# Working in real estate?



## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

Anyone on here working as a realtor? It's something I'e considered on and off for years. I'm curious as to how you like it, anything that sucks about it, how difficult it might be to start doing business once you are licensed, how brutal is the competition for a new agent, are the hours really long, what abut pressure from your brokerage, etc. Basically anything you might offer someone considering a transition into the field (I'm currently in the bar industry). BTW I'm in Vancouver, considering a move to the Okanagan at some point.


----------



## Mall Guy (Sep 14, 2011)

Commercial or residential ? Either way bank on needing two years of emergency funds (some say three). It's not that the hours are long, they just suck. You work when everyone isn't - evenings and weekends - wait, just like in the bar business! Like many businesses 20% of the agents do 80% of the business. Just ask yourself it you are in the 20%?


----------



## colossk (May 11, 2011)

My wife and I have mulled over the same idea as well, do a "husband and wife" real estate team

I am self employed, work from home and want to transition out of my current profession. My wife has a secure goverment job but hates the hours. We figured it would be something both of us could work on since my schedule is so flexible.

Eventually the goal was for 1 of us to transition fully to Real estate and the other quit their job, eventually having both of us move over to real estate in 5-10 years.

We talked to a close family friend who basically talked us out of it. She is fairly succesful as an agent and has been doing it for 25+ years.

She told us that for those first starting its very tough, its all about networking and who you know more than what you know when first starting out. Very little business is available for what she called "walk in traffic". if you are new and havent built up your client base You have to constantly pound the pavement, cold call etc to get someone to list their home with you and hope you get referals from there.

In her opinion the biggest barier to becoming a brand new Real Estate agent and why she advised us against pursuing it is the way business is done today which makes it tougher for a new agent. The way business is being done is shifting drastically to a different model more and more each year because of three things 1)The internet 2) ease of access of the information 3) The demographic profile of the people buying homes today. The younger generation simply has more options when purchasing a house.

In the "old" days you used to call up your agent and they would do the groundwork for you, find the homes to show you, set up the appointments, do the paperwork etc. 

With the Internet and the "new generation" being more computer savy there is no need for them to hire their own RE agent anymore. They can view the house they want on MLS, take virtual tours of the property, contact the selling agent directly, set up their own appointments, negotiate a "better" price becasue the lsiting agent doesnt have to split the commision etc. and have the lisitng agent do the paperwork.


----------



## Potato (Apr 3, 2009)

I only had the stats for Ontario/Toronto handy, but I suspect Vancouver is even worse. 

In 2004, there were 83k sales in the GTA, and 31k agents in the whole province. In 2010, there were 86k sales in the GTA, with 50k agents in the whole province, 31k TREB members alone. It’s become a very crowded field with vastly more agents chasing only modestly increased transactions. The sector’s due for a shakeout, and that usually hurts the newbies the most.

I don't think this is a good time to consider the career change.


----------

