Hey @Daniel Green! I also have a great full time job with really good benefits and I recently got my real estate license. I have been considering leaving my job to become a full time agent and investor but a few things are holding me back.
1. My job is very rewarding and has a unique schedule that affords me days off during the week and on weekends (rotating 24 hour shifts). Although it sounds like your work schedule is pretty inflexible, can you restructure your hours? My business partner's husband works 1a-11a to avoid DC traffic and be home in the afternoon for other ventures.
2. Banks love seeing W-2 income. As much as we talk on here about how insecure a job really is, the easiest way to qualify for financing is by having a regular paycheck. Although I made it number two, this is probably the biggest hurdle to overcome when deciding to leave. Commission based employees need to show two years of income in that position before they will qualify for bank financing.
3. The benefits are good and I can retire in 11 years. While I'm not as concerned about the retirement pension, it is something to think about with almost 9 years in. The bigger obstacle for me is the loss of health insurance. I am single so I wouldn't have a spouse's plan to utilize and would thus need to purchase off the private market. With the turmoil surrounding the ACA, I've decided to wait it out at least until the government nails down a plan.
If you're going to leave "cushy" and higher income for other part time work and real estate, really look at the numbers to see if you can make enough non-commission income to qualify for financing. Look at your other expenditures and debts to see if you can pare those down while you still have the full time income. I recommend reading "Set for Life" by Scott Trench as it talks about the three stages of ramping up your life. Step one is building $25k by changing spending habits and finding ways to reduce expenditures which may be easier to do while still a full time employee. I'll bet when you read it, you'll nod along quite a bit, just like I did!
As a side note, I definitely recommend getting your license. Even if you get it while staying in your full time job, the access to information alone is worth the time and money investment. Additionally, the networking I've been able to engage in is invaluable.
One last thing, you didn't mention what your spouse does but it sounds like she's as interested in real estate as you are. Is she in the position to get her license while you stay at your high income job? If she is also a full time employee, can you utilize her health insurance and W-2 income once you leave full time work? If you're both really determined to be real estate investors (which you absolutely should be) then sit down and talk about who can do what, where the money will come from, and how to scale both of you out of a job and into real estate full time!
Good luck and let us know what you decide!
