I am currently studying for my brokers license and I am still deciding on whether to go go commercial or residential. My question to everyone is what are your thoughts on the differences and which one would you choose and why?

Just looking for some thoughts and opinions.....

Thanks

Have you already worked as a Real Estate Sales Person ?

What aspects of the Real Estate process do you enjoy ?

Go with that aspect which produces the greatest excitement for "you" and that contagion will be communicated.

In either case, this IS NOT a business that will ever work for those who require immediate gratification. It certainly doesn't provide that.

This is a great time to work in residential real estate for buyers. In my market we are seeing a nice surge of home sales from 1st time buyers looking for the tax credit. I suggest going after the residential buyer market. Good luck!

IN your market, which type of real estate posts the most number of closings each month? I would go with the type that offers the most. My thinking is that a new agent would want to work in an area that offers the most opportunity. On the other hand, why not do both if you can?
Clay Branyon
North Beach Realty
www.northmyrtlebeachrealestatesales.com

Not much is moving in commercial right now except for distressed debt.

Construction projects and acquisitions for most retail developers and businesses have dried up as not much money is available on wall street and they are waiting for terms and down payment options to get better before most make a move.

All the cash vulture funds want things for pennies on the dollar and regular commercial sellers are saying (no thanks) we will wait out the market to improve.

From a new agent point of view, there are a few strikes against you trying to break into commercial:

1. It can be a much longer process from contract to closing. That means a longer wait for a paycheck.

2. In many markets, it's a legacy business. Children follow parents into the business.

3. There's a much deeper skill set needed. Commercial is more of an investment business than residential and commercial buyers and sellers expect a much more detailed analysis from their broker.

4. The business itself is much less transparent and subjected to softer regulation. The assumption is that buyers and sellers have a larger working knowledge of the process so disclosure requirements are less stringent. And when working with a business opportunity, a seller generally wants more secrecy in handling of their financials and results.

There's plenty more -- and I'm sure a few members here can provide more examples.

Having just closed my first commercial property I'm in no hurry to list another one. Residential and Commercial are two different beasts.

I found the Commercial side to be alot more formal. The buyer and seller were looking at bottomline numbers, not personality. Bring in the offer present it to the Board, we will make our decision.

The buyer ran his numbers decided what made since to him and offered.

Once the deal was in place their was no immediate rush to close the deal. It finally closed it was a nice payday, but I did wise up and cut in a commercial broker to guide me. I learned alot and looking for the client to relocate them into another building, but after all this, I think I will stick with residential.

Commercial sales felt like a job to me, I did what the Lawyers said to do. Residential excites me, the players have more emotions.