]

I am looking to break into the Commercial Real Estate market. I would like to become an Agent. Ideally I would like to find a high volume brokerage that I can work with learn and shadow. I have a job now that I want to try and keep while I transition. I know that it may take me a little longer than most but it would be rather hard to walk away from my current position.

My question is how would I find out what brokerages in my market Salt Lake City/ Provo are high volume brokerages and would they be willing for me to come in part time to learn the ropes? Any ideas about how to turn this into a reality?

[Joel Owens]

I can't speak for other brokerages but for me that scenario is a NO. I do not take on part-time agents.

What you are in essence saying is you want a principal broker to pour tons of time and knowledge into you for training on a MAYBE that you will eventually quit your job and come on full time. 

What most brokers want to see is that a potential candidate is ALL IN and they have everything to lose. When someone is all in they give it their all and it MUST work. When agents are part-time and things start getting tough to quit or have the success breakthrough the existing job becomes a crutch to fall back on.

Not trying to be a dream crusher just giving the realities of the industry.

I get up everyday knowing I strive for the best and that there is no other option. I did the work part-time thing 15 years ago. It's when I said I am all in and no other choice that great things started to happen.

It's kind of like when a commercial buyer says they kind of want to buy something. Okay I kind of want to answer your questions but let me know when you get serious. People that are highly successful put time and energy into others who reciprocate back.

If you want to become a commercial agent you need to know your local market. If it is rural to weak suburban in nature likely you have a small town (catch-all type brokerage) mom and pop operation. They might do residential, a little bit of land, small commercial buildings ,etc. Not usually the big stuff as towns like that in size do not have much of it.

If your area is urban core to strong suburban than likely the small mom and pop do some land sales and small under 1 million in price type buildings. The larger stuff is usually handled by large national firms that specialize in one asset class like retail or office etc. or specialist firms like mine where I focus on commercial retail. Investors spending millions to tens of millions of dollar per property want specialists and not commercial generalists on deal sizes that large.

You need about 6 months of reserves for commercial to get started. Deals are more complex and tend to take longer to close. So if you need 5k a month to live likely 30,000 saved up while you go full time to commercial. In the beginning you will not make that much. Most companies have TEAMS. So might be 3 people on a team. 

A national brokerage might look like this:

100,000 commission to brokerage.

50,000 or 50% goes to the brokerage.

Remaining 50,000 is split with the team.

Senior director gets 27,000

Director gets 15,000

Junior agent gets 8,000

Since I am the owner I get the whole 100k but have earned that right with 15 years in the business.

The junior agents has to do about 13 deals to my one deal for the same commission. What the junior agent is paying for is the specialized knowledge being given to them. Over time they can either look to move up at that company or they can move to another firm where there are more move up options faster. Eventually after so many years they might can decide to go out on their own.

You might get a mom and pop to take you on but national firms most of them will only take on full timers and say no to part-time.

Good Luck