I have been thinking the same thing. Right now I do temp work. I am on a month long job but at the end of this month I will plan to go into the office to begin working on my training and gain as much knowledge as I can. I am thinking to maybe work 2-3 days a week. I was also thinking of finding an evening job. Or maybe even a job that I can get off from work at noon (That would be ideal).

I know what you mean. I thought I was one of the few agents out there with a Ph.D. in a "high-tech" field. I've found several agents who left their training behind them as well!

Adjuncting is a bit different. You do have to commit in advance, and generally speaking you are in the 7th circle of hell during the final three weeks of the semester. (My last set of grades are due Monday). But I am only actually teaching 9-15 hours a week. There is a great deal of prep work for lectures which are done on powerpoint. But this can be done on my own time. I try to pick class times that work with my customer's needs. All in all, it works out pretty well.

Agent with PHD? I admire you!

I am in the high tech field too as an engineering
manager, just got my license and thinking about
getting my broker license as well. I did not acounce to anyone, not even my body at work, that I have the license. Or else there is this image of unprofessionalism. I am just tired with the pace of work, 16 hours days then still read email till dawn. including weekends .. I am seriously thinking to quite and do real estate. Which is why I just got the license ....

You learn who your friends are. There is a certain elitism in technology and science. We get paid piddle for what we do, we work ridiculous hours for this tiny compensation. But when you finally bail out - your colleagues tell you that you "sold out". No, I didn't "sell out". I realized that the hours either had to decrease or the work had to start PAYING a living wage. I saw no living wage in my future. Working like hell in a race to the bottom is not a wise move.

I remember spending about 4 hours in one direction just trying to enter the Lincoln Tunnel toward Jersey to get home from Park Ave. (the UN was in session or the President was there or something). When I got home, my one-year old said something that sounded like a real word and the wife said that she had been doing that for two weeks. I knew that something had to be done then.

The money was great, but I simply was not fulfilled and that one-sided, subjective performance appraisal didn't help. My wife got transferred back home to the Southeast, we sold our house and made some good cash. We started evaluating some small business ideas and finally arrived in real estate. Down market or not, this is still better than corporate in my humble opinion.

Though not a PhD I did spend a few decades in industry. Most of it temperature sensor design work primarily for the aerospace industry. That business was feast or famine depending on contracts with the military, commercial aircraft and general aviation markets. When it was feast all was good (even had my own plane for a while, still licensed) but when it was famine I was the candidate for RIF (probably because I was paid well for what I did). The roller coaster gets tiring after a while and got my first real estate license as move toward controlling my own future. After the salesperson license I got a broker license and more recently split from previous broker to work on my own.

I would consider "retirement" my second job as real estate continues to be my primary job!

Mr. foreclosure: I share your sentiment. Working as an engineer in silicon valley for 20 year, I have seen it all. The pay and perk are real good. Even though I don't have my plane,
but I can definitely buy 2 average
california home no problem. But I am more and more tired of the fast pace and the extra long hours. More like 80+ hour per week jobs! I want to "retire" from it, but I want to do something. Real estate has always been my passion, and I had invested in some properties.

I was thinking in the line of your footsteps. I just passed my sales persons exam and awaiting license. I do want to go and get my broker license and have just ordered the course. Should not be difficult. Want to work in sales for a few years and then on my own. Just that Real Estate sales is a totally new field for me. Still a little scared, but I have no problem work this job at the same focus and energy as my current job. I figure I should do OK. Wish me luck

Unfortunately, I never enjoyed a high income. I'd have more leeway now if I did. Biological sciences (even biotech) has been so inundated with H1-B visa people that the gravey train was over before I finished the doctorate. I went into the program expecting a nice fat paycheck at the end of the tunnel. But even after the Ph.D. you are STILL in the tunnel.

When I entered, you could easily manage a $70k job fresh from your degree, even more if you did a 2-3 year post-doc. By the time I graduated I knew I wouldn't be using the degree. The "real jobs" were only going to people who had had upwards of 7 years of post-docing. Post docs are slave labor. You start at $30k, top off at about $40k. Work about 60-80 hours a week and be guaranteed NOTHING - not even health insurance. Most people were now finding 3-4 post-docs necessary before a "real job" materializes.

The market had been glutted with foreign Grad students and post-docs and the investigators who benefit from the slave labor were in charge of policy. The way these people are treated (foreign and domestic) should be a national embarassment. Meanwhile the media "spins" the lack of scientists to our poor education system. No, its the MONEY or lack thereof!

I saw the writing on the wall and abandoned ship before I "invested" any more precious time in an endless indenture. You can only keep that carrot in front of the donkey for so long.

Kelingdun: You got it! I hereby officially wish you luck (and good fortune, etc.) ;-)

Good luck Kelingdon!!! That's hard to walk away from....almost frightening. I know that I would be daunted by such a move. As someone who has been there with the very long hours - I know how it wears you down. I don't know if I would have had the courage to leave that kind of security though. It takes a lot of guts to do that. For me it was a no-brainer. I had the long hours without the money to go with it. For those kind of hours the $$$ absolutely has to be there.

I agree it's not easy. But I want to keep my sanity. Even as I surface here, I am looking at 300+ emails left to process. I don't see myself
keeping like this any longer. You know what I think? I think if I work this hard with the real estate, I should be able to make the same pay!? But honestly, if I tell you I am not scared, I am lying to you. Yeah, walking away from the security is not easy.

From what I can see, it takes time. I have had to supplement my income. No choice at all. Right now I am making slightly LESS than I made as a scientist. Since I made almost nothing in science, that's not good. The supplementary income pushed my income OVER what I made as a scientist by a few thousand. However, I put so much back into the business that I came up with even less this first year. I made 0 money my first 6 months and I am only counting this calandar year. So I am hurting badly.

I changed brokers, There were too many fees and not enough perks and with the split that I was getting (with franchise fees I only kept 42%) I expected some nice toasty hot leads which never materialized. I got there and all of a sudden, I had an 8% franchise fee, phone fees, voice mail fees, rather high E& O, parking fees, taking up space fees...you get the picture. I felt like hands were always in my pockets TAKING and nothing was being put in - yet the brokerage did rather well by me. No good! If that happens walk! There is always another place to hang your license.

I'm also working 60 hours a week. THat was a stress I was hoping to leave behind.

For the first 4.5 months I waited tables in the evening (which is what I did prior to RE). I kept my phone in my back pocket and sometimes would be in the walk-in cooler telling people about a house. The restaurant gave me a set schedule so if someone wanted to see a house on one of my restaurant nights I would tell them I have a prior appointment and show them the next day (never waited tables 2 days in a row). It worked out really well. I quit there a few weeks ago, but they left me in the system as an employee, so in case things get slow, I can always go in and work a night or two to pay the electric bill or something.

I made an appointment with an employment agency to possibly look into a full time night job in order to leave my days open for real estate. I haven't sent away for my license yet and won't until I'm sure of how I will set things up. It definitely will be humbling if I have to work in a warehouse or similar but one does have to sacrifice sometimes for a better future.

I would do my research of fees and any related agent costs before joining a realty office. The office I almost joined had no desk, phone, copy fees. They provided free business cards, advertised your listings for free and quite a few more freebies were included. They only charge a $15/month general office fee for company parties and get togethers.