On Real Estate & More – September 2018

I will be blunt. Before I became a real estate broker, I didn’t think all that highly of the profession. I had been working as a city land use planner and had many occasions where buyers and their agents didn’t do their due diligence until after the property purchase. Combined with the stream of real estate TV shows that show a fast-paced job where you make easy money—many times after looking at just three houses—made it seem like realtors hit the jackpot on easy living.

It wasn’t until after I became a Realtor that I realized how hard good agents really work and what a difficult job it can be. Don’t get me wrong, there is no better feeling than helping people with such a huge investment but consider a few of an agent’s daily challenges: marketing “not-so-marketable” properties, managing a huge client database and supervising heated negotiations. Add in the stress of a commission-based income and an unstable market, and you can understand why a realtor’s job is not easy.

Wealthy agents are definitely out there, but huge incomes are not the norm. The average gross income for members of the National Association of Realtors who worked 40-59 hours a week was $42,500 in 2016. Federal, state and self-employment taxes, along with the costs of doing business (insurance, dues and fees, MLS fees, advertising, etc.), can end up taking sizable chunks out of otherwise substantial commissions. Additionally, most Realtors get paid only when a transaction closes.

Real estate transactions generally are one of the most stressful times of a client’s life, and you will need to be confident in your skills and abilities when things don’t go as planned. If a client leaves unhappy, whether it was due to your efforts or not, word-of-mouth spreads quickly and can ultimately affect your business.

Agents have some flexibility with their work hours. But if you’re looking for a 9-to-5 job where you get to leave your work at the office, real estate is just not for you. There is no such thing as typical hours in real estate and you need to be prepared to work all hours of the day, seven days a week. You will absolutely end up showing houses at 8 am one day and writing contracts at 11 pm another. If a client calls, can you drop everything, even if it’s a time that you normally would be spending with your friends or family? The times most convenient for your clients are, more often than not, evenings and weekends. This doesn’t include the excess of paperwork and marketing you’ll be doing during the day.

Just like any other profession, real estate has its highs and lows, but it can be incredibly rewarding. One of the greatest things about real estate is the ability to work with, and create relationships with, an ever-changing group of people as you help them through one of the most important transactions of their life.