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Tips and Guide to Real Estate Careers:
About this book
Real estate is big money and big business. The real estate industry is home to some of the wealthiest businesspeople on the planet, like Donald Trump, Leona Helmsley and Sam Zell. Yet the industry also touches each one of us, whether you're looking for a new apartment with a backyard or checking out the new "big box" store that's opening up in your city.
In the last 10 years, the domestic real estate industry has been a motor of the United States economy - and that means that real estate is a hot spot for jobs. Read this guide and you'll learn more about the hottest careers in the business - from real estate brokerage to property management to high-rolling real estate finance.
Read an excerpt from the Vault Guide to Real Estate Careers:
Residential Real Estate Agents/Brokers
Real estate agents help buyers and sellers in the process of selling or renting residential property. Some agents work with buyers, helping them find places to live and negotiating with sellers. Other agents work with the sellers. Agents rarely represent both buyers and sellers; for property rentals, almost all agents represent property owners. It's a popular field; there are close to 500,000 realestatebrokers and agents in the United States.
Agents are usually independent sales professionals who contract their services to sponsoring real estate brokers in exchange for a commission-sharing agreement. The commission on a home sale varies by market but is roughly five to six percent of the sale price. This commission is split four ways among the seller's agent, buyer's agent and the sponsoring brokers with whom each agent is associated. Many agents work solely on commission and don't get much in the way of benefits. Agents are expected to cover most of the overhead necessary to perform their jobs.
In order to sell realestate services you must be a licensed professional in the state where you do business. To become a realtor, all states require that you pass a written exam focused on real estate law and transactions, and that you're affiliated with a broker. Most states require that you be at least 18 years old, a high school graduate and have completed a minimum number of classroom hours. Some states waive the classroom requirements for active attorneys and offer correspondence course credit options in lieu of the classroom hour requirement. The license fee depends on the state, but expect to pay around $100 for the exam and $400 for the classes.
There are different organizations through which you can receive your classroom instruction, however the state government issues and oversees licenses. If you visit the National Association of Realtor's web site at www.realtor.org, you can find information about residential real estate as well as licensing requirements and where you can take classes in your state.
Jobseeking Advice from a Real Estate
Professor:
Joseph Pagliari, a clinical assistant professor and director of the Real
Estate Center at the Kellogg School of Management, says, “There are
host of opportunities in real estate for MBAs, the issue is identifying the
best fit for the candidate. Positions that are good fits for MBAs are with
the firms that are supplying the capital to the industry. Typically these
are large sophisticated financially oriented firms. MBAs should identify
these institutions and aggressively pursue them for employment. In
today’s marketplace, this means looking at REITs, mezzanine funds and
private equity firms.
“In general the high profile real estate positions and financially
rewarding jobs are on the capital side,” adds Pagliari, who is also a
principal of a real estate investment firm. “These jobs are almost self-
selecting because they are tough to get and you have to be smart and
aggressive to succeed. Given that positions in the capital side of the
business are reserved for the elite, MBAs should pursue these positions
because many MBAs possess these qualities.” |
This industry attracts all types of personalities. There's a potpourri of career switchers, from lawyers to housewives, who end up in residential real estate. If you like being your own boss and interacting with people, being a realtor can be very rewarding.
On the Job
Real estate agents generally focus on buying and selling (or renting) homes and land for building residential developments. The job involves matching what clients are looking for in a house with homes available in the marketplace, or to sell the client's house in a timely manner at his or her asking price. Agents make most of their paycheck from commissions.
To be a good agent you need a thick skin, strong interpersonal/networking skills and a good sense of finance. The need to find clients and properties to sell or rent through cold calls, constant schmoozing and mass mailings tend to discourage some from residential realty.
Hours are flexible - to a point. You must realize that many people like to house hunt after work or on weekends, so if you cherish this time, this job isn't for you. Also, since you're not on a set schedule, you need to be disciplined about getting your work done. You should have at least a basic knack for figures and calculation - you'll be working with a variety of budgets, mortgage rates and other figures. But if you're not a math whiz, don't worry. While it helps to be analytical, it's not crucial to the job as dedication, organizational skills and a talent for schmoozing.
The Workday
If you're sick of being held to a schedule, then residential real estate may be the field for you. You set your own hours, and have no need to stop into the office, except to file paperwork, or perhaps for the occasional staff meeting. At the same time, your time may not be as flexible as you might imagine. Open houses - when you show a property to the general public, are almost invariably held on evenings or weekends. Your clients may be unable to see properties during the traditional workweek as well.
Residential realestate agents are responsible for a variety of tasks. Some days are reserved for marketing homes for sale. Others are spent making networking calls and advertising for new clients. Even after a sale is concluded, the work of the agent is not done. Agents must organize a final home inspection prior to closing, to make sure that the home is in good working order and that all the work the buyer asked to be done prior to the closing has, in fact, been done. agents must communicate between the buyer and the seller to make sure all this work occurs in a timely and orderly fashion.
Also:
There are two things that set real estate apart from other industries when it
comes to hiring practices. The first is the lack of conventional recruiting.
The second is the focus on personality fit when hiring. Real estate companies
typically don’t head to campuses or job fairs to recruit undergraduates and
graduates, nor do they post openings on job boards. In fact, in a survey of
real estate companies, a paltry 17.9 percent of last year’s new hires were
recent graduates of real estate or MBAprograms. It’s a tight knit community.
The job market is opening up a bit (i.e. there are some postings on
www.hotjobs.com), but most firms still rely on personal relationships to fill
openings.
• To Vault.com
Vault is the ONLY career information source with our own staff of more than a dozen industry-focused editors and researchers. Our staff stays on top of the latest developments in their industries through research of all the vital industry trade publications and research tools, as well as our own network of insider contacts, surveys, ensuring that our readers have the best and most updated information possible.
Vault guides have been published since 1997 and are the premier source of insider information on careers. Vault surveys and interviews thousands of employees each year to give readers the inside scoop on industries and specific employers to help them get the jobs they want.
See also:
• Tips on Recovering From a Career Crisis
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