Hello to all!
New here, great site!
Just wanted to ask (yes I did search and found some info but not what I was looking for)which RE career is more rewarding OVERALL... obviously if you hustle and do good work you can do great in either- but my question is working for a builder I would think you would make more- b/c you sell more/the sales come to you? Especially during the HOT time when tons of people where buying new builds I would think the builders agents made BANK, no? Even tho the market is more level and cool these Builders Agents are still selling a house or 2 a week right? (or am I way off lol? I am new to all of this)

I am looking to gain knowledge and profits in RE so I can turn around and start my OWN RE investing career... in other words I am not looking to be a lifetime career Real Estate Sales Person. So which would be better for me?

All help and info is appreciated!
thanks

A lot of builders pay their sales staff an hourly wage, not a comission.

Builder = easier with less risk but won't make a fortune

Agent = more risk and harder but can make over a million a year

And anyone can be an agent and strike out on their own, but the best builders (high dollar houses with a good name and people seek them out) probably won't hire an unproven rookie to sell their inventory. The plum jobs with builders are going to be very hard to get, and around here at least they tend to go to very attractive and polished younger women familiar with the neighborhood and target market.

i plan on doing the same thing as you. i looked into all the things your asking and i decided that im going to go into commercial RE lease/sale
because that where i think i could make the most money.

i plan on working for a couple years doing that then start my investing career also; so i can see what your trying to do. my suggestion would look in to commercial RE .

There is more jobs in RE then just sell residential homes. I dont know where you live but the homes here in my part of florida are not selling, so no one is getting paid. so that just some stuff to think about.

I have to disagree with the assessment that builders don't make lots of money.

Dated a girl in college whose father developed/built. Did about one project a year and sold the units during the summer months. Did townhomes where he crammed as many units onto the lot as humanly possible.

This is back in the late '80s. He cleared over 800k a year back then and he would keep one unit from each development to be a rental. He had a project manager/contractor who did all the supervision/organizing work during construction, so his time was pretty much his own. He travelled maybe 4 to 6 months of the year. He was also a huge asshole, but I am not sure that helped or hurt.

Is this typcial? Perhaps not. But it is an example of someone making tons of money doing building and at the same time adding a property a year to his rental rolls.


R

thanks for the helpful replies!

Jflyn.. I was under the assumption...
that builder sales agents would make more then your average broker'd agent???
here is the way I was thinking tho... is this TRUE? or not?

Builder sales agent working for Toll Brothers($700k + homes up well over 1M mark)... makes about 1%(low end) commission say... well if he just sells 1 home a week... @ 700k per sale (Low end)thats still about 28k a month in commission. NOT RICH by any means... but about 340k a year.

am I off on what they are paid? or how much they sell? b/c I would imagine a GOOD sales agent working for a builder could make over a million a year easy???? 1% selling 700k-1M$ homes... ???


PLUS WHEN WE HAD THE "RUSH" PEOPLE WERE BASICALLY CAMPING OUT AT THE BUILDERS MODEL HOMES... LINES AND LINES OF BUYERS... SO I WOULD IMAGINE THE AGENTS MADE BANK! ??

Yeah Reign good point you bring up about FLA... my area has slowed down a lot as well. I have a few questions on commercial I am going to ask in a new thread.

Yes Rebel is speaking about "builders/general contractors/developers" yes they do very well. My father has a General Construction License and I plan on doing things very similar to what your girlfriends father did.

I think it depends where you are located and your developments in your area.

Where I'm at, most people are prefering to purchase new houses. The lady salesperson whom I became closely acquinted to is making a ton of $$$. Her assistant told me that she makes 1.75% commission (her salary is straight commission), and as far as I know, she's the best salesperson in the company month-after-month for the past 2 years. She's averaged 15-20 houses per month for the past 6 mths or so in the mid-2004.... And I did purchase a house from her also, so I saw the builder's houses popped up like mushrooms. It's slowing down now, and she had her high-times. Based on my very conservative figure of 200K per house, that's an average whopping 52K per month and I only wished I was joking. With that figure, I dont think you'll even need to re-invest back into RE. You'll have a hard time trying to spend money.

^Yes that is exactly what I was thinking- so that is why I ask the question. I would think it could be HUGE if you of course could sell the new homes.

I don't know any salespeople working for builders making a million a year, but I know plenty of agents and brokers who do. Hell, I don't even know of any builders' salespeople who make half that and I know some of the top builder salespeople here and in other cities, salespeople who sell at the most expensive end of the market.

But it sounds like you have your mind made up anyways so good luck. Going with a builder is the better move for 9 out of 10 people anyways because it's easier. there's more money to be made as a pro basketball player than a guy who works at a sporting goods store, but the reality is most people would fail at being a pro athelete.

Probably true, because the average brokered agent fails.

So if you are happy with being average then you'd probably make more selling for a builder. Personally, I suggest you aim much higher than average.

The really big money is and always has been in working for yourself. I promise you there is a lot more upside to being an agent than selling for a builder.

^yes indeed. I agree with what you are saying. Problem is I am taking over a family business and my family has always been self-employed etc. So I know how that goes as well. A lot of agents come into this thinking "ohhh yesss I get to work my own hours, and be my own boss!" and yeah thats great....(I assume that is the UPSIDES you are speaking about?) So if it's the flex hours and BE YOUR OWN BOSS type of thing... No, im not interested. I will do that once I gain more net worth and capital... I will bring it back into the family business and invest/build land improvements etc.

My main goal of RE license is to gain knowledge/have "inside advantage" and sell enough props to gain enough rev that I can go and work on my own investments etc.

So yes if that is better done thru working for a Broker as to a Builder- then I am all for that.

Thanks for all the help and input.

No, the upside I'm talking about is money. You can make a lot more of it as an agent than you can working for a builder (or working for anyone for that matter).