What can you tell me about a career in real estate?

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I'm going broke paying for and failing at college. Lately I've been fantasizing about finding full time employment. I'm thinking of a career in Real Estate. What can you tell me about it? Do you have any advice for me?

[Greg]

Go for it. Take the classes to be a real estate agent, its about a 3 month course, then a test, then get sponsored by a broker. Its not a steady income but if your good at it you can make good money.

[Casey P]

I wonder why you are considering Real Estate. Many think Real Estate is what they see on House Hunters or any of the other shows. Showing properties is a fun aspect of the business but most is never seen.

To become a successful agent, where you can earn a living at it, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. Most Real Estate work is behind the scenes such as marketing yourself and building a database of potential clients and turning them into clients. Cold calling, doing mass mailings, emails, using social media are just a few ways that I fill the hours that I'm not with clients. One negative is that much of your marketing efforts and expenses come out of your pocket so you have to know where to get the most bang for your buck. That's where getting on with a goo broker with good training comes in!

The best and worst thing about Real Estate are the same thing, you only get out what you put into it since most Real Estate agents work commission only, nothing is guaranteed. Unfortunately sometimes no matter how hard you work you get nothing back, in this market I'm working twice as hard for the same money and I know agents of 20 yrs. who have had to take side jobs to get by. You have to be able to adapt and overcome bad market factors and be willing/able to change up how you do things from month to month or year to year.

Weekends and evening are a must since most of your clients will want your time when they are free and not at work. You need to have tough skin because it can be a harsh, nasty, cut-throat business at times. Those are just some of the things you don't see on the TV shows.

The good is that you have a lot of flexible time to do the things you want as long as you are disciplined enough to make yourself work even if you don't want to. Once established the money is good and you get to work with great, new people all the time. I love what I do and can't even imagine going back to office life!

If you decide to do it a great way to get started is to establish yourself as an expert in your community, start with your social circle and family. Talk about Real Estate, it's trends and be excited about it when you do an people will turn to you for everything from general questions to helping them buy their new home and listing their existing one!

If you're not making it at college due to a lack of self discipline or work ethic, it might not be for you, yet. That being said it doesn't hurt to have your license so give it a shot!