Reply: 1
From: Dave
Hi Nicole,
You're pondering one courageous career change! I worked in real estate
for about 10 months. If you can differentiate yourself from the rest of
the sharks in the industry, as I did quite quickly, you have the
potential of making a lot of money in the game - especially if you have
a passion for it to begin with.
A typical weekend in Real Estate? hehe...here was my typical weekend:
SATURDAY:
9 am - 11am
Door/knock or drop in to prospect for new listings or source possible
buyers for homes in the area. If you want to be successful, you'll have
to make active prospecting a priority - even if this are going great,
you'll need to grow your pipeline of potential listings and buyers for a
rainy day.
11am - 6pm
Man the office in a new housing development. (The business I worked for
was affiliated with a developer) Sell house and land packages, help with
the house design, finance, negotiate on contracts - the whole hog.
6pm- 8pm
Follow up calls for established house sales, house inspections with
potential buyers, home appraisals/valuations.
8pm onwards
Leave phone on for return calls/queries....and expect to get calls as
late as midnight.
SUNDAY:
Same as Saturday
Nicole, not all Real Estate business's operate the same, so this may not
be a typical weekend for you. It was for me, though. Even though I
made about $70,000 in those 10 months, I decided to give it away for
lifestyle reasons. Real Estate was, and still is, my passion, but
working up to 90 hours a week didn't make sense to me.
In summary, the pro's are: great fun working in an industry you are
passionate about, great way to become an expert in the RE market for
investing purposes, a great way to source bargains for your own
portfolio and definately an industry where you can make good money if
you're prepared to work hard. Cons? Say goodbye to life as you know it
now...and don't expect to catch up with friends and family as much.
(hehe..some would class this as a pro..depending on what sort of friends
you have!)
Hope this helps and good luck with you plans.
Dave