Any PS Realtor Mommy's out there....

[lizzyann]

Hi there, I was wondering if there are any PS mommy's that are realtors? If so, are you finding that realty is a good career for a mom?

I've been a stay at home mom now for about 19 months. My husband and I are going to be working on baby #2 shortly, but I am going to be taking the real estate classes and get my license within the next couple of months so that I have it when I am ready to start working again. Before becoming a SAHM I was a Buyer for a couple major retaillers. It was a stressful job, with lots of travel both domestic and internationally. I don't miss THAT job at all as I know I would have very little time with my son. I feel lucky that I have the option to stay at home, but I do miss working and being a business woman. I feel that realty may be a nice transition for me and still allow a nice work-life balance. I plan to work part time in the beginning = primarily nights and weekends. Then see what happens...

Anyways, any realtors out there?? Let me know your thoughts!

 

[NovemberBride]

LizzyAnn,
I am not a realtor, but my best friend tried it for a while. Like you, she thought it was something she could do part time. It turned out that it is really hard to be successful on a part-time basis and she was working really hard for very little money. Also, this was before the recession and housing downturn. I know a lot of realtors that have had to get other jobs since the housing market downturn, so it is probably not the best time to start this career. If you really have a passion for real estate and don't need your income (I.e your earnings would be fun money) then I'd say go for it. If you're just looking for an easy part time job, it may not be the job for you.

 

[anchor31]

I'm not a realtor either, but when we bought our house last year I remember thinking about how hard our real estate agent was working. Clients aren't always available to visit houses anytime anywhere, so she mostly worked evenings and weekends... It really seems to me like a 24/7 kind of job! It works for some people though, there are a couple of people I know who have been very successful.

 

[lliang_chi]

lizzy, another thought along the RE lines, you can try mortgage brokering. It helps lots of people get their dream houses, you can work from home and still do that part time. Just a thought. I'm not in RE but a friend of mine, her mom got into brokering after she retired and really liked it. That was a few years ago before the housing downturn so I don't know how she's doing now...

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I'm not a realtor, either, but had the same thought as LC

It took us about 8 months to find a house, plus I see my realtor around town (we live a few miles from each other), so I actually got to be fairly good friends with our realtor and talked with her about this. She got her realtor's license when right before she had her first because she wanted a career that would give her flexibility. She found that it was a lot harder than she'd imagined. She teaches/takes a few classes and does all of her paperwork during the day, but her nights and weekends are mostly for meeting with clients. This was fine when her kids were little since her husband could watch the kids while she was with a client, but she said it's been a bigger issue now that her kids are a little older and are in sports. She often misses their games because she's working. I always asked her if her kids had a soccer game, volleyball game, etc. so we could work around it, but she said most of the time it's hard to work around.

She likes her career and I think she's great at it, but she did say that it's very difficult at times.

My mortgage broker, however, said she loves her job and it really does provide a lot of flexibility. She worked from home and rarely had to meet with clients. She would sometimes come to closings (she came to ours because we were sort of excited to meet each other after talking for so long), but closings are usually in the middle of the day during the week, anyway, since the deed needs to be recorded at the time. One of her nephews became ill about a month before we closed, so she visited her sister for a month and worked from the hospital during the days without skipping a beat. Her job wasn't easy by any means, but it really did provide the type of flexibility that a realtor couldn't have.

 

[NovemberBride]

Not to be a Debbie Downer again, but it is extremely tough to get a job as a mortgage broker right now, especially with no experience. During the downturn tens of thousands of mortgage brokers were laid off because there was no work to do. I am an attorney for a huge real estate finance company and we laid off a huge amount of our staff. Some people have gotten rehired due to the uptick in refinancings recently, but there are still a lot of unemployed mortgage brokers. It is also not steady work right now, I know several people who have been hired and laid off repeatedly (they get hired when rates drop and mortgage applications go up, laid off when rates go up and applications drop).

Again, if you don't need steady income and it's something you are interested in long-term, give it a shot, although it is a really tough job market for someone with no experience in the industry. Real estate was easy to get into and it was easy to make a lot of money for a while, but that is absolutely not the case today. Even though the economy as a whole is improving, real estate is not there yet.

 

[lliang_chi]

Great insight NovBride, I can see how this is the case. Perhaps contract work wouldn't be so bad, but I can't speak for anyone's situation except my own.

 

[lizzyann]

Wow! Thanks for all of the insight PS Peeps!

NovBride - Thanks for all of the info! I really don't think I would be interested in doing mortgages anyways. I miss the interaction with people, which I don't get as often being a SAHM. I think being a realtor would give me that interaction versus being a mortgage broker. We are lucky in that I don't have to work. This job would not be to "pay the bills". It would be extra money in a sense. For spending on fun things. However, having said that, I would hate it if I spent many of my weeknights and weekends away from my family and not making any sales. That would be time away from my family with no payoff. Know what I mean? I am torn. I do think I will get my RE license because it doesn't hurt and when I am ready to really put my all into it, I am hoping the market will be a little better. I live in Massachusetts and it seems like lately I've been seeing more sales posting, but who knows?

ANchor - thanks for the info. It for sure is a lot of work. Nights and weekends are when I would be free but is it time well spent away from the fam? That's what I need to figure out I guess.

lliang - I have a friend who enjoys being a mortgage broker as well, but I don't know if it will fulfill what I am looking for you know? Thanks for your thoughts!

NE Lady - Hello from a fellow New Englander! It sure is cold here today! I hear you on the amount of work. A friend of mine started doing real estate part time about 3 months ago and just sold her first house. It was a good sale roughly a $300,000 house so it was a nice commission, but I worry that I will get discouraged and dislike being away from my family if it isn't working out. At the same time, I think that due to the fact that I don't need to work, but instead would be choosing to work, might make me a very good realtor. I feel that I have met some realtors that are very pushy and didn't always have my best interests in mind. I feel I would be good because I wouldn't be pushy and would want my clients to get the right house not just any house so I can get paid! I appreciate your comments.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Lizzyanne, I feel like in your position you've really got nothing to lose, you know? I think it would be great for you to get our license and just give it a shot. I do think you'd like the interaction and it could work out wonderfully. And if it's too much or your heart's not in it, that's okay, too. I specifically chose my realtor because she wasn't pushy at all, she really seemed to care about us and she was a mom. Seriously, I can't tell you how much I valued her input as a mom since D and I were hunting for a house we'd raise a family in without actually having kids.She was great about telling us what would be kid friendly and what wouldn't. I even invited her kids out with us if we were only looking at a couple of houses (too many and kids get bored) and I'd ask their opinions on things. I love that they were always completely honest, haha. Anyway, I just wanted to say that my realtor being a mom in the town where we ended up buying was extremely valuable to me--not only did she provide great insight for us as to what would work in a house, but she was a great resource in discussing the schools, libraries, which dance studio was best in town for kids, etc. Loved that she was so knowledgeable.

Also, I do think new england is a good place to start...you can get a decent commision here since the home prices are pretty high, and that's always a plus! Good luck!

 

[phoenixgirl]

Obviously all the successful realtors have to start somewhere, but I wonder about the difficulty of getting established in the field. I think it's a career where the barrier to entry is fairly low but it only pays off for the best of the best. But maybe I am biased because I had a friend who tried to be a realtor and was pretty bad at it. She would complain about her clients for not choosing a home quickly enough. She was livid with a friend because his brother didn't use her. She told us not to offer under asking because it would insult the owners. And then she wondered why she didn't make it . . . So hopefully this would not be your approach!

 

[Anastasia]

I am not a realtor, but I am a mom of 3, and I am in business for myself.

Personally, I would think that being a realtor would not be a good choice for a mother of two young children.

The first thing that comes to mind, is that your hours as a realtor are largely dictated by your client's availability. This would probably be mostly on nights and weekends, but you can't guarantee or dictate that to your clients.

Also, the job is not just doing showings. There are inspections to be scheduled, and attended, and negotiations to be made. You can't necessarily be done during nights and weekends.

When you are in business for yourself (which you are as a realtor, even though you may work for an agency), you need to spend a lot of time networking and drumming up business. The business does not fall into your lap. I do a lot of networking (and I do mean a LOT, probably two to three times a week). I meet a LOT of realtors. I can honestly tell you that I have never had the opportunity to refer business to a realtor, and even if I did, I probably have 20 to choose from. The real estate market is bad right now, which will make it harder to break into.

I also think that as the mother of two young children, it would be easier to have a job where you have the same hours every week. You will need to come up with child care every time you have an appointment, or have office time. It sounds like your husband is on board with the plan, but what if you need to work during business hours? You will be constantly looking for child care - I think it would be easier to have the same schedule every week, and have your child care lined up.

Once your kids get into school, it would be much easier. I would think about doing something less stressful for now if I were you. I started my business when my youngest went into school full time. I couldn't imagine pulling it off with young kids at home. I know there are people who make it work, but I don't think that I could have done it.

 

[lizzyann]

Lizzyanne, I feel like in your position you've really got nothing to lose, you know? I think it would be great for you to get our license and just give it a shot. I do think you'd like the interaction and it could work out wonderfully. And if it's too much or your heart's not in it, that's okay, too. I specifically chose my realtor because she wasn't pushy at all, she really seemed to care about us and she was a mom. Seriously, I can't tell you how much I valued her input as a mom since D and I were hunting for a house we'd raise a family in without actually having kids.She was great about telling us what would be kid friendly and what wouldn't. I even invited her kids out with us if we were only looking at a couple of houses (too many and kids get bored) and I'd ask their opinions on things. I love that they were always completely honest, haha. Anyway, I just wanted to say that my realtor being a mom in the town where we ended up buying was extremely valuable to me--not only did she provide great insight for us as to what would work in a house, but she was a great resource in discussing the schools, libraries, which dance studio was best in town for kids, etc. Loved that she was so knowledgeable.

Also, I do think new england is a good place to start...you can get a decent commision here since the home prices are pretty high, and that's always a plus! Good luck!

Thanks New England Lady! I think I am going to take the classes and the test in January! Like you said, it doesn't hurt. So why not give it a whirl!!!

 

[lizzyann]

Obviously all the successful realtors have to start somewhere, but I wonder about the difficulty of getting established in the field. I think it's a career where the barrier to entry is fairly low but it only pays off for the best of the best. But maybe I am biased because I had a friend who tried to be a realtor and was pretty bad at it. She would complain about her clients for not choosing a home quickly enough. She was livid with a friend because his brother didn't use her. She told us not to offer under asking because it would insult the owners. And then she wondered why she didn't make it . . . So hopefully this would not be your approach!

Phoenixgirl, this is exactly the kind of realtor I won't be!

 

[lizzyann]

I am not a realtor, but I am a mom of 3, and I am in business for myself.

Personally, I would think that being a realtor would not be a good choice for a mother of two young children.

The first thing that comes to mind, is that your hours as a realtor are largely dictated by your client's availability. This would probably be mostly on nights and weekends, but you can't guarantee or dictate that to your clients.

Also, the job is not just doing showings. There are inspections to be scheduled, and attended, and negotiations to be made. You can't necessarily be done during nights and weekends.

When you are in business for yourself (which you are as a realtor, even though you may work for an agency), you need to spend a lot of time networking and drumming up business. The business does not fall into your lap. I do a lot of networking (and I do mean a LOT, probably two to three times a week). I meet a LOT of realtors. I can honestly tell you that I have never had the opportunity to refer business to a realtor, and even if I did, I probably have 20 to choose from. The real estate market is bad right now, which will make it harder to break into.

I also think that as the mother of two young children, it would be easier to have a job where you have the same hours every week. You will need to come up with child care every time you have an appointment, or have office time. It sounds like your husband is on board with the plan, but what if you need to work during business hours? You will be constantly looking for child care - I think it would be easier to have the same schedule every week, and have your child care lined up.

Once your kids get into school, it would be much easier. I would think about doing something less stressful for now if I were you. I started my business when my youngest went into school full time. I couldn't imagine pulling it off with young kids at home. I know there are people who make it work, but I don't think that I could have done it.

Thanks for the insight Anastasia! I'm not sure when I would want to devote time to this new career. Like I said I am planning on trying for another baby early next year, so I most likely won't start up for awhile. But I wanted to take the classes and take the test now before baby#2 arrives you know? This is not a career that I would end up devoting to full time. I would only take on as much as I could handle. You have a valid point about inspections during working hours etc which is something that I will have to consider. my mom is retired so that could work out with her watching the kids when needed. Thanks for stopping by. You've given me a lot to think about!