Getting on board

[David Blue]

Hi forum members! I'm up in the Boston Mass area. I've had my RE brokers license for 20 years but never really put it use. I am a software engineer and  seeing that's what I attended college for that's the industry I've been employed in for the past 30 years.

 Well I'm thinking of jumping into the real estate industry on a part-time basis. I know this is not a great time but any words of advice on how to get started?  I plan on using my tech background to reach out to clients but I know nothing beats  person-to-person contact. 

What gotchas or things should  I watch for in the industry out there in 2015? Let's treat my experience in this industry as a newbie. I have the theory but lack the practical.

[Mike Duran]

Hi @David Blue and Welcome to BP. I hate to disagree with you @Matt Lefebvre but I found NAR/MAR/GBAR to be a complete waste of money. I used to work for an office that subscribed to those memberships and I have since left and abandoned my membership. I am closing 2-3 deals a month and nobody cares that I don't pay a fee to NAR. I do strongly suggest working for another broker at first as there is a ton of regulation on the paperwork and you would certainly want a transaction co-coordinator making sure you are in full compliance. Many of the bigger and well know national offices give you a poor split and charge fees as well, I certainly suggest not working for anyone that won't give you at least a clean 80% split on the commission, unless they have something else of great value to offer(like really good training, every office says they do but only a select few actually do). I do a lot of business out in Worcester which is fairly close to you, that is a huge market and even though the final sale prices are lower out there than Boston there is just so much business to go around, which might be a good place for you to start getting your feet wet if you decide to get into sales(not rentals) . I also strongly suggest going to local REIA meetups like Black Diamond to start networking with other investors and agents.