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A Career in Real Estate?
I graduated over a year ago with a degree in Marketing Management/Advertising and Public Relations. After no luck finding a decent job and after some consideration I am thinking about going to school to get a real estate license. Can anyone give me any advice in this career path? Do real estate agents typically only make commission? My husband has a good job so if my income is small at first it would be tolerable as long as there was improvement of salary down the road. I do have a passion for real estate and I think I would be very good at it. I am currently in northeast Ohio where the cost of living is pretty low and house prices are fairly low too. The housing market crash hasn't affected this area as much as some other areas but the market I am in has never been booming. Also, I read that becoming a real estate appraiser is a fairly lucrative career but I'm not sure how difficult that is to get into and what schooling is necessary for that. So if anyone has any advice for me, please share! Thank you so much.
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Re: A Career in Real Estate?
I'm sorry I don't mean to be snarky and mean but how can a person say that they have a passion for real estate, and think they'd be good at it. The only way you really know is if you've worked in the industry in some way shape or form.
I worked in real estate for 2 years before I got licensed, so I knew exactly what to expect and what it would take to succeed.
1. There are no weekends, you work 7 days a week, at all hours of the day and night. You HAVE to time block if you have any chance at having a life outside of the business, but you also still have to have the flexibility to change that schedule if something RE comes up.
2. It is NOT cheap to get into the industry it cost me $2,000 to get licensed, and another $500 to get registered with my Board, and the NAR. Then it was another $400 to get my eKey and set up with an office. My monthly fee for the office use is really low with my company $25 a month, my quarterly MLS Dues are $114, my yearly eKey dues are $176, and I don't get 100% of my commission until I've capped for the year, which with my firm is $22,000 in sales a year...after that I get 100% of my commission.
3. Real Estate transactions are extremely hard these days, you have to be prepared to lose a lot of deals because of financing failures, FHA repairs, and buyers that just can't buy.
4. It is a strictly commission based position, and your broker will not farm you leads, so you'll have to find your own customers, do your own marketing, and farm your own family and friends base.
So please if you're really interested find someone to shadow or get into the business as a listing coordinator, or office manager or something so you can find out if it is truly something that interests you.