This is my second posting to agentsonline and first in Aspiring Agents. What a great forum, am learning alot to get started. Thanks for your advice.
My wife and I will be taking the Texas sales exam in two or three weeks. We have passed the classes and waiting for the next prep test session.
This is a mid-life career move for both of us, so we are starting part-time. I've read everywhere thats extremely difficult, but we want to make sure we really like the field as much as we think we will and take it from there.
What I'd like to know is how to handle the part-time aspect with potential clients. Should we state it up-front? One agent told us to never say anything, just book appointments according to our schedule (which apparently makes us look like we are busy with other appointments earlier in the day) however with inspections, questions, etc I know I really need to be available at least by phone. That will be difficult in my job right now. What is the best way to handle this? We are both available to work later in afternoon and of course weekends. Many thanks.

I am a PT agent and has been for the past 3 years. It is only very recent that I decided to pursue my business more proactively and eventually making this my job. There are some disadvantages to doing it PT and I'll admit it up front (such as inspections, I cannot be there most of the time) but I attend closings. If you can schedule your time to meet with your clients, it shouldnt be your major drawback.
My job is not totally flexible, but I can still take calls, leads, etc. Again, my phone dont ring off the hook like some agents do. All of my clients have been scheduling appts with me in the evenings or weekends because that's the time they are available. And all of them know about my part-time. I share with them as whom I am, I dont pretend to be someone I'm not (so I dont agree with the agent friend's comment). I know I'll be in bigger trouble if I lied, then I have to keep up with my lies and make sure they all fall in the right place. That's too much maintanence to me on top of trying to do so many tasks.

Because I am PT, and I am not dependent on this to pay my bills, I do give honest answers/ opinions even when the house is not "right" for them. (I'm not saying that if others are FT, they are not honest, I never implied or say that). I have walked away from sellers who really insist that they want a higher price, then lower it when there's no takers. I want my houses price right in the first place and get them sold because my reputation as an agent is on the line. Also,as a benefit, I do cut buyers back a small rebate to help them with closing or a reduced listing fee to sellers.

I think it's how you present yourself and the knowledge you know. But understand that you cannot work with all buyers and sellers. And at the beginning of the meeting, I will find out if I best suit their needs, just as I find out if they suit mine.

Since your wife is taking her license too, are you/ do you feel comfortable for her to also become your "assistant" in your transactions for her to take calls for you, do some paperwork stuff for you? Is that feasible?

Fortunately, I know my wife is very capable in keeping track of details and also being proactive. She will be a big help in my business and I think likewise in hers, I'll be an asset. This kind of goes into an area with a question I posted on Agents and brokers about how to make a successful husband and wife team. So, any feedback in that area would be helpful too. Thanks, fattmaxv for your help. Glad to see you're being honest with your clients and making sure the situation is right for both of you.

PT is OK if your schedule is flexable. If it's not, I honestly don't know how you can do it. Maybe partner with someone who can be available during the day to take your calls, let inspectors in, etc. If not, you won't just tick off your clients- you will end up ticking off the agents on the other side who have to pick up your slack.

Since your wife will be able to support you, I dont see a huge problem. And if you do get both of you busy enough with leads and closings, maybe it's time for you or her to quit the regular day job.

My husband is my assistant - actually he's the world's sweetest assistant. We decided right at the beginning that there's no reason for him to get a license. As far as showings, I'm there all the time (again, so far my clients and I can come to a compromise). But if he needs to drop the contract to the title company, open the door for the inspector, he can help me in that..... His work hours can be even more flexible than mine. Besides, he comes to showings with me too. He drives and open doors for me, while I navigate (I'm the walking, talking navigation system) and I can also talk to my clients at my back seat or while waiting for him to open the door. I dont have to figure out where I need to go, talk to them and drive all at the same time......

When I do become busy like I want, I will quit my day job. Should I need a partner, then DH can get his license then.

Fatmaxxv,
Do you present yourself as a husband and wife team or does it just kind of work out that way with your husband assisting? Obviously only one agent is assigned to a client, but I am wondering how couples react to both of you in the car. Maybe its a comfortable situation for the client in that they can bouce ideas off of 2 agents, but I guess as a couple working together you might have to be a little careful in whats said from a fiduciary standpoint. Any thoughts?

My husband is NOT licensed. So, we would never present ourselves as husband-wife realtor team. My clients are clear on that. I dont know how all falls into place, but my clients usually love my husband's company. He is very knowledgeable, and guys gravitate towards the vast knowledge that he has about houses in general.

For the past 3 years, I never did run my business the way a realtor should ie no marketing. It's all through referals upon referals. Some of them are my husband's co-workers. I usually let them have their conversations (co-workers or not), but questions regarding the houses in particular, I will answer them.

Some examples: I have alot of first-time buyers, and the guy might ask, so how often do you need to change the air filter.... If the question was directed to him, he could answer. But specific question about the house buying process, the community, DOM, our strategy, etc. I usually discuss it. My husband may not "follow" me all the time. He enjoys driving us around so that I can focus more to attending my clients.

I hate to admit this, but I dont drive very well while looking at the map, answering their questions and trying to figure out where we are going next.....

I will tell my clients that if it's another personal that they want to only discuss with me, they can do that. Honestly, most of the time, the people we deal with look at both of us together (with our different knowledge about stuff) seem to work well for them.

greetings to my fellow texans,houstonians...

I too will be starting P/T with this early next year..

I work as a manager for a Papa Johns right now working mostly nights i will have time during the day to do things and my have to be creative on weekends for open houses and showing clients houses...

I think all agents should team up with another agent. The agent I team with I know I can trust and count on to help me out, for example, if I can't be at an inspection, and I help her out. Our partnership is not so much financial, in other words we don't split everything down the middle, but we do grab FSBOs together, and do some farming together and other things. there are a lot of advantages to having a partner especially a trusted one, since in this business everyone in the office is your competition, it's good to have someone you know you can bounce ideas off of.

Having a team member is a very good idea. However, you need to be very sure of your partner before entering into such an arrangement. Don't ever forget that their actions will reflect on you directly!

My work schedule is relatively flexible. There are usually 9-12 hours a week where I do not have control over my time, but it is generally fairly easy to work around those specific hours.

For one semester, I was commuting to lower Manhattan to teach a class once a week. THAT was a problem. No matter which way I chose to take that commmute (train or car) it invariably ended up being a 3 hour round trip. I preped the lab for about half an hour, taught for 3 hours, dealt with student's questions and issues for about 30 minutes to an hour. So that one day, I was out of the loop for over 7 hours. I will say that most agents do take one day a week off, but it also prevented me from taking an additional day off later in the week. So that wasn't the best mechanism for me.