Becoming a Real Estate Agent...

...The Appeal of Making Money in Real Estate...

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But here in the United States, after a booming real estate industry in the early and mid-2000’s (thanks in part to over-zealous and foolish credit lending practices that are now coming back to bite our economy in the butt), we are presently in the latter part of the decade where a terrible real estate economy unfortunately is the rule of the day.

Such is the life of a career real estate agent. You have to be able to balance the good economic times with the bad. Today’s internet technology may help allow you a very good, flexible, (mostly) home-based real estate agent income one year (realizing that a good deal of the work is done outside the home, too, however). But then the next year may bring an economy and/or interest rates that go sour, and in extreme cases (like 2008) may force the real estate agent to get a second job just to keep food on the table until things turn favorable again.

We literally went from a perfect storm of great economic times to a perfect storm of lousy economic times within a couple of years during the first decade of this millenium. Such extremes are not common, but obviously are possible. So becoming a real estate agent means being prepared for economic turns that will most definitely affect real estate sales both positively and negatively.

Real Estate Agent Salary:

According to the 2008-2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics official website, the median real estate agent salary in the U.S. in May, 2006 was about $40,000 (the most updated figure, as of this writing). The median real estate broker salary during the same time period was about $60,000. Now, things were a lot better with the U.S. economy in 2006 than they are as I write this in September, 2008. I’m sure that the average real estate agent salary and real estate broker salary are considerably lower in 2008 than in 2006. However, remember that all things are cyclical. Hopefully a couple of years from now things in the economy will be much more “normalized”, and the average real estate agent salary will again be very livable.

According to a Yahoo News article published in November, 2008:

"Home sales are temporarily slumping, but look at the number of new commercial buildings rising on the landscape. Most brokers have college training in real estate, business, law, marketing, or finance. You may need to work 1-3 years to get your broker's license, but you rent or borrow office space, and work your own hours. In 2007, the top 50 percent of real estate agents earned between earn between $65,040 and $106,790."

To see the 2008-2009 report of "Becoming a Real Estate Agent" on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics website, Click Here.

Real Estate Career Training

Most colleges offer a real estate program whether they are universities or a community college, and you can take them without getting a full degree. There are now even accredited online real estate schools. Course work for real estate career training will allow you to learn the tricks of the trade.

Going through real estate classes will teach you real estate development marketing, which will show you how to identify certain market trends and consumer patterns and show you how to market your business accordingly. This can give you the edge you need to work anywhere in America as a real estate agent. As an aspiring real estate agent, you will want to learn how to identify all profitable areas so you can be as successful as possible. Remember also that if you move from one state to another, you may be required to take your new state's real estate agent licensing test.