Hey all,

Just some background on me to start. I work in Public Safety project management for local government. My schedule is usually 7:30-4 Mon-Fri. Never work weekends except for large project cut-overs.

I am interested in getting into real estate as a part time hobby/extra income generator. I've already found some classes to take. Additionally, given the amount of interaction I have at my current job, and the various types of personalities I interact with, I am fairly confident that my communication style and personality would lend itself well to being a Realtor.

That said, I am uncertain of all the costs involved, as well as the feasibility to being able to turn a profit given that this will be a part time endeavor. I know of a few people in the same industry as I (but in private sector) who have been doing it for 5-10 years making a healthy amount of additional income, so I know its doable, but is probably difficult. I also understand that most new Realtors abandon the journey in the first two years.

I am comfortable not making money right away, as my current job keeps me afloat just fine, but am curious as to what I can expect to spend after the license phase. Do most brokers charge you outright for working with them, or do they just take a percentage of sales as their fee?

I'm comfortable with the fees involved in websites/business cards, etc. I started out work as a graphic designer/web designer, and would actually look forward to the opportunity of being able to be a little creative, though I imagine whatever broker I'd be under would restrict what I can do to that end.

I understand my question(s) is/are basic, and I apologize if they've been covered numerous times. I'm just looking for some general direction from those who have been there/done that.

I appreciate your time and attention to my topic.


Thanks all!


Dylan

Seems like someone, from somewhere, poses those same questions once every week or 10 days.

You can perform a quick search using the search feature in the right hand column --->

And then you'll be able to benefit from all of those prior discussions.

Just search on "part-time", or some variation of it.

Good luck out there.

IMHO Real Estate is not a part time business.

I agree. It has very flexible hours but it is a business and you do not start a business part time.

I also think it hurts our industry as a whole when people get into it part time.

Its a serious profession, not a "hobby" and as an agent you have serious fiduciary responsibilities towards your clients. Would you hire a lawyer who was part time to defend you in court? How can you effectively represent someone if you're working somewhere else 9-5; 5 days a week? How do you accompany them to settlement? How do you shepherd loans through underwriting? How do you deal with issues that pop up during business hours when you aren't reachable during business hours? How do you market your clients' listings? You can't.

I think we and the consumer would be a lot better off if it was a lot harder and more expensive to become licensed, and a lot harder and more expensive to remain licensed.

Sorry to be so harsh about it...but this is not a hobby. If you want to get into real estate as a hobby, buy yourself an investment property. Leave representing clients to the professionals.

I don't agree. If you are asking can I do real estate part time when my full time doesn't allow any personal calls between 9-5, well then maybe. But if your primary income allows you a little flexibility then maybe you can.

This is how I look at it. An average agent may have 8-10 listings and be working with 5-6 buyers at the same time. Each of them is a separate "job". When you are showing property to one, you can't be negotiating a contract with the other one. You have to schedule people at different times to handle all of your clients with the focus they deserve. Most of my buyer clients want to look at property after work and on weekends. Most sellers are in the same boat. A tremendous amount of the business is handled on the phone and by email and a lot of business happens after the close of normal business hours and on weekends.

When someone is starting out they may not have the luxury of saving up a years operating expenses. Just because you are a full time new agent doesn't mean that you are going to be smarter, or more better at your job than a part timer. I think someone can start slowly, perhaps only work with one buyer at a time or one or two listings.

i did it. many full-time agents will say "cant be done" or "you wont be as effective". thats BS! let your clients know your schedule and it's not an issue. most people work 8-5. good luck.

As long as there is full disclosure with it, I'm fine. Most part time agents completely atttempt to hide the fact that they are part time agents. Why? Simple. If the client were to find out, he would fire the agent in a nanosecond. And of course he would be right. If I were the client and I were making the biggest purchase of my life, I would not want to be represented by some dork who has a full time gig and is doing real estate "on the side". I would not use a part time agent any more than I would use a part time doctor, lawyer, or car mechanic.

Again, it all comes down to honesty and ethics. And if you have to lie to conduct your business, you are automatically a bad agent. And most part time agents are all about not telling the client that they are part timers.

I say this every time this subject comes up: While the client may work 8 to 5 and be okay meeting outside these hours, the businesses that are aligned with real estate also work 8 to 5. Lenders, title company, survey companies and so forth work M-F 8 to 5. So if you're off doiong you day job, it's difficult to keep up with the other side of the business.

Some people can make it work, but most cannot

Most posts against this are total BS.

First,of all I never seen a new part-time agent go to work in an office, and he is the only one there. Secondly, the listings belong to the broker and I never met a broker who didn't work with the agent when asked. So full time help is available, and if you find an office without a full time agent to work with you (maybe part of the split) and a broker to work with you, find a new office.

The agent here that keeps pipping up with the disclosure angle should take it further and declare how much business he has to service has and how many hours will be devoted to finding new business, and his disclosure will show he has less time to serve this new client then the new part time agent. But that won't happen, honesty only goes so far and disillusionment only goes a little further. Office co-op makes you full time equivalent, plus most full time agents are part time..

Brian, you have to consider that we are in the age of instant everything. Instant messaging, text messages, smart phones and so forth.
Today's buyer (and seller) expect immediate answers and someone working a day job might not be able to respond quickly. I really think that impacts their ability to properly serve their client, if that is what the client expects.

But on the other side of the argument, one of the best part time agents I ever worked with was a "team" of part-timers, they were four fire-rescue workers who worked different shifts, so at least two of them were always available. They actually marketed themselves that way and were very successful. I know another that is a high school teacher and coach who seems to do okay. But I've also seen that the majority who are chained to a location 40 or more hours a week just flounder in the business for a short while and then leave.

Exactly. Full time gig plus realtor on the side almost always equals failure and bad service.

And let's not forget the more important issue. Some of the less intelligent part timers on a guilt trip make the utterly stupid argument that a full time realtor has "other listings" that will take up as much time as the part timer's day job. This argument makes me again question the educational levels required to get into this field. A full time realtor economizes time in such a way that all the problems of his clients get solved efficeintly and immediately. BUT HE IS ALWAYS SOLVING REAL ESTATE PROBLEMS! Not working on fuel injectors or restaurant management or cost accounting. A full time realtor becomes a powerhouse of real estate problem-solving because he is doing it all the time.

A part timer is defrauding the public by representing himself or herself as someone who can be trusted to solve problems related to the largest single transaction in most people's lives.

Is THAT who someone the public would choose if they knew it? Of course not. Part timers eventually leave the business at a 90% clip ANYWAY. If they were forced to be honest with the public and disclose their hobby status, that figure would approach 100%. My broker no longer even entertains hiring part timers. They are nothing but a liability issue as they attempt to stumble and bumble their way through transactions, begging others in the office to handle problems they cannot get to, paying agents to attend home inspections for them instead of being there themselves to help point out issues with the home, and a thousand et ceteras.

I think the industry should prohibit part timers altogether. They are bad for the profession, their clients, and themselves.

Excuse me, but Real Estate is not a hobby. It is an industry that encompasses many different small business owners, who normally think of themselves as professionals. Some of whom are: Loan Officers, Appraisers, Home Inspectors, Title Reps, and yes, Real Estate Agents. Whether these people are working part time or full time, it is hardly a hobby, like I don't know, building modle planes, or Farmville, or something. And to put our chosen professions in such a class demeans what we have chosen to do, and all the clients we have helped over the years.

/end rant.

Whenever this topic comes up, I think of the lyrics from Billie Joel's Piano Man -

John's a real estate novelist who never had time for a wife.

Makes me think of people who say -- Well, I'll just do it until something better comes along

To me it all depends on your relationship with your Clients. I am always available but I don't work every week 40-50 hours doing Real Estate. There's an ebb and flow to the business.

Done right, I think you can make it work but it will be a challenge.

Good luck!

Thanks--Mario

None of you address the issue that the majority of full time agents are really part time. Maybe what should be be disclosed is your volume for the last three years.

You go into any very large office and if I counted the full time agents working full time you would find them in the minority. Just showing up at the office to BS and put in some hours is not working. All too many of the full time agents if they didn't have a working spouse, or some other income (e.g. alimony) would be homeless. Available hours does not equate to quality.

The part-time agents I accepted outproduced the average full time Coldwell-Banker agent down the street and most became full time. Not picking on Coldwell-Banker they were just the office down the street, and well established in my market place. As a matter of fact I remember when they had 3 names, do any of you CB agents know the 3rd name?

Also, the instant age concept is really isn't much different then it was, people always wanted it now or yesterday, and then when they got it they were as slow as everybody else. Do you want good or do you want instant? Yes, I know you want both but I'll cater to good and well satisfied clients. And any prospect that can't wait a few hours for something is just generally a pain from beginning to end and I tell them rush jobs have a higher rate just like most businesses.

The real instant age done right with a brainwashed society will put us out of business. Computers will do your thinking and you will conform or pay the consequences dealt out by the mandatory chip attached to your nervous system after birth.

Besides instant age people think they are doing all the work and they should get the dollars while you should only get pennies for any effort you added to their effort. The first thing I expect to hear from a net nerd is how large of discount are you prepared to give me? Answer, none. Response, well I read on the net...

I agree some full time agent act like part timers but the differance between a full time agent and a part timer is that part timers for the most part will be on the employers clock while doing real estate bussiness, (Texting, answering phone calls and trying to talk to co-worker about real estate, so now you have two maybe more on the clock doing something other than working for what the employment calls for. The so call full /part timer is not on any bodies clock except his own without pay.

Most certainly it isn't! And I'm somone who started out part time. That was ONLY because I wasn't working with alot of money outside of costs for taking classes and what I knew it would costs to get started (NAR, MLS, etc). But I knew I wasn't going to stay part time.

If you're starting part time, I highly suggest:

1. Understand if you want to get into RE as a hobby, just buy properties and flip them, this is a PROFESSION where you're among bonafide real estate professionals...you have people who are not just listing and selling homes, they are on committees, meet with people in the legistlative sector, and are going all out to do their part in seeing to it that REALTORS and agents begin to get a great reputation again. You being part-time and doing it as a hobby, are going to get eaten alive by these professionals...

2. have a SOLID plan to go fulltime in 6-12 months

3. make a business plan that is working around your being part time, once you go fulltime, I suggest you do another one

4. understand, although you're part time, you pay the same fees as fulltime agents

5. understand you cannot take on the same volume of business as a FT agent and that you probably only want to be a listing agent until you're fulltime and can REALLY work with buyers...

6. this part time hobby is going to cost you alot of money...expect to spend more than you make for about 12-18 months

7. have more respect for the industry and stop calling/looking at this as a hobby