All Forum Posts by: Craig Moore

@Craig Moore Most people can't last a year without a steady income and the average income for a first-year agent is $33k. It's recommended to have at least 6 months reserve when you start, but I'd recommend a year. Expenses add up when you're advertising, lead generating, paying bills, etc. Your income will also correlate with how much time and effort you put in, which is why there's no point in doing it part-time when you start out. You won't succeed.

As a new agent, you can work your butt off and still not see any return. Many people want to work with seasoned agents. Even when you have clients, you don't get paid until the deal closes, which could take anywhere from 7 days to 6 months. If you don't close and you just spent all that time and money marketing a listing or driving around buyers? Too bad, you're SOL. Some clients will buy in two weeks, some will buy a year later. Your commission is then split with your broker (big firms will also take a franchising fee), transaction coordinator, E&O insurance, and you'll have to set aside ~30% for taxes.

One agent at my firm cold-called almost everyday for a year before she got her first listing. Another agent is struggling and delivering pizzas in the evening so he can pay his bills and support his family. There are many successful agents, but they only make up a small percentage.

@Craig Moore I have been with United Real Estate out of Norwood for 5 months now and have been very happy with it.  It offers all of the same support as the other national brokerages (leads, training, CRM, online presence) with a flat $65/month desk fee and a $550 transaction fee (no commission split).  I am closing on my first flip next week, and I'll keep about $1,000 more of the commission than I would have with Keller Williams, which was the other brokerage I was considering.  

@Joddie Mcclain I don't know about the companies you mentioned, but the setup with United is similar and lets you keep much more of your commissions.  I know they have locations in Florida, but I'm not sure where they are in relation to you.  Most of the agents with my branch rarely go into the office since everything we need is online.  

Check out http://www.unitedrealestate.com if interested and let me know if you want more details on my time with the company.

@Craig Moore and @Steve Bracero. I would welcome some discussion from the "little" brokerage side of things. There are Pro's and Con's to everything, and this one is tough. If you are a self-taught kind of guy that has the confidence to find answers on your own, with a decent broker for support, then stay small. If you are looking for someone to teach you everything until you get the experience, then join the Big Box Shops. They offer better training and support (they usually have managers that are considered "non-compete" with the agents). I have agents that work under my brokerage, all with varying degrees of experience. There are times where I have turned agents away from my brokerage to go after the support first. Some of these agents, I like, and I just let them know to call me in a year if they want to discuss growth. The one really great thing to staying with a small shop is that there is less "red tape" in what you can and can't do. As a small broker, I can offer services and options that the "big boys" wouldn't dream of, and this is exactly why I do what I do. One last thing: Be careful about some of the Big Box shops and their real experience with being "investor friendly." Most of them have no training at all for that, and everything I ever learned about REI (ad working with clients) was from my own experiences in REI. I also would't be too concerned with with the top agents make. Worry about how YOU can become a tope agent. You will only "make," what you GIVE back to the consumer, which equates to working tirelessly for your clients. My $.02

What you're looking for depends on what you want. Some people do better in teams, some people do better on their own. Do you need a broker that is very involved and offers training programs, or someone who just sits back and lets you do what you want? Figure out what you want and then you can determine the questions to ask when interviewing brokers.

It's great you're a go-getter, but remember that 85% of agents don't make it past the first year. Don't be that statistic.

I would ask them about the following,

Training? 

Split? 

Expenses? desk fees, etc

In regards to the money and work needed. Being an agent is commission only. Their is a direct correlation between the amount of effort you put in and the income you will make. Its a grind and the reality is most agents make $20k a year. I suggest networking and reaching out to the top agents in your market to pick their brain. Offer to take them out to lunch or something. 

@Craig Moore @Steve Bracero

I am also in the same boat.  I am studying for the PA real estate licence.  

In response to your question, you have to figure out what your goals are.

If you want to sell homes, standard single family homes, and make a career out of it, you can easily join any of the national chains.  (Berkshire, etc)

If you want to sell larger multifamily, you will likely have to join a specialty firm that handles that.  The good firms are very difficult to get into (requires experience, a certain look, etc) but they will make you super rich in a small amount of time - of course you have to be a salesperson and know what you are talking about.  But these firms get direct lines to the richest sellers/buyers and close dozens of HUGE deals a year. (Typical salesperson can easily do $200MM+ in sales per year.)

In my case, the real reason I am getting my real estate licence is to represent myself in my investment purchases and earn 3% back in each transaction.  For this reason, I am going to target a small local broker who is willing to hire me part time for this purpose. 

In summary, find out what you would like and go for it.

I wouldn't choose either, honestly. DM campaigns care more about quantity over quality, so I  think that it's best to pick a zip code based on what you like about the area, and then fire off on every house on your list.

If you had to choose, current home value will help you estimate your purchase price.  But you're still going to have to do a research on the property's comps whenever you present an offer to the seller, so all you're doing is sending mailers to homes that are in your ballpark. 

Hope this helps! PM me if you wanna discuss any more details.

An assessed value of a home can greatly differ from the market value of a home. The assessed value is simply the value that taxes are calculated upon, whereas the market value can be higher in the case of a new renovation/rehab, or lower if the house is run down or abandoned. I've had people add in minimal repairs to their home and try to upsell it by enormous margins, and I've also looked at homes where the assessed value of the home was less than half of the buyer's initial offer. 

@Craig Moore

Go to the property tab- then length of residence, I would select everything over 4 years 

The assessed value if much different then the market value of the home. I did not include houses assessed over 500k in my search but since you are looking closer to Boston, it might be helpful, worst case you talk to a seller who wants to much for their home and find an experienced wholesaler to help you with the deal