All Forum Posts by: Jake Thomas

@Mitchell Van Overloop Sounds like you have a plan to move forward. This site is full of great information. Let me know  if you ever need help finding that next duplex. I am a Realtor that specializes in working with investors all over the GR market. 

@Christopher Rogers Unless you are already very successful I would save your money. Keep your Zillow profile up to date with closed houses and get reviews from clients but I would not invest in that sort of marketing now. I personally think any type of marketing for a new agent is worthless until you are decently established. Most newbies don't have the money to sustain the length of campaigns needed to obtain results. Pound the pavement and hustle. Word of mouth is the best type of marketing you can do. I found one lead from a phone call on craigslist which turned into me selling their house, helping them buy a new one then referred me to his mother which I also sold and helped buy a new house. Then she referred me to another person... One phone call led to 5 transaction. Let me know how many Zillow gets you. 

@Sherwin Vargas All I read was I am rebuilding my credit but I want to finance a new car... Seriously! This is a real estate investing forum, buying a new car is the WORST investment you can make right now. As a Realtor I closed $3.5 Million in real estate this year driving a $3,000 Honda Civic. So please don't tell me anyone needs a new car to be successful. 

Save up $3,000 and buy something that looks decent and not beat up. Repair that credit and save up a down payment and start investing. 

@Andy W. Welcome to BP. There is a wealth of knowledge on this site and also many other local GR investors if you ever have any questions. Let me know when you start looking for #3 I am a Realtor and I work with several investors that buy all around town but nobody in the area you are in now. 

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions. 

@Account Closed My broker doesn't offer office space and I love it!

My office space is my car, laptop and cell phone. My costs are minimal and it works great for me as I still have a full time 40 hr a week job and sell RE. Personally, with RE the best place to meet listing clients is a their house since they feel the most comfortable there. Anything you need to discuss with buying clients can be done on the phone. The up and coming Millennial generation prefers to text anyways. I have sold several houses where I have never once talked on the phone to a client, all communication is text and email.  Agents that spend a lot of time in their "office"  are obviously not out in the field selling. Not having an office keeps me motivated to stay out there selling!

Good luck

@Mike Cumbie This is pretty how I feel about the whole thing. Pick 2 and move on with life. I know which 2 I really want to pick (Her and Real Estate) but making that leap is a difficult choice. 

@Jae Cunningham Thanks for the kind words. I'll be honest it isn't easy to do both but on top of all of this we bought and rehabbed one rental where we did most of the work, another duplex and one other property all this year. RE has been my life this year. 

@Matthew Maggy I am a Logistics Analyst, I can honestly do the job in under 15 hours a week but have to sort of fake the other 25 hours... I have thought about the part time conversation with my boss but figured he would say full-time or quit. I am working 80+ hours a week and it is causing issues for my personal life. No one can maintain this lifestyle very long.

@Jacqueline Carrington FSBO's get called everyday by the newbies at the big brokerages. I put up a fake FSBO listings just to see how many calls I would receive and I average 5-7 per day. I always played the part to see how much they charged and to listen to their script. I don't have time to call 50 homeowners a day looking for a listing. I call and ask why they are against using an agent and 90% of them don't want to pay 6-7% commission. I always offer them a discount from the listing agent side. The listing side is much less time consuming so I can afford to accept a lower level of commission. 1.5% on a $300K house is still better than 0%. I also typically only offer a discount if they are also going to buy another houses where in turn I will get the full 3% commission. It is the only way to get a higher rate of listings from a few calls a month.

@Account Closed thanks for the advice, I do believe I am losing potential deals because of the day job. I am very limited in the amount of cold calls I can make weekly because of it. But again yesterday I found a good lead on a listing from my day job. Also, I have more than 6 months of expenses saved. 

Fellow BPer’s I need some help with my situation. Any ideas, thoughts or opinions are welcomed. I am trying to decide if the time is right to quit the 9-5 job and jump into Real Estate full time.

In May 0f 2014 I acquired my Realtors license with the idea that we could buy and sell our own investments and look at houses more freely on our own schedule. I ended up helping my brother buy a house that year and made my first commission check (yay!). Fast forward to February of this year and my director at my 9-5 job approached me and asked if I would help him sell his house since he was moving out of the country. I said of course I would help him, who doesn't want to sell a $400K house and make a commission check. Well, the house sold in the first weekend and I was hooked! I learned how to make cold calls and negotiate my commission percentage to leverage listings other agents couldn't get. I made some good connections, received a few referrals, worked craigslist & Zillow for FSBO adds and hustled every day. Since that first listing I have closed on 25 client homes; year to date with 3 currently under contract and about 2 more in the process that will likely go under contract by the weekend. That is $3,000,000 in Real Estate closed, $530,000 under contract with an average of about 2.5% commission overall! I am now showing houses 4-6 nights/days per week. My lunch breaks most days consist of showing clients houses, taking videos of potential rentals for investors and responding to voicemails. I made more money by the end of October this year being a Realtor than a full 12 months salary plus bonuses at my 9-5. My life and the life of my girlfriend has changed dramatically. We live and invest together and she has made sacrifices to accommodate the new busy lifestyle. I am basically never home and free weekends are few and far between. She is an amazing partner and I couldn't do this without her. BTW she also works a full time day job.

I know most of you think this is a no-brainer, quit the job and focus on being an agent but it is not that easy. Here is why.

About 1/3 of my leads come from people at my day job. There are about 450 people in my office and someone is always looking to buy/sell or both. The other problem is loans for buy and holds. We own two rentals now with plans for many more. I can currently get approved for loans easily because of the W2 income but once I quit the loans will go on hold till I can show 2 full years of commissioned income. That means no more loans till 2017. Yikes! We have some cash but not enough to buy one decent rental currently.

The truth is I hate my job but love the company. I have peaked at my position and I sit here bored every day for 8 hours. They are very flexible with me and never say anything (yet) about the long lunches, disappearing here and there for phone calls and everything else. My actual work schedule is 7-3:30 which allows getting in more showings at night. Again, the flexibility is here but I can only get so much real estate related work done during the day while here. I get my work done so I don’t feel I am stealing from the company but I am not motivated to go that extra mile.

I have a serious passion for real estate investing and I believe being a Realtor is the logical step to grow that side of the business. The flexible hours and potential for higher income are why I think that. I don’t want to be a realtor forever but I also won’t make anywhere close to six figures working my current day job and I won’t for several years to come. I feel confident I can make 6 figures a year being a realtor if I hustle & hustle. Also, leaving the day job means leaving benefits and the security of a paycheck every two weeks behind. I am most concerned about not having insurance but I am sure I can buy that on the open market.

If you were me what would you do? This isn’t a cry for help just seeking advice for the largest potential career choice I have ever made.