I have been a licensed real estate agent for over 15 years. During that time I have worked with the same company. My dad helped start the company in 1992 and I was on his team until 2013, before I bought him out. Being a real estate agent was not something I strived for when I was younger, but it has certainly worked out well for me. I do not sell many houses as an agent anymore, but I have a team of agents who work for me. It only makes sense for me to start my own brokersage, especially since I just bought a 68,000 square foot building.
Is being a real estate agent a good career choice?
I grew up around real estate my entire life. My dad was an agent since before I was born and I remember sleeping under his desk when I was a kid. I spent a lot of time around real estate and wanted nothing to do with it when I was in high school and then college. After college I could not find an awesome job in the finance indutry so I worked part-time for my father. Part-time turned into full-time and I got my real estate license.
It took me a while to gain some footing as an agent, but my dad also did some investing. I loved the investing side of the business until I found my nich as an agent selling foreclosures. I completed BPOs, and listed REOs for banks. I went from selling less than 20 houses a year to selling over 200 houses a year.
https://investfourmore.com/2014/10/27/become-reo-hud-listing-agent/
I hired an assistant, automated the business, and focussed more and more on investing. As I said I sell almost no houses as an agent now, but I flipped 26 houses last year. I also have agents on my team who sell houses. You don't have to be an REO agent to make good money in the buinsess. Being a real estate agent can be an awesome career and has many advatnages:
-You can make your own schedule
-You can create your own business
-You can make a lot of money if you know what you are doing
-You can create a team who sells houses for you
-It can make you a much better real estate investor
The trick with being a real estate agent is you have no boss. You must motivated yourself and choose a broker who will train you how to sell houses. Many agents have no idea what they are doing, and crash and burn. Below are some articles that will help if you are thinking about being an agent:
https://investfourmore.com/2016/06/06/how-much-money-does-a-real-estate-agent-have-to-pay-to-their-broker/
https://investfourmore.com/2014/06/12/much-money-real-estate-agents-make-first-year/
https://investfourmore.com/2013/11/20/much-money-real-estate-agents-make/
https://investfourmore.com/2014/08/18/can-real-estate-agent-find-perfect-broker-work/
https://investfourmore.com/2016/09/30/how-to-be-a-great-real-estate-agent/
I have many more articles on my blog and I also wrote a book on how to be a successgful agent.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Real-Estate-Agent/dp/153366160X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Why I am starting my own brokerage?
In the past I did not start my own brokerage because I had a lot of things going on. I still have a lot of things going on, but I just bought a large building that will be perfect for my own office.
By starting my own office and paying myself rent I will save at least $30,000 a year. I will also be able to design the office, have more control of what agents we hire, and not have to worry about the future of the office I am in now. My goal is to open up the new office on June 1st of 2018 and we are already in the process of fixing up the new space!