I never introduced myself officially, so I'll go on here. I'm from Louisiana and looking to get my license soon. I've registered for classes September 14-26. After that I'll go ahead and get my license.

I emailed a broker to see about meeting after I finished my classes. She wanted to meet today, so I went out to meet her. She's with Coldwell Banker, and at an office about 40 mins from my house. There are offices about 25 mins away(2 in opposite directions) but I am wondering if I would be better off working with this office.

The office is located in New Orleans, but I live about 35 mintues outside of NO. I figured if I was working at that office I could pick up leads on property and clients in the city as well as work my local area at least until I csn get more established.

Do you think this is a good idea or do you feel I will be spreading myself too thin?

My office is about 20 feet away from my bedroom.

Get up and go to work helping my agents on the computer and phones all day. Life is good

The broker will make the difference. If you feel good about the meeting go for it. Remember you could have a broker closer but not very good so distance isn't everything.

My office is the same distance away from my bedroom as Super's. But before this I worked at an office 30 minutes away. But due to my countryside living there weren't many offices closer. I'd say base your decision on the office itself not the distance.

I have only met with one broker, but I plan to meet with a few more. I really liked this lady and she seemed that she was sincere and wanted to help me become successful.

It is with Coldwell Banker and they are rather new to the area. I feel there is room to grow, especially where I live. Ideally I'd like to use about 1/2 of my time attempting leads(FSBO's, expired listings, mass mailings maybe) in my area and about 1/2 of the time in the area the office is is.

One big benefit we have here is that we had a rather large housing boom here following Katrina, being about 1/2 hour from New Orleans. I feel that now, 4 years later, people may be restless and ready to move back to the city slowly since it is getting back to normal. In other words, there are a lot of subdivisions around 4-5 years old, which my broker has said will possibly be my prospects in my local area.

Less than ten minutes. I almost signed up with an office that would be 40 mins away, and I thought long and hard about it and realized what a pain that would be.

My office is 20 minutes away but half the time I work from home. But you shouldn't decide on which office to go to by the distance from your home.

I live about 15 minutes away and haven't been into my office in about 2 weeks.
Does the New Orleans Metropolitan Board of Realtors MLS area extend out to where you live and want to farm (cultivate listings/buyers) in ?

My office is about 20-25 minutes away, depending on road construction, but I work mostly from home and I live in rural area. I go in once a day to check the mail and say "Hi". That's from an established agents perspective.

From a newbie perspective: Commute can be important due to cost, but consider the training you'll be getting, floor time, how does their lead generation work, what's included in your office fees, what's not.

In the end it will probably come down to the training program and the "feel" of the office and how approachable the broker is.

Good Luck!

Just celebrated my one year anniversary as a realtor AND an agent for a company that is 40-45 mins away from my home. It was a no brainer for me - they let me work part time to start with (just recently went full time with them!), I have my own office with NO desk fees, my BIC has been a great mentor and there are only 2 other agents in the office, and they mostly handle auctions. Now, I only go to the office 2-3 days a week and work from home the rest of the time. I would say definitely go by the office and NOT the distance - as a matter of fact, that 40 minute drive is my prayer time on the way to work and my wind-down time on the way home! Good luck!

Lisa in NC
United Country Stone Auction & Realty

My rod can get me there in 20, but I prefer to drive civilly and arrive in 30. Like many others, my actual office is 25 - 35 steps from the bedroom depending on whether or not there's a tea stop along the way. I enjoy working from home and it's a good thing because I'm often here a lot at night.

I've been working more from home than previously - the office tends to get annoying sometimes with all the drama and the hypocrisy... For instance, one agent likes to "shush" you if you walk by the copy machine while having a cell phone conversation (and she's not on the phone or anything)...yet, she will guffaw and laugh and screech and carry on as loudly as she wants to when she's got a funny story to tell someone....another person is bipolar and you never know if she's going to reply civilly or flip out at you when you say hello...lol....

But to me it was important to be close to the office.

Ah yes Perky, people can be charming ;-)

What can you do, just smile and keep on truck'n...

My office is approx 5 minutes from home. This comes in handy meeting clients to write up offers, research, etc...

Meeting at coffee shops is not practical here as one closes at 1pm and the "late night" shop closes at 6pm!

My office is 2 flights of steps away. When I have to return to the mother ship its 15 miles. Its rare that I go to the actual office. I turn all paperwork in via fax and email, checks I send in the mail, and commission checks are direct deposit.

I have always worked from a home office. Even when I was in the Corporate world my home office was an extension of my cube.

Lance- Welcome to the forums and best of luck.

My Keller Williams office is about 12 minutes from my home. This is convenient when I want to attend training seminars or agent meetings during the week. Like most Realtors, I do a lot of my work from my home office as well. It varies from week to week depending on my schedule and on the training being offered that week.

Although distance shouldn't dictate where you ultimately end up, I would try to minimize your commute if possible. Granted you can use some of your travel time to listen to real estate training CD's, audio books, etc. but over time a 40-50 minute commute will grow old. Trust me, I've done it. Not to mention the cost of fuel and wear and tear on your vehicle.

Mark Smith
Broker Associate
Keller Williams Realty
www.marksmithhomes.com