Hi Andrew,
I like yourself encountered a similar situation and similar in how I entered into Real Estate. As I'm new to the industry as far as being hands on/in & full time. I've read, watched & listened to much about Residential Real Estate & just a tad of CRE. It never occurred to me that Commercial Real Estate was different & I didn't know how to start into it until I got my license. I didn't speak to any Commercial Real Estate Professionals until I interviewed at a few different brokerages. It wasn't preplanned I think I made my mind up in my first interview. It was a career choice & I've been pleased with it thus far. My mind wasn't thinking in terms of being an actual agent & I have to sell something, it hit me as "No you don't want to lose commission because the First Time Home buyers don't like the garbage paint". Haha.. Jk. But I wasn't impressed with Sunday showings & weekends you have to sacrifice, that defeated the purpose of me entering into Real Estate. I've always considered myself as an "investor" even though I had never done any RE Investing. I knew I wanted the family time, weekends & just freedom. To me investing screams Freedom. As a licensed Agent/Investor you control the deal & have 1st dibs on the property if you choose. Also you receive an education from Real Estate Professionals who view you as an agent but your an investor receiving the insight and learning the business. You want get that from your Real Estate Gurus for free. Not only that aspect but I like bigger numbers, the challenge & I can do without the emotions in business. I love the numbers and while I don't want to crunch numbers all day everyday, I do want to crunch them when it's crunch time.
I started in Real Estate July/August 2015 & I received my license in October 2015. I sold 10 wholesale deals from August-Dec 2015 and in January 2016 I got my first Commercial listing followed by two more. I'm not sure of the average for a newbie in RE or CRE, so I'm not aware if that's good or bad. One thing I know is that I'm not living up to the hype when people say you have to wait 2-3 years for a CRE check or to make some real money. I understand the shelf life of CRE and I see that this isn't a race I'm just not okay with the socio norm. You can be average and wait for that or you can defy the odds. I've been watching, reading & listening to @josh Dorkin & @Brandon Turner for a while and they've had some great information presented by their guest on the Podcast & I've learned a ton from those guys. I appreciate them starting this entire network.
Ultimately, I chose to do CRE because of the numbers & my love for Real Estate. As I am now selling residential wholesale deals it has not & will not be what I focus majority of my time & efforts. Only because it can be a hands off approach to investing in Real Estate. First post sorry I'm so long winded. Hope this helps you.
