Is a Realtor a good job to have where you need to work flexible hours or for a stay at home mom?

Question

My wife is looking for a job with flexible hours. She is a stay at home mom. She is thinking of taking some realtor classes at the local community college. Would this work out for her?

She doesnt want a crap job that has no future to it. She is hoping when the kids are a little older that she can then move into this full time.

Currently she is a waitress. She is very friendly, has a great personality, enjoys talking to people and works hard. She is constantly winning the highest table sales per day, desserts sold per day, etc. at her restaurant. She thinks realty may be a good step up.

Please only respond if you are in the field or if you have first hand knowledge.

Answer 1

I doubt it, they all work there hind ends off and have to be available for clients at their convenience, which is usually nights and weekends. All of the business end is conducted during business hours.



RE is NOT a stay at home job.

Answer 2

This is very ironic - I used to be a waitress also and decided to get my Realtor license after a year of staying at home with my youngest child. The process involved in getting my license was very easy, and the cost was minimal, and now I have been a licensed Realtor for 3 years. I thought this would be the "perfect" job because I could set my own hours and since I was going from no income to ? income, we didn't really need the money so I figured whatever I made would be fine. But for me, so far, the fees involved in keeping my license seem to be almost as much as the income I make and I'm working a lot more hours than I planned to. Even though I should be able to set my own hours, it's really my clients who set my hours, and they are not exactly always convenient. Unless you live in a part of the country where the real estate market is really booming, I'd say it's not a good career choice right now.

Answer 3

From what I have seen of realtors ... my BIL and my neighbor, she will have less free time and money as a realtor than as a waitress.



She will have to work long hours, with no pay, getting established ... persuading people to list, schlepping buyers and looky-loos around, hand-holding on the phone, solving the "OMG it fell out of escrow" crisis. You can spend 40 hours a week working, spending money on office and gas and ads, and bring home nothing.



If she wants to aim for a career, and she's a people-oriented person, some college classes in business and management, computer skills, and communication could get her into human resources easily. Maybe restaurant management?

Answer 4

The hours are flexible in that they’re not set, but it’s not so much that the hours flex around you as you flex around the hours. You need to be able to work any time a client needs you, which normally means lots of evenings and weekends. Issues can pop up in a deal out of nowhere, and you have to be available to deal with them. You have to be willing to schedule time every day to finding new clients & new business.



It’s a business with lots of start-up costs (license classes, professional dues, whatever the license holding broker expects in desk fees), where it takes years really see much in the way of financial return. There’s a reason something like 80% of new agents give up within the first year – it takes time and patience for this to really be a reliable source of income and don’t like how much work has to be done before they see a dime.



If she still wants to give it a go, she should meet with a few local brokers first. They can likely set her up to shadow another agent to get a feel for what it’s really like. She needs need to find out IF they accept part time agents – many offices won’t because there’s a negative perception out there that part-timers aren’t all that dependable so there’s the concern that working with part-timers can have a negative impact on the office’s reputation. It’s important to find out how that office feels about agents mostly working from home, rather than in the office. Some don’t mind; others really want to see you putting in some face time. She needs to ask how much she’s expected to sell in a given year to stay with the office.

Answer 5

Work environment. Advances in telecommunications and the ability to retrieve data about properties over the Internet allow many real estate brokers and sales agents to work out of their homes instead of real estate offices. Even with this convenience, workers spend much of their time away from their desks—showing properties to customers, analyzing properties for sale, meeting with prospective clients, or researching the real estate market.



Agents and brokers often work more than a standard 40-hour week. They usually work evenings and weekends and are usually on call to respond to the needs of clients. Although the hours are long and frequently irregular, most agents and brokers have the freedom to determine their own schedule. They can arrange their work so that they have time off when they want it. Business usually is slower during the winter season.



http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos120.htm#nature



This quoted material was taken from this all important site for learning about which jobs show the most growth and their characteristics such as education needed and typical hours worked.



So the short answer to your question is "yes".

Answer 6

look into becoming a virtual assistant if you want to work for several agents or consider working for one agent exclusively. We have a VA that we give processing etc. to and pay her on a per item/transaction basis and then we have a personal assitant that we pay salary and bonus to.