If you’ve just gotten your real estate license or thinking about getting it and wondering what you can do with it and make money, this article is for you. Today we are going to dive into 5 different career options with a real estate license.
Once agents get their licenses, they realize that there’s a lot of money to be made in the real estate industry. If you pick the right thing that fits your skill set, you can do well and build a profitable business and career.
In this article, we’ll dive into five different things that you can do with your real estate license and build a career on.
1. Traditional Real Estate Agent
Traditional real estate agents work with buyers and sellers and help them buy or sell properties. They are also commonly referred to as Realtors. A real estate agent career can be very profitable, and many agents have built successful businesses by doing this.
There are two ways to do it, though a lot of agents do a hybrid of both. They are:
- Working with buyer clients: You might work with first-time homebuyers or trade down/ trade up home buyers. Basically, you do consultations with them, help them find a house, and guide them through the homebuying process. You get a commission once the deal is closed.
- Working with seller clients: Seller agents are agents who exclusively work with sellers. They help sellers list their property, market the property, and guide them through the process from the first day when they put up the yard sign all the way to the closing day. At the end of the deal, they get the negotiated commission.
As mentioned, many agents choose to do a hybrid model, where they work with both buyers and sellers. This can also be profitable because when you get a seller client, they often have to buy. You can help them with the purchase as well.
Real estate agents can also be classified based on the type of property they deal with. Residential real estate agents deal with residential property, while commercial real estate agents deal with property in the commercial sector such as large apartment complex’s, office space, and Industrial property.
Many agents make over six figures a year, especially those in the top 20%. You can also get to this level if you work hard, put a lot of time into the career and are commited.
If you’re going to be a real estate agent, strive for excellence to get to the top 20%. It’s a lot of work, time, and effort that you have to put into it, but it’s worthwhile in the end.
2. Leasing Agent
Unlike traditional real estate agents that help sellers sell and buyers buy, leasing agents work directly with homeowners to help them lease their property.
What they do is help landlords market their rental properties and attract renters to them. Once a potential renter comes in, they show them the property, take them through the application process, then present the rental application to the landlord, and help the landlord decide if that tenant is a good fit and meets all the application requirements. They also help the tenant move in and collect the deposits.
Leasing agents also have an option to choose the sector they want to work in. Residential property leasing agents deal with individual tenants, while commercial leasing agents work with mostly businesses.
This can also be a lucrative option. Specific markets like Miami, California, and New York have agents that only focus on leases. These agents build their whole careers and businesses as lease agents.
As a new agent, you can start with a leasing firm. One of the best things about being a leasing agent is that you can do them much quicker which will lead to a faster pay day. This can be a really great avenue to get out there, build experience and generate commissions.
With a home sale, you have to wait longer to get paid. Even if you sell the house right away and you’re dealing with a first-time home buyer, it can take 45-60 days to close. On the other hand, with a lease, you can close the deal and get the commission in a week or two.
It’s a lot quicker and a lot less barrier to entry.
3. Transaction Coordinator
For some people, being out and about, meeting clients, shaking hands, and networking is just not for them. Some agents are more detail-oriented, want to sit behind a desk all day, and want something a little bit more steady. If this fits your personality type slightly better, you might want to consider becoming a transaction coordinator.
A transaction coordinator gets hired by real estate agents and brokers to manage their transactions. Some real estate teams have transaction coordinators. The team goes out and sources for new business, shows the clients houses and gets them under contract.
The contract is then passed on to the transaction coordinator, who works with the team to make the transaction smooth, keep their eyes on the transaction dates, ensure the closing is seamless and everything is done the right way.
You can also build a profitable business as a transaction coordinator by working with just a couple of top producing agents or teams.
A lot of the transaction coordinators charge between $300 to $400 per transaction. This means that it doesn’t take a huge amount of deals to make a full-time income. It might be a promising avenue to go down if it’s your passion and fits your skill set.
4. Property Manager
To some people, property management is back-breaking. However, some people will jump at any opportunity to manage a property because they’re well-organized, detail-oriented, and have remarkable customer management skills.
A property management business can be really lucrative. It’s also a hybrid model because you can be a leasing agent and a property manager at the same time. You can get the property leased, what we call tenant placement, and also manage that property for a fixed fee per month.
One of the biggest upsells of this model is that it lets you earn residual income. For example, if you have 100 units under your management and you’re collecting a fee from each of them every month, it can build you an excellent income stream while you go out there to get tenant placement and earn commission from it.
Another upside is if you have your real estate license, you can become a property manager, and when your client decides that they want to liquidate the asset and sell, you can help them with that as well.
If you build a large firm, you can also hire agents to make the sales and earn you a percentage of that commission. Besides that, you’ll also earn income from property placement and property management.
You can build a strong business with multiple streams of income just from this single niche.
5. Team Leader/ Real Estate Broker
As a successful real estate agent, you can do a hybrid of being a buyer’s agent, listing agent and have a real estate team. As a real estate team leader or broker, you basically have agents working under you. They’re your partners, and you help them build their businesses and grow their careers.
A team leader primarily takes a mentorship approach and builds a system where an agent can plug in and have success. It’s more like being a manager than being an agent.
This is something you can grow into after having some years of success as an agent. It’s also a great way to scale your business and also help other agents.
It’s one of the most rewarding things to do because you get to help agents get on board, be side by side with them and help them become more successful.
One of the significant downsides of being a team leader is that it comes with many expenses, especially if you build your team on a lead generation model. It can be expensive if you’re buying leads and offering a lot of value to the agents. This means that if your team isn’t closing any deals, you’re going to be on the hook for a lot of money every single month. It can get a little risky if you don’t have a ton of reserves.
It’s, however, one of the best things you can do.
Bonus: Real Estate Investor
This doesn’t require a real estate license but deserves mention. Anyone who has some knowledge or experience in real estate can do so well as a real estate investor.
There are mainly two ways you can become a real estate investor. They are:
- Active investor: This is the part of real estate investing that involves active participation. Active investors purchase and manage real estate property for rental income or flip houses for a profit. They can also build new homes for sale. In essence, an active investor is involved in every part of the deal and the day-to-day management activities after the purchase. To be an active investor, you need to be a hands-on person. The main benefit of becoming an active investor is having full control of the deal and the property. On the other hand, you’ll have to handle contractors, schedule maintenance, and handle marketing to attract more quality deals.
- Passive investor: Passive investing is the opposite of active investing. As a passive investor, you don’t own the property directly. In layman’s terms, you’re not a landlord. Someone else is involved in the hands-on management, and the property earns you passive income. Some examples of these investments include real estate syndications, mutual funds, crowdfunding, and real estate investment trusts (REITs).
As you can see, whether a real estate investment is active or passive has to do with the amount of work needed to maintain and manage the investment. An investment like fix-and-flip is extremely active because it requires a lot of work and involvement. Determine which type of investment suits you best.
For example, if you’re a complete newbie looking to gain some experience and knowledge, you can start with passive investments. It might take you some time, but you shouldn’t discount it because it can change your life in so many ways. You can then later on graduate to active investments. With the right strategy and plan, it can build you a lot of wealth.
Key Takeaways
The real estate industry is a vast scene that involves many career options, some of which you might not have heard. As such, you might find it a bit hard to choose the career path to pursue. However, this process doesn’t have to be overwhelming with a bit of research and guidance.
Choose the path that suits you best, and you might go on to have a very successful and rewarding career.