? I thought Vermont 2nd to last post did have something to offer. Maybe go back and re-read what was posted. Also I noticed that you stated you were the only one of view who hold a Blk Belt in Brazilian Jui Jitsu in the Ontario area. Why not supplement your income with teaching at your school or opening up your own dojo at a youth club or gym? With the popularity of MMA you should do decent part-time. This would also add to your SOI.

I very aware of what Vermount offered, and I did ( and do ) appreciate it!

I hope it does not seem that I am ungrateful.

Somewhere I feel he got frustrated with me and I only wanted to assert he does not need to be so.

My address to him specifically about not answering my question ( and I should've been more clear ) was that he never replied about hours of work.

It's one thing to struggle in realty; It's only a job! But to struggle interpersonally with your immediate family is not a route to true success in life.

As far as MMA, on the surface it may seem profitable, but most all the people coming in are kids who have little to no income and everyone seems to "get a break".

Leases are through the roof and getting a decent network together involves carrying costs.

Thank you DelCid ! I suspect many people look at Real Estate and want to equate it objectively to more concrete lines of endeavor. This industry, even in Canada, evolved to provide the maximum service to the greatest number of people among the members of the General Public.

It's a service business. On average, we probably only get paid for about 1% of the work we do. And we do get paid well for that 1%. The other 99% is done for free as a service to the community. Everyone in this business strives to push that paid proportion up and reduce the ratio of the un-paid portion. They are not stupid.

And it's true, some Practitioners actually discover little secrets that help balance the relationship . . . . but no one I have met has discovered a secret that allows them to be paid for ALL their effort. We're all on that continuum between 1% and 99%. Actually, I've known several aspiring Agents who made not even 1% . . . . not even enough to pay for what it cost to prepare for their Exam and obtaining a License; but they had their chance !

The Industry's trick in making us want to work so hard is that we never know for sure which is the 1% of effort that will produce a pay day. If we knew, we would skip that other 99%. But this is a world of uncertainty, and we don't know which tasks will provide a reward . . . . so we have to provide a high level of service to ALL. That's how the General Public benefits from this structure, and why the industry will NEVER lend itself to salaried or hourly workers . . . . they could never be motivated to do as good a job as those incentivized by the prospect of a sizable commission.

Anyone who thinks they can somehow equate Real Estate to a Machinist's Job where an hourly rate and benefits is negotiated by the Trade Union, and the work is automatically supplied by the Employer, may well find that Real Estate is way, way too uncertain. Other people thrive on the uncertainty . . . . everyone is different, and not all are psychologically outfitted to deal with the level of frustration and the deferred gratification that is inherent in Real Estate.

Others cannot deal with the fact that we have more "Bosses" than any other Profession . . . . when you include the individual Brokers; the State Real Estate Commissions; the Nat'l, State and Local REALTORŪ Organizations; the MLS Authorities; and the individual Buyers and Sellers who actually hire us as Agents; plus the Customers who have come to expect Full Service, even though they are NOT Clients. It's not for everyone!

And even when we have work, there is NO GUARANTEE that anything we do will produce a pay check. These stupid BPOs are the closest thing to certainty . . . . but even payment for them can be a bit fickle . . . . . as hundreds of Posts on this Forum attest.

No one "has to" work week-ends in this business. No one "has to" work nights. You just have to be on call anytime a Client or Customer is in need of service . . . . and you WANT to be there! And you probably have to plan on doing it in order to get started and to put food on the table. Many think that they will be the exception . . . . and so, many are fooled; they will adapt to the system or be left without a pay day.

If we choose not to respond when a service is needed, then rest assured, the marketplace is filled with other ready and able Competitors who are all too willing to take the chance that this might be their 1%! You snooze and you lose. That's the reality. It's a pretty fair system; but it's an "unforgiving system".

I'll leave it to others to comment about the number of hours in a Real Estate Work Week using more detailed terms . . . . and especially from those who are successful and still are of the opinion that "It's only a job !" But a job that's like no other job.

I just got home at 9:15. would have been home at 8:30 but I had to stop and buy supper to bring home to the hungry crew. Been out of the house since 8:45 a.m...and I worked non stop all day.

If I were you I would still look at commercial firms and go that route.More business hours,family time,normalcy,greater income.

I have owned multiple businesses before in the automotive and restaurant industries. I made tons of money but was miserable.

I don't like working weekends or nights period. When I started real estate and saw how residential was I knew it wouldn't work out.It was exactly what I was trying to get away from in my other businesses.

Then commercial real estate came along.My average closing is 5 to 6 figures a deal in commission.Since I am the broker I keep it all. I specialize in apartment buildings from usually 20 units up into the hundreds of units.

I would not want to do what Perky does although I an glad she is having tremendous success.

So you have to make a choice on what you want in life.

Good luck-I wish you the best

From my experience when I've discussed the topic with people who work 9-5 jobs, some of them think I get paid in CASH and that somehow the IRS doesn't find out how much I make. I had some friends who worked for the government, their goal when they retired (at $60,000 a year apiece paid for out of my tax dollars) was to move to a state with no state income tax and open a little antique store where they could get CASH and not have to REPORT IT, because they couldn't AFFORD to show any more INCOME! (LOL, I can still hear them say it). When I freelanced as an illustrator I had the same misconception about my earnings. In the case of real estate a lot of them still think we get paid 6% and get to keep it all.

^Most people I know think real estate agents get the entire 6%. Never stopping to think, that means the seller would have to pay 12% when it's a co-broke.

My personal favorite is when people (even other realtors) say I get "double commission" when I sell my own listing. I do not - I get "full commission." If someone else sells it I get "half" the commission. Just a matter of semantics but what sounds more like a greedy killing - getting "full pay" or "double pay?"

Many also have no idea that my van is not a company car - it's all mine and I pay all my expenses for it whether I get paid or not. I do not get any kind of salary at all from my broker but yet, many think I do. It's crazy that so many are so misinformed in this world of information!

[quote=Perky_REALTOR]^Most people I know think real estate agents get the entire 6%. Never stopping to think, that means the seller would have to pay 12% when it's a co-broke.

My personal favorite is when people (even other realtors) say I get "double commission" when I sell my own listing. I do not - I get "full commission." If someone else sells it I get "half" the commission. Just a matter of semantics but what sounds more like a greedy killing - getting "full pay" or "double pay?"

Many also have no idea that my van is not a company car - it's all mine and I pay all my expenses for it whether I get paid or not. I do not get any kind of salary at all from my broker but yet, many think I do. It's crazy that so many are so misinformed in this world of information! [/quote]

That's why people SHOULD ask questions, and everyone should be flattered to share the knowledge they have.

If people can restrain themselves from any frustrations of what could seem like endless questions and fill others with knowledge there'd be no surprise to how little other people know.

I agree. The World needs some fixin' !

But where should we start ?

[quote=super realtor]If I were you I would still look at commercial firms and go that route.More business hours,family time,normalcy,greater income.

I have owned multiple businesses before in the automotive and restaurant industries. I made tons of money but was miserable.

I don't like working weekends or nights period. When I started real estate and saw how residential was I knew it wouldn't work out.It was exactly what I was trying to get away from in my other businesses.

Then commercial real estate came along.My average closing is 5 to 6 figures a deal in commission.Since I am the broker I keep it all. I specialize in apartment buildings from usually 20 units up into the hundreds of units.

I would not want to do what Perky does although I an glad she is having tremendous success.

So you have to make a choice on what you want in life.

Good luck-I wish you the best [/quote]

Thank you, definitely worth looking into.

My wife talked to a friend who has a good friend in the commercial side of real estate. According to him business is good and he works way less than the avg. guy.

Can I email you if I have any questions as I investigate more?

[quote=Vermont][quote=Perky_REALTOR]It's crazy that so many are so misinformed in this world of information! [/quote]
I agree. The World needs some fixin' !

But where should we start ? [/quote]

If you want people to be more informed , a good starting point would be to inform them by answering all of their questions no matter how ill you beleive them to be. If you give people the confidence that they can ask you anything, and you really do have some appreciable knowledge than I think ALOT more people would be informed.

Just an example, but if someone acts in any manner that may make others feel like their questions are not valid or worth investigating than people will not come back to that someone.

In my trade, I learned early as an apprentice that you really had to dig at the senior tradesmen HARD to get any info. out of them that you NEEDED.

Some guys you could crack and others were impossible, but all of them did not want to give anything at first.

Some apprentices learned this, some didn't. Those that didn't eventually become licensed to be incompetent even though they served their time and asked the questions.

You're right! This is a crazy ill informed world.

I've always had a saying and I use it everytime I help someone move. "You're either helping or your in the way".

Understand this:

Some questions DO NOT have specific answers that apply to everyone.

Maybe in the tool and die world, and the world of physics and chemistry, earthly elements have specific measurable properties and behave with a level of predictability.

But, in the world of human relationships and marketing, such is not the case. Searching for an answer to the question:

How much will I make in Real Estate and how long and hard will I have to work in order to make it? . . . . is a question that can only be answered by attempting to do it.

That is "your" research project. Five (5) years from now you will have the answer. Until then, your answer will always remain nebulous.

If you get to the point of negotiating an Independent Contractor Agreement, you can ask for a special clause to be inserted guaranteeing you a certain level of compensation in return for a not-to-exceed number of convenient hours.

295- You can pm me a few questions but most of what you will learn will be market specific in commercial.

I am trying to limit my time to 10 minutes a day on this site as I am just to busy to breathe right now.

Everyone and their brother is gobbling up properties on the commercial side right now to get great interest rates and terms with loose financing.

Commercial in my opinion in 4 to 5 years from now will be much more restricted like residential is today at least in the U.S market.

I was licensed in 1995 - my mother still calls and wants to know how business is. Oh please - I am an R/M agent and that number is PUFFED UP. Please remember they are a corporation - geared toward getting agents. I love the big balloon and the brand name recognition and in the old days - just the company behind me meant I was walking out the door with the listing paperwork signed. Now I only list reo and they don't care what company is behind me. Now in answer to the question if I had all the money in the world what would I do? I would love to be a jewel thief but I do not want to go to jail - so if you remove the jail component - I would do it - just for the fun of getting away with it. Kinda like a Pink Panther kind of thing - slick - tons of planning - ya know - Oceans 11, 12 and 13. Seems like fun.

That's why education is so important. I always ask sellers how many houses they have bought, how many they've sold. When was the last time they bought a house and how did they find it. Most haven't bought a house in 20 years and we know how different it was back then: they looked in the paper, called an agent and asked what they had for sale with 3 bedrooms. Some have never sold a house. I explain why it is important that they hire THIS particular Prudential agent. Sometimes I'm going up against another agent in my own office, expecially with expireds.