Are You Planning to Become a Real Estate Agent? A Guide to Help You Decide

Do you want to start a new professional career as a side hustle to make some extra money? Are you really thinking about real estate? Why not, looking at the market stats, the most searched query in Google these days is “how to become a real estate agent”. If you like to meet new people and like to analyze new properties and explain them to potential buyers, then real estate could be the perfect side gig for you.

It is relatively easy to become a real estate broker as compared to potential earnings of the other career options. Apart from that there are lot of perks as well such as becoming your own boss, helping someone meeting their life’s biggest milestone. Working as a real estate agent can be financially rewarding and fulfilling, but it is a lot of work to become such a broker than many people think. Most of the real estate agents are paid on commission basis, so there is a lot of potential of working without a paycheck and still earning more than a paycheck.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), stats demonstrate that increase in the number of real estate agent and broker jobs is projected to be 4% between 2020 and 2030, which is slower than the average for all professions. Despite this fact there is lot of potential in real estate jobs because lot of people are migrating to foreign lands and they contact these agents to buy a new home, relocate or purchasing business property.

Understanding Job Duties of a Real Estate Agent

Undoubtedly, getting a broker license is an easy part but generating sustainable income and becoming successful is actually a hard work. To do so, an agent needs to be committed, and sometimes it also requires money and lot of effort to invest in.

For a starter, there is lot of work to take care of all the administrative work. It is very essential that to maintain the accuracy of legal documents and coordination of multiple listings. However, an established real estate broker prefers to hire an assistant to handle some of the administrative tasks. The basic duties include:

• Update your social media profiles and websites
• Work on flyers, newsletters, and other promotional materials
• Respond to all the inquiries via texts, emails, and phone calls
• Develop full proof marketing plans for real estate listings
• Create and build client databases for future follow-ups or references
• Organize appointments for meetings, showings, and open houses
• Develop and maintain paper and electronic filing systems for real estate documents, agreements, lease records, correspondence, and other material
• Research pending, active, and sold listings and draft comparative market analysis (CMA) reports

So, if you think you are organized enough and detail oriented then you can opt for this career.

Selling Real Estate Have Some Pros and Cons

The biggest pro of being in real estate market as an agent is that you can be your own boss. You can set your working hours according to you. Along with providing this flexibility, this job comes with perks like substantial commissions, meeting new people and expanding network, overall making your day engaging and enjoyable.

Nevertheless, earning sound money with flexibility comes with tonnes of hard work. A real estate agent must possess solid organizational skills to keep track of legal documents, meetings, multiple listings. Also, there could be longer period when you are not earning any money because the whole income in this profession depends on the commission. Hence, if you don’t work or sell, you don’t earn.

A career as a real estate agent is both challenging and financially rewarding. There are many other opportunities as well in this industry. For example, you could become an appraiser, or an investor. You can restrict your real estate type whether you want to work with residential properties or commercial buildings. Whatever you choose, make sure you meet the job requirements by completing all the licenses and stay prepared for all the hard work coming up.

If you are ready to start your profession in real estate market, you can always keep an eye on jobsnearme.ca to see the latest job listings.