I have been a real estate agent since I graduated college. I'm an anomoly in the field. Its highly unusual for a person to start selling real estate at 21 years of age and make a career of it. My finance degree just wasn't worth what I thought it was in the marketplace. I was offered a "good" job at P&G as a brand manager for $22K a year plus a company car (in 1990) and told that I would be relocated worldwide several times until I was between 35 and 40. Then I would be brought back to HQ in Cincinnati and work my way up quickly! At this time, that was a good offer. Many of my friends wanted that kind of offer and couldn't get it. It sounded like hell to me. No thanks! I wanted to find something else I could do to control my own income and address. Real estate sales was it. It has been very good to me. I have made far more money than I could have made in the corporate world and never been forced to relocate. I have had time to do things I truly enjoy such as coaching my kids in soccer and basketball. I have also worked my butt off. I can schedule myself to be at games and practices but I still have to make the sales if I want to get paid. Perhaps the most important thing is that I have learned to invest. I have in depth knowledge of the product, the process, the financing, etc. Most of the time I was getting paid while I was learning this very valuable information. So, I say go for it. You stated real estate was your passion and working as an agent is a great way to learn the business. I would recommend the following:
1) Attend a career night at a couple large brokerages in your area. See what they have to offer. Many offer tuition reimbursements, training and alot of help to get you started. Its usually best for a new agent to affiliate with a big well known brokerage. The name recognition (theirs, not yours) will help when you are new.
2) Don't quit your day job yet unless you have substantial savings to live off of. Its very hard to make money in real estate for at least the first 6 months. You will be learning alot, training alot and not very confident in your abilities. It will show and you most likely won't make much money for a while. Don't be discouraged but don't think your going to make what you are used to making for a good while.
3) Consider the downsides to self employment. Health insurance is expensive and offers poor coverage compared to traditional plans. You will not have a 401k or employer sponsored pension. You will not have paid vacations, christmas bonuses and other nice things that you may have gotten accustomed to. You can provide all these things for yourself but it requires planning and money.
4) Perhaps the most overlooked thing is this- Its hard to get a "day off." Real estate sales is a service business and people expect you to be available when they want you. You don't get days off like you do now. If you are making money the phone will be ringing all the time, especially on evenings and weekends. Its hard to say no. It gets burdensome for me. I don't mean you will have to work 8 hours a day but the day completely off is not realistic either. I was scheduled off yesterday. I probably had about 12 to 15 calls that I had to answer and problems that needed my attention off an on throughout the day. This in spite of the fact that I have a very good assistant who does alot for me. So, I was at home with my wife wearing shorts and a t-shirt but on the phone and ticked off much of the day. I would probably have been better off at work. Its a problem in the business. But, it doesn't seem to become an issue for several years.
Overall, it is great career. I am currently trying to transition myself from and agent who also invests to an investor who also sells. Within a few years I would like to drop the sales part entirely. But thats just me. I've done it for a long time and the service aspect is starting to wear on me. Good Luck!
1) Attend a career night at a couple large brokerages in your area. See what they have to offer. Many offer tuition reimbursements, training and alot of help to get you started. Its usually best for a new agent to affiliate with a big well known brokerage. The name recognition (theirs, not yours) will help when you are new.
2) Don't quit your day job yet unless you have substantial savings to live off of. Its very hard to make money in real estate for at least the first 6 months. You will be learning alot, training alot and not very confident in your abilities. It will show and you most likely won't make much money for a while. Don't be discouraged but don't think your going to make what you are used to making for a good while.
3) Consider the downsides to self employment. Health insurance is expensive and offers poor coverage compared to traditional plans. You will not have a 401k or employer sponsored pension. You will not have paid vacations, christmas bonuses and other nice things that you may have gotten accustomed to. You can provide all these things for yourself but it requires planning and money.
4) Perhaps the most overlooked thing is this- Its hard to get a "day off." Real estate sales is a service business and people expect you to be available when they want you. You don't get days off like you do now. If you are making money the phone will be ringing all the time, especially on evenings and weekends. Its hard to say no. It gets burdensome for me. I don't mean you will have to work 8 hours a day but the day completely off is not realistic either. I was scheduled off yesterday. I probably had about 12 to 15 calls that I had to answer and problems that needed my attention off an on throughout the day. This in spite of the fact that I have a very good assistant who does alot for me. So, I was at home with my wife wearing shorts and a t-shirt but on the phone and ticked off much of the day. I would probably have been better off at work. Its a problem in the business. But, it doesn't seem to become an issue for several years.
Overall, it is great career. I am currently trying to transition myself from and agent who also invests to an investor who also sells. Within a few years I would like to drop the sales part entirely. But thats just me. I've done it for a long time and the service aspect is starting to wear on me. Good Luck!