Just getting started, have questions

[HouseGal]

I found this site last night and it looks great!

I am just starting to persue a career in real estate and have a few questions. I am going to be starting the class at the local comm. college in January, and hope to get my license next summer. I own a home decor shop that has been in business for five years and am my own boss, so I plan on doing both 'full time', for the most part. I can easily make phone calls, research, work on the computer etc. while I am in the shop. I am hoping that being part of the local business community for a long time, in addition to my connections with customers and daily contacts with lots of people will help further me in RE. I am also hoping that my knowledge of interior decorating will help with home staging and home appearance.

I was wondering when do you start approaching the brokerages (I sure hope I am using the terminology properly!)? Should I start now before I even have had a class or while I am taking the class or is it preferable to wait until I have the license? I have one in mind, it's a local company, that I have always felt was the 'best'. Whether or not they really are may be a different matter once I'm an agent! But I like the sound of them.

I know a woman who works for the company I am interested in--she was a fellow shop owner and was a sales rep I worked with in my shop before she went back to RE a couple of years ago. Do connections like that work, or will I be seen as taking away from the territory, so to speak?

I live in Michigan, where things are hard right now. I am not looking to get rich but I am looking for something outside of my shop and something that I can do as a career further on in life. I am used to working daily, no vacations, having NO social life, ha ha, and am very motivated to succeed. I am also used to stretches without much money coming in, working with the public, making sales, and schmoozing!

Are you able to 'set your own hours' for the most part? How much time do you have to physically spend in the broker's office?

What are the busy months and not so busy months? In retail, for me, Oct-Dec. and May are busiest (Mother's Day), but I could probably close all summer and not miss much. I would think spring-late summer would be the busiest times in real estate?

Any thoughts you have are much appreciated!

[Codythebest]

About the brokerage, just check the training first. Money comes after. And since there is a worls of differences between the classes and the field itself, training in key.
Other than that, what you said make sense except on how to show properties while the shop is open...
If you want it, you can make it...

[RachelP]

I would say trying to both full time will be hard. The best way to gain experience is to work in an office with people who have been around. You want co-workers there for you if you need them.
Maybe try to start on a team first. When you start taking classess, start calling local agenies and see if there are any teams needing another agent.

[Greg]

Wait until you get your license and then interview a bunch of companies and go with the one that has the best training program. Interview them more than they interview you. Ask questions about what kind of training, how long, mentoring, what will the company do for you to help you be successful. Don't get hung up with the commission split. Most of the 100% companies will give you a phone and walk away.

You have already given up your life so you are a perfect candidate to be a successful real estate agent.

[Codythebest]

You have already given up your life so you are a perfect candidate to be a successful real estate agent.

I agree. But if you want to be big in Real Estate, you'll have to give up your shop and soul also...

[HouseGal]

Thank you for the info!

The shop is fairly flexible hours-wise, so I would tend to put real estate first. Such as, if I had someone call me up at 3pm on a Wednesday in April who wanted to see a house, the shop will close. I've closed for far more 'unimportant' things as that and actually have a bit of an uneven schedule of opening that has been good financially (people don't always know if I will be open when they are around, so they tend to buy more when they are actually here!) I don't need to make it big in real estate for a while--I would be happy making a few bucks here and there to start. I would definitely like to go full blast when I'm done with the shop, though--there is more potential in it than in retail, I'm quite sure!

Greg, you said they will give you a phone and walk away--does that mean they basically let you do your thing? I am very much the type who wants to be left do work without a boss breathing over me. So I have some 'power' so to speak, when interviewing a company?

What about the woman I mentioned who works for a brokerage who I know? Good idea to approach her or not? I just wonder about being seen as competing. How much do you network in this business? With my shop, I network--but with shopkeepers NOWHERE near me!

Thanks again for the info!