Realtors License
 

Have any of the ex-pats around on the board gone through the process of doing their license to be come a real estate agent???

The wife has finally convinced me to go to school with her to do this and I was wondering whether the benefits would be there long term?

I am currently working as a 'Management Consultant' with huge rewards possible, the problem is that it is time consuming and I am not sure whether the benefits will be worth the hassle.

Any stories from you guys both good and bad would be appreciated.

Re: Realtors License
 

My daughter-in-law got her license a few years ago. She's a registered nurse now.

Re: Realtors License
 

It may be worth calling this realtor who works in Summit and she may put you in the picture. She is British. (Just to let you know; she was widowed when her English spouse was sadly killed at the WTC, helping to rescue his colleagues..... :( )

http://www.kw.com/kw/agent/lucythompson

Re: Realtors License
 

You think that being a realtor isn't time consuming? It's a seven-days a week occupation to make decent money. You don't sell anything, you don't make anything. Contacts are everything, and the local bigwigs who've been doing it for decades have all the contacts. My OH held a license for a year and hated it! He said it was the sleaziest experience he ever had.

Re: Realtors License
 

Tarkak9 is a realtor - maybe he'll give you some pointers.

Re: Realtors License
 

You know, when we will eventually sell our house, I'm dreading it.

It seems that in my neighbourhood, all of the realtors want to be your new best friend. In my zipcode, many homes cost a few million $ as Wall St bankers, CEO's, surgeons etc. live in the township (We're in a very modest little old house, I'll have you know!) The realtors can earn a fortune in commission (especially at this time of year when the banks pay their annual bonuses) and the local realtors seem to be quite aggressive in trying to get the listings. The next town along, Summit, NJ where the o/p lives, is similar albeit with pockets where there are cheaper properties.

I don't know if anyone watches 'Selling LA' or 'Selling New York' (both on the HGTV channel on Thursday nights. Indeed, the woman and her two daughters on 'Selling New York' remind me of the three witches in Macbeth lol! :lol:). I can't stand fake people like this....and they're similar to the realtors operating where I live. They give me the creeps :thumbdown:

What gets me is the local newspapers and quarterly magazines which list the estate agencies based nearby, with all the photos of their realtors. My friend burst out laughing when she saw one photo of a realtor handling her rental....she said it must have been taken 30 years ago because the realtor must now be in her late 70s and looks nothing like her old photo :rofl:

There is a 'big name' realtor operating in our local towns. I received her newsletter last week...I couldn't believe what I was reading....she was gloating about a family holiday they'd had in Australia, which colleges her kids had got into, an internship one of her daughters had done....then went on to list all the family news for the people working for her (complete with photos) and the bar/bat mitzvahs they'd held for their kids. I rolled my eyes when she wrote about one of her minions: "One of the families left their house to move overseas. They did not leave the house so clean, so 'D' got down on her hands and knees to scrub the floor'.... WTF?

Re: Realtors License
 

You'll be hated and one step up for a second hand car dealer.

You'll not have any contacts and so struggle to get into it.

If you work with accountants, bankers and insurance brokers or know plenty of them, you'll have a good base of contacts of people referring customers to you. Best yet is trying to blag it onto a designated list for a bank, they normally have a list for realtors and for lawyers to deal with local foreclosures but it's hard to get onto that list apparently.

Re: Realtors License
 

About 90% of the real estate agents barely make a living. The other 10% have a niche.

For example when I sold my last place (a complex of about 200 townhouses and detached homes on a ridge), I used a selling real estate agent that was used by about 50% of the people in the complex because she was known to be able to sell homes in that complex, knew a lot about those homes, and knew how to get around issues for that complex. She did very well selling homes in that complex but that was about 90% of her business. Without that complex, she would be lucky to sell more than couple homes per year.

Re: Realtors License
 

So, would you say she specialises in that complex?

Re: Realtors License
 

Yes. She also owns a home in the complex so people know her which helps her to become the selling agent. Although I used her for selling my last home, I wouldn't consider her to sell my current home if I decided to sell since my current home is in a different area (urban instead of suburban) and a completely different type of complex.

In my current complex, most people use a selling agent that lives in complex adjacent to the complex. He was the selling agent that sold me my current home.

When I sold my original home, I found the new home by myself and thought that I would be in a better position to negotiate the price down but when I talked to the selling agent of my old home, she convinced me to let her be the buying agent and that she would split her commission with me. So I really only ended up paying about 4.2% to sell my home instead of 5.75% that I should have paid because of the rebate from my buying agent. And even though I ended up getting a rebate from her, she did the negotiation for the buying price, reviewed the contract, was involved in the inspection and other documents, and handled the escrow account.

The sell of my old home occurred at the same time as the purchase of the new home.

Re: Realtors License
 

Hmmm ... sounds like a very complex situation.

Re: Realtors License
 

Behave. :lol:

Re: Realtors License
 

You're always getting on at me - its a wonder I don't have a complex.

Re: Realtors License
 

You're just too complex for me to understand.

Re: Realtors License
 

You bad. :lol: