One of the greatest benefits you’ll experience as a real estate agent is having a flexible schedule. You have the ability to work as many or as few hours as you want, and you can determine the specific hours of the day and days of the week you want to work. This flexibility makes it easy to be a part-time real estate agent. In fact, many successful real estate agents work part time to balance other commitments in their lives.
If you’re considering being a part-time real estate agent, it’s important to understand what is involved to determine whether this career path is right for you. The following overview will help you to better understand the important considerations associated with a part-time real estate career.
There are many situations where working as a part-time real estate agent makes a lot of sense. It can be a great option if you:
Regardless of your reason for considering a part-time real estate career, it’s important to determine whether this path is right for you. While the flexibility and lucrative earning potential (even if you work part time) make it an appealing option, you should still evaluate the pros and cons of this lifestyle before deciding whether it is a good fit for your short- and long-term goals.
While the benefits of a part-time real estate career far outweigh the downsides for most people, it’s still important to understand the drawbacks of working in this field part time:
Time Intensive
While this should be a consideration, it shouldn’t necessarily be a deterrent from pursuing a part-time real estate career. With careful planning and time management, you can build a successful real estate business even if you have a limited number of hours to devote to it each week. In addition, as you become more established, you’ll most likely find that you can generate new clients more easily and close more deals with the limited time you have to devote to your real estate career. After getting over the initial hump, this will be less of an issue to navigate.
Limited Brokerage Opportunities
While many brokerages will work with part-time agents, there are some that may not be willing to hire a new agent that isn’t working full time. This is due to the fact that training and mentoring a new agent is time intensive and if you’re only available at certain times during the week, completing this training becomes more challenging.
That being said, this isn’t an obstacle that will prevent you from launching a successful career. While your brokerage options are more limited than they’d be if you were working full-time, you will still have many brokerages that will be happy to work with you.
Income Sharing
Due to your limited time and availability, there may be times when you simply won’t be able to accommodate the scheduling needs of your clients or have the bandwidth to complete all the tasks they need assistance with. Fortunately, there will be other real estate agents in your brokerage who can help you when you become too busy to manage your responsibilities on a part-time schedule.
In these situations, you will need to compensate the agent helping you, and this means your share of the commission will be slightly reduced. That being said, sharing your commission with an agent who helps you is well worthwhile, as it ensures you’re able to keep your clients happy and provide them with great service. Just make sure to work out the terms of compensation with assisting agents in advance so everyone has clear expectations on how the arrangement will work.
Potential for Burnout
While you have a flexible schedule and can determine how many hours a week you work, there is the risk of burnout if you’re taking on too many other responsibilities on top of your real estate career. If you’re working a full-time job and juggling the responsibilities of raising young children in addition to being a part-time real estate agent, you will most likely have very little time to relax, recharge and pursue your passions. Make sure to be proactive about carving out the personal time you need to avoid burnout.
The national average income for a part-time real estate agent is $58,145 a year. However, it’s important to keep in mind that real estate agents don’t make a salary. Their income is based on commissions, so there is considerably more variability in your earning potential than there is in many other fields where you either earn an annual salary or an hourly wage.
Some of the factors that will impact the amount of money you earn as a part-time real estate agent include:
There are several steps you can take to increase your likelihood of maximizing your earning potential as a part-time real estate agent:
Working on a real estate team is an effective way to minimize the challenges caused by the limited time and availability associated with working part time. A real estate team is a type of brokerage model that has all their agents work together as a team to support their clients. This model can be extremely beneficial to part-time agents since you will have the support of everyone on your team. Instead of being responsible for handling every aspect of the process for your clients, you will have other agents available to pitch in and provide assistance when you’re unavailable.
As a part-time agent, there are going to be times when you’re simply unable to respond to your clients or meet with them in person. This is especially true if you have another job, since the hours you work at your other job will limit the hours you can be available to your real estate clients. When you work on a real estate team, your clients will be able to contact other team members who can cover for you when you’re unavailable, ensuring things continue moving forward and they receive the best possible service.
Keep in mind that when you work on a real estate team, the commission for a deal will be shared among all team members. This means you’ll earn less on each deal than you would if you were the only agent involved. However, the benefits associated with the assistance you receive will often make this type of arrangement worthwhile when you’re working part time and have availability for your clients.
Marketing is an important part of the job, especially when you’re starting out and haven’t had time to develop a robust referral network. While marketing your real estate business can be time consuming if you handle everything yourself, you can significantly reduce the time spent on this task by automating your marketing. Using a CRM will allow you to automate a lot of your marketing efforts, simplifying the process and freeing up more time to spend on helping your clients.
You can use your CRM to schedule email marketing campaigns and social media posts. This allows you to block out one chunk of time each month to craft and schedule out all of these content pieces. Then, you can spend the rest of your real estate work hours on other important tasks.
Having dedicated days of the week will help you set boundaries that make it easier to balance all of your responsibilities in your life. This will help prevent burnout and ensure you’re bringing your best effort whenever you’re working on building your real estate business.
This success tip is applicable to both full-time and part-time real estate agents, but it will be especially impactful if you’re only working part time. Choose a specific niche in real estate and specialize in that area.
Choosing a niche provides several important benefits as a part-time real estate agent:
Networking is an important way to find clients. The more effectively you can get the word out that you’re a real estate agent, the faster you can build a client base. The good news is networking doesn’t have to be challenging or time consuming – it just requires persistence. Everyone you meet is a potential client. Even if they’re not looking to buy or sell a house right now, they may need the assistance of a good real estate agent down the road.
Therefore, make sure to tell everyone you know, and all new people you meet, that you’re a licensed real estate agent who can help them if they’re looking to buy or sell a house. In addition, reach out to people who work in or around other people’s homes, and leave your business card with them. Every one of these people may potentially be able to refer a new client to you. Some professions to network with include:
Make meaningful connections with these people, and make it clear to them that you are interested in a reciprocal relationship. Take their business cards and offer to refer them to your clients. This can be an effective way to build your clientele and minimize the amount of time you spend marketing.
A career in real estate requires a commitment to lifelong learning. There is a tremendous amount of industry knowledge to master, the market is dynamic, demographics in your area evolve over time, trends change, and new regulations are implemented each year. The best real estate agents dedicate enough time to continuing education to stay on top of these items and provide their clients with the expertise they need.
It can be difficult to budget time for continuing education as a part-time real estate agent, but this is a critical component of the job. Devoting time each month to expanding your knowledge of the real estate industry will help you become a better agent and position you for long-term success.
Our online format allows you to work through the course materials at your own pace, making it easy to fit your learning into a busy schedule that may also include a full-time job. In addition, you’ll benefit from courses that are developed and taught by local, licensed real estate professionals who deliver the most up-to-date information regarding the latest trends impacting the real estate industry in Colorado.
Our VideoConnect Success Learning System™ gives you access to the largest library of video content available. These engaging video lessons create an authentic classroom experience that is delivered to you in the comfort of your own home.
Our team is committed to your success, and we provide you with all the tools you need to pass the Colorado real estate exam. When you take our real estate exam prep courses, you’ll receive additional support and coaching that will make sure you know exactly what to expect on the day of the exam.
In addition, all of our courses are backed up by our exclusive TruSupport Pass Guarantee™. If for any reason you don’t pass your exam on the first try, you’ll receive extended access to all course materials. Our team will also analyze your results and work with you to develop a personalized study plan to help you improve in the areas you struggled with so that you’re better positioned to pass the next time you take the exam.
Contact us today to learn more about our online real estate courses.
