To be or Not to be, a RE agent

[Huong Luu]

Hi BP family. During a recent on-line group (Canada focus) meet-up, I shared my reasons as to why I decided not to become a RE agent 5 years ago to the group. Unfortunately, my comment offend a few people on the call. I would like to take the opportunity to formally apologize as it was not my intention to insult anyone making the choice to become a RE agent. 

I personally didn't want to compete with 40,000 other agents in S.Ontario and didn't want to give up my weekends doing open houses. 

Here are my questions:
What other career paths are there within RE for someone considering getting into RE?

If you thought about becoming a RE Agent and then changed your mind, why?

If you are a RE agent, any suggest to the new agents coming in?

If someone told you they were taking the courses to become a RE agent, what would you say to them to discourage them or encourage them? 

My apologies again for offending those on the call.  

[Matt D'Arco]

@Huong Luu

Hi Huong. I am a real estate agent here in the US. There were two main reasons why I decided to become a real estate agent. The first is that I wanted to invest in real estate and what better way to absorb the local markets and trends than to work in the industry I will invest in? The second reason is that my income isn’t limited as an agent like it was at my previous job where I made a certain amount of dollars per hour in exchange for a lot of time during the day. I could only take that so far before I ran out of hours to work. As an agent, I am not limited to how much I can make like I am at a 9-5.

For someone who is looking to just start out, I would highly recommend planning ahead financially. It’s difficult to make big bucks during your first year. I didn’t start out part time, I jumped straight in as a full time agent and I feel this is the way to go because it forces you to stay razor focused on your business. I saved up about one years worth of expenses before I started. And for me that wasn’t a ton because I lived with my parents and I only had to worry about them insurances and school loans plus gas.

Another recommendation for someone who is just starting is to treat this as a business. Because it 100% is. It’s not a job. As an agent, you are solely responsible for the production of your entire income. You set your own hours and have a pretty flexible schedule. If you’re someone who can hold yourself accountable then this won’t be a problem. If you’re not then you will struggle but can definitely learn. A great book for this is The Millionaire Real Estate Agent by Gary Keller. It will help you to create systems and hold yourself accountable.

I would also recommend a professional brokerage. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a big name. One of my biggest mistakes when I started was working at a small brokerage where the commission split was high. I quickly discovered that the broker was not professional and was not organized. I left there after only a few months for the brokerage I am at now. What a difference! There is office space, a marketing team, training sessions and meetings and great resources for agents at any level. What turned me on to that particular brokerage was the fact that I would see their signs all over the place and I even got some of their direct mail.

It’s easy to get discouraged at first as a new agent and even as an experienced one but once you learn to take responsibility for yourself and your business you will be just fine. It’s more work than a regular 9-5 but completely worth the effort. Save up those commission checks and invest in some nice cash flowing properties. You won’t be disappointed.

As far as recommendations for other real estate related jobs that isn’t an agent, I’d say look into being a property manager. If you’re on this site it’s probably because you want to own investment properties someday or you already do. And if that’s the case, you’ll more than likely be managing this properties at first. As a property manager, it would be like practice for when you have your own properties. And you’ll be able to connect with the owner investors and learn from them.

Whatever you choose, I wish you the best of luck! Real estate is a great industry to be in.