Newbie interested in getting my RE license

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Hello! My name is Sarah, I'm 25 years old and I'm from Santa Barbra, CA.

I found this site after reading " The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing" which is available for free on Amazon and I highly recommend it!

Anyway, I've changed my major I'm not sure how many times, but it's more than I'd like to admit! I've wanted to do everything from nursing, to computer science, graphic design, business administration, and now finally I've changed my major yet again and think I want to go into real estate :) (I also really want to write and self publish books on the side, but that's another story).

I'm nervous though because I'm not sure if I'd be a good sales person :/ I guess I've never really tried though! I'm confident, a hard worker, and I'm definitely a "people person" who likes to please others, so I have all that going for me.

I'm taking 2 real estate classes this semester, then trying to get my license soon after. (I think I only need 3 classes for my license).

Anyway, does anyone have any tips or advice for me? I'm really interested to know how much I could potentially make my first year as an agent :) I've tried to google this number but it always fluctuates depending on my source. Any other agents or investors living in southern California? I'd love to network! Thanks for reading my intro, I look forward to getting to know some of you and really utilizing all the great benefits this site has to offer!

[Elizabeth S.]

Sarah,

I'm going to be the downer of the group and say I wouldn't recommend getting into real estate as a real estate agent. It's a hard profession, where your time invested does not always equate with a return. If you think that real estate is the direction you might want to go someday, I would take business classes and then get jobs that involve sales.

You mentioned that you've changed your major, please DON'T major in real estate. It's a waste of a degree when 3 years from now you will want to do something else. Go for a general degree, get as much intern experience as you can in a few fields so you can narrow your interests and build experience.

I've also jumped around to a lot of areas. I got my ministerial credentials when I was 20, I jumped into direct marketing sales for a while during college, I got a degree in Interpersonal Communication and then have had 4 jobs in the last six years out of college. That doesn't even include my stint as a real estate agent for a while!

Of course my advice comes from not knowing your situation at all. Good luck, if you need someone to talk to who has jumped around a lot feel free to give me a call.