Recently graduated from college without knowing what exactly I wanted to pursue for a career. Talked to career services, and they highly recommended I check out the real estate sector, given my personality and skills. I've been reading up a lot on real estate (a book every few days), and I can't put the books down.

I have a large passion for finance, sales, entrepreneurship, and architecture. This is the area I thought I wanted to be in...but then I read these message boards.

After skimming these boards for a few days, many members on here have discussed the high start-up cost and high failure rate. I'm a college student, and I do have some college debt. My bank account isn't loaded with 50k plus (as mentioned in another thread), so I'm starting to question whether or not I'll be able to start a career in real estate. Would it be bad to start in real estate straight out of college?

Rob,

That $50K figure was never explained. You will, however, probably need an income stream while building your business (just as you would with any other business) and you will have to arrive at that figure based on your needs. Many of the blog posts and books that you reference should help to assemble a pretty good business plan that will provide some valuable insights into expectations. You might also check with the alumni at your school to see if a practicing agent will meet with you for a few minutes or so for more information.

Just an FYI, you can get licensed while in school and/or work with a top producer in your local market to determine if RE is right for you. Most highly successful franchises encourage (and some require) that you work with one of their operators before making the investment and I'd recommend the same from RE.

Hope that helps.

I'm doing very well and I didn't have anywhere near $50,000.

You have to look at cost of living for your area along with your debt to determine break even living costs.Even if you get business right away and go under contract you are looking at 45 to 60 days to get a check.

Take all the books you read with a grain of salt. Every book and article was written in a specific TIME of the real estate cycle and that opinion may not be valid at all,partially valid,or completely valid today.

Biggest in my book is a mentor.You will not get the learning you need around the 90 percent of agents eating donuts and drinking coffee and explaining "IT'S THE MARKET" as to why I am not successful. Find a top producer in your chosen niche (land,commercial,residential,etc.) and they will be demanding but you will learn if you have what it takes.

Good luck

Forgot to mention the student loan debt from college you can get the payments deferred.

Just understand that if you stop making payments most states give the real estate commission the authority to suspend your license if you default on student loans or child support.

Plan on this because this is almost always true: You will not make any money for 2 years. And you will have plenty of expenses if you want to approach opening your business in the right way. So is this the right time to get in? Sure, if you can live comfortably with the slim early prospects. If you are living at home with the parents and don't have to pay for any living expenses, that would certainly be a plus.

Just be sure that very spotty income for 2 years is something you can stomach. You are opening a business and competing with other agents who ARE spending money, and you are young, so nobody is going to list their house with you. You will mainly be scraping along on buyers that you pick up from social networking and doing open houses for other agents, among other things. If you survive all this, it is a great business that you will grow to love like the veterans you see on this board. Just go in with your eyes open. Little and sometimes no income for months at a time. The situation slowly improves. And in 5-10 years you're setting the world on fire. The vast majority never reach the end game because they need money now. Real estate will not give you that.

Navarac,
VERY well said!

Rob94--Is this your dream? If so chase it like a greyhound would a wounded rabbit. Work EVERYDAY and don't get discouraged. Leverage your degree, but be humble enough to learn from those around you. Best wishes from Cajun country!

For every over-crowded, nearly-impossible profession, there's someone who beats the odds. You just might be the one. On a practical note, you will need to find a way to live during those "no pay" months.

Thank you everyone for the quick responses and valuable information. Taking what everyone here said, I've come up with a new question.

What other opportunities (non-agent) positions are available in the real estate sector? I'm thinking a job in the real estate sector outside of sales, would at least allow me to get my feet wet without taking the plunge at the start. There must be people behind the scenes doing the work too (administrative assistant), unfortunately when I visit the websites of Coldwell Banker, Century 21, etc, the jobs are always agent related.

There actually aren't a lot of career opportunities behind the scenes, other than basic office staffing. Yes, some agents have assistants, but they prefer that their assistants have experience - if someone is busy enough to need an assistant, they won't have time to train someone and there are plenty of experienced agents out there looking for steady work these days.

You won't find job postings for administrative folks on the websites - all the agents at a particular brokerage are independent contractors, so if they want help, they'll have to find it themselves.

The best way to learn about being a real estate agent is to be a real estate agent. Many say that selling real estate is an excellent 3rd or 4th job, as opposed to one's first career right out of school. I would agree with that on many levels.

There are other careers related to real estate, certainly - there are jobs at title companies, appraisal, home inspection, home-staging, home warranties, mortgage companies and home offices of big real estate franchises.