QUOTE (housingrental @ Nov 2 2010, 09:49 AM) Hi Godfried
Potential for $40 + dollars an hour for the first year of a job that requires less than half year of training isn`t much to complain about.
To ensure decent $$ while being a realtor you need to create an efficient lead generation system. Big $$$ on self promotion and the majority of time spent on work that doesn`t add value to a client can make your job less profitable. Same idea with administration and document prep work - this can be cut down, and when hired out to an administrator at ~$15 and hour allows for higher potentially hourly wage rate for the realtor. The challenge is creating effective systems and then generating enough business to keep you and your support staff busy. If you have minimal dead time between appointments, a solid backbone, and low cost per client acquired, there is big $$$$ to be made from being a realtor.
The recent changes forced on the industry will make things tougher, but there will always be the top portion that structure a profitable business for themselves.
It sounds like your you have decided to quit a race just as you started because you think you are too far from the finish line.
Adam,
You are wrong. It is plain not economic for me. Maybe it is for others but I make more money elsewhere with a lot less effort and a lot less liability. For a rookie Realtor there maybe some opportunity. Look like what Brett Turner of RedLine has achieved in under a decade. For me this is no option, I was looking for a retirement job and I ended up in a highly competitive market where the general public does not appreciate the services provided - just check out this board.
I did some statistics and the job of Realtor is not a fat pot, not even for many Realtors that are in the business for 10 years or longer. Yes in a fat year you may make $100,000 plus (top 5-10% of Realtors) but in the next down turn you make $30,000. A plumber charges $95 per hour. A house cleaning service cleans your place for between $80 and $125 per hour. I sold 6 places in 6 months after spending $10,000 for setting this business up and making approximately $2000 per month after expenses (not counting the education expenses). Shoot my daughter in a part time job at the grocery store makes not much less.
Even if I doubled to $4000 per month next year or $8,000 per month 3 years from now, that is not enough in my books. Because to do so requires a full time job and lots of overtime and another 3 years investment. Heck, a junior engineer makes $60,000 per year on day one! Average household income in Calgary is right now $70,000 per year and I should be happy with $96,000 after four years of fighting in the trenches and which requires me to be in the top 10 - 05% of my profession? Did you know that with my 6 sales I was in the top 40% of Calgary Realtors? In October there were 880 properties sold by 5500 plus Realtors in Calgary that is 0.2 property per Realtor. There are a lot easier ways to make that kind of money than being a Realtor.
In my books, the guys that do this work for 5 years or longer truly love what they`re doing and they love real estate. There is no doubt in my mind that a Realtor is worth his/her money no matter what some people on this website say. Don Campbell says to become a successful Real Estate investor you have to have a good team on your side to delegate work to; for me that includes a good Realtor not one who is desparate to carve out a living with the competition bureau breathing down his/her neck. If you don`t want to pay what a Realtor is worth that is your choice. But in the end, you get what you pay for.
As a succesful Real Estate investor who works in employment and buys Real Estate for future retirement income you have to delegate. You cannot do this work all by yourself. Manage properties, do the bookkeeping, look after your legal affairs, looking for your next investment. You need a good team and that includes a good Realtor. For such an investor to build a 10 year career as Realtor to become an expert in that field is probably not economic. Your time is much beter spend elsewhere: investing in real estate and earning a good daily income in your own field of expertise. Chances are you make more in your career than you ever will as a Realtor. This is for me the case and that is why it is not an economic option for me to be an Realtor.
This is not to complain about my choice to becoming a Realtor. It was a great life experience I would not have want to do without. If you want to learn more about real estate I highly recommend trying being a Realtor for a year or two. Just don`t expect to make money.
