My wife is one of the top producing agents in Katy out of the Keller Williams office (150+ agents). She has been #1 for 2 of the last 3 years and has over 10 years experience. Email me through the board for her contact info and she would be happy to talk to you and answer any questions you might have.
My agent had a contract full-time job and did the real estate work on the side. Seemed like he got clients through networking. He seems to enjoy it and does well. In his case - it works.
Its not a part time job. You have to be available whenever your clients need you, which would be, generally speaking, early in the morning, and late in the evening (when they aren't working).
Without going into the fine details, agents have to pay literally thousands of dollars a year in association dues, memberships and continuing education just to be able to list a property on the mls. Even doing so they could end uo making zilch.
I am aware. I paid $600.00 to take the class and a couple hundred more for the state exam. It costs a couple hundred dollars a year to retain your license, which includes the continuing education every couple years. If a RE agent wants to pay thousands of dollars to be part of some social club, that shouldn't be on the home owner. I fully understand what a RE agent *should* do. However, most RE agents suck and all they care about is the commission, not the home owners. Often they are not educated in the field. The internet has made it much much easier for home owners to do their own work where as in the past, RE agents expertise played a huge role.
Don't you think it's weird that everything you listed has nothing to do with how they bring value to the client and why they deserve the 3%-6%?
Do you think its weird that everything I listed agents are legally required to have? Not to mention e&o insurance, broker fees etc. If you are hiring an agent that doesnt justify or deserve 3% (comm is split) then you flat out hired the wrong agent.
lol Really? You think agents are paying to be in a social club? Please explain. Cant wait to read more.
I have a friend who does what it sounds like you want to do. He buys foreclosed (or soon to be foreclosed) houses, fixes them up, then sells them. He also buys and sells any piece of property he thinks is undervalued. Mostly with his money but sometimes with money from friends/family. He spends 90% of his time at his day job not-so-secretly running his real estate business. Though I don't know his personal finances, I think he's doing pretty well. But he's been doing this for a while and had some help when he started out (Muslims look out for each other namean?). I wouldn't do it, but if you really think it's right for you, wth. Give it a shot.
As I and Space Ghost already mentioned, not my problem. That's the cost of playing the game. I don't doubt that there are good agents out there. And in a hot market, as a buyer, you need a really good one that can find you houses that are not listed yet. And in slow markets, as a seller, you need a really good one that can find you the right buyer. But the problem is: 1. In a hot market, as a seller, buyers are lining up and the agent doesn't really do much at all. In a slow market, as a buyer, you have your pick of the litter of houses for sale so they still don't do much. 2. There are way too many bad agents out there so it really brings the rep down 3. So much of what you were needed for in the past has been automated and thrown on the Internet. You really have to come up with some new value adds and there are a lot of agents who don't and yet still expect their 3%.
