New Career Advice.

[White92]

I'm looking into changing careers. I've hit a wall in deciding what to do so I thought I would look outside of my comforst zone and try something completely new. My wife suggested I look into real estate. Sounds good to me. The problem is that I don't know anyone in this business at all. I've always had the notion that it's not what you know, it's who you know that gets your foot in the door. So does anyone have any advice for someone looking into this line of work?
I've already looked at a few schools to get licensed, but it seems like they just want your money. When I went to check them out, it was very similar to a used car lot where the first thing they want to talk about is the money. I'm always turned off at things like that, but I know that I will have to go through one of them to get licensed, so that's fine.
Basically, I'm just looking for anything and everything that you all want to throw at me to steer me towards or away from this decision. I know it will be a ton of work and very long hours. That's fine with me. I'm not afraid of that. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[lemansnsx]

If real estate is what you have decided on I'm thinking that you need a mentor to get you pointed in the right direction and avoid wasting a lot of time and money. I'd try to find out who are the most successful realtors in your area and then try to find some hook to get some time with one or two of them.

The first realtor name I came up with on a quick google for your town was a guy named Jerry and he works for Century 21.
http://www.century21.com/meet/office_detail_staff.aspx?office_key=10011131
The bottom of the page has a link to a careers page which might give you some pointers.

 

[White92]

Yes, that's my next step. There is actually a REMAX office in the building that I'm currenty working in. I plan on stopping in there soon to see if I can pick their brain and or "mentor" with someone there.

 

[hlweyl]

What level of education do you have and are you willing to go back to school?

 

[O-Ace]

It doesn't really matter where you take your real estate class. I took mine at the local community college. As far as finding a mentor goes; I'm sure the local broker will be glad to spend a little time with you to give you an overview of the industry, but I doubt anyone will hold your hand from start to finish. As long as you're social, and have a lot of contacts and know how to market yourself, you'll do well in the real estate business. Btw, I'm assuming you want to become a real estate broker/agent.

-Awais

 

[DocL]

Real estate can be a great career if you spend the time to network and keep with it. My wife passed the state licensing exam six weeks before our wedding and set her goal to have three listings before we left for Las Vegas. Not only did she meet her goal, but she had one listing go into contract the day we left. Not too bad for only being in the biz for six weeks. She was also very lucky to have been teamed with a good field trainer and their personalities, although different, complement each other and that helped both of them to get the new listings. If you have family and friends that live near you, they can be the source of your initial connections into the market.


-Good luck.

 

[huckster]

Have you considered the real estate mortgage business?

You might enjoy this as well. It is certainly different than real estate sales, but still commission based with great income potential. And you could still go into real estate sales down the road if you so desired, but with the very important knowledge of how to qualify potential buyers. This is something that many realtors do not know how to do.

Contact some local mortgage brokers in your phone book and you should get some info and job opportunities.

good luck.

 

[White92]

What level of education do you have and are you willing to go back to school?

I graduated high school and took a computer aided drafting and design class at a tech school. I LOVED doing that, but I just never the ability to sit at a computer doing that for at least 8 hours a day. I've always needed to get out and about and meet people. That's one of the reasons I'm looking outside the box right now. My current job came to me by pure accident and now 3 years later I'm stuck in a cubicle like Dilbert, which I swore I'd never do.
It's been good to me though. The benefits are awesome. I've never seen a company that has a profit sharing program for retirement where we get 15% of our salary every year, 100% contributed by the company. Plus an added bonus of up to 5% of our salary as a bonus check every March.
Anyway, thanks for the info everyone. I'm going to look into this more. I will go talk to some people to get my foot in the door and makes some contacts and friends in the industry. I don't expect anyone to hold my hand and walk me through step by step. I just wanted to pick the brain of someone in the industry to get a better idea of what I was looking at to get into this.

 

[satan_srv]

Maybe you just need some a new hobby, or your own business.

I work in an office all day doing IT consulting for a big financial, pays great, benefits, very flexible working schedule. but when I get home I make cf parts and a bunch of other little things that keep me pretty busy and I don't mind my job because it's secure and is probably a routine I would need or I'd probably be a poor man by now