Let’s face it, now seems like the worst time to be getting into the real estate business. The lending standards have tightened up, fewer loans are being made, and you actually have to show proof of income before a bank will give you a mortgage. The days of an easy sale are gone, probably never to return, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t make a living as a real estate broker. Even if you have another full time job, obtaining your real estate license and becoming an active Realtor can make you money on the side.

There are many real estate professionals who can make enough money by finding people who want to buy or sell a home and referring the business to other members in their office. They collect a referral fee of anywhere from 25% to 50% of the commission earned by the agent that completes the sale. This can be a substantial amount depending on the final sales price. If you want to give it a go as full time agent there are surprisingly a lot of buyers who want to buy homes. Brokerage office will receive leads daily from their web site from potential buyers; these leads are then given out to sales associates to follow up on. Most of the leads are local but in vacation destinations like Florida, many are foreign buyers looking to take advantage of the weaker U.S. dollar compared to the euro. There are a few Forex indicators that European buyers will consider when buying in the United States. The simple rule is that if the euro is stronger than the U.S. dollar, then the Europeans will always be interested in buying a vacation home or condo. You can also create your own web site to attract business. A full time real estate professional is a hard working person who has the right attitude to find their own business be it local or from afar.

If you are looking for business to come to you without much effort, there are opportunities for you with brokers dealing with bank properties. A few real estate brokerages in every area cater to the bank properties; these are not the nicest homes in the area but still need to be sold. As a realtor starting out, you will be responsible for ordering the cleanup of the property and taking care of any city fines or violations that the property has received. This starts you out with some cash flow coming in while you learn the ropes. Banks will then ask you, as a real estate professional, to give them an estimate on the price that they should sell their asset for. These broker price opinions, as they are known, will get you anywhere from $50.00 to $150.00 depending on the request and valuable experience in pricing these assets. Eventually, you will be asked to list the homes for the banks receiving commission of between three to six percent. These days, there are so many bank properties coming on to the market that there is a need for realtors to do all the above. These banks and big institutions need the local realtors in the area to get their assets sold so they can use the money from the sale to make new loans.

To be fair to those who are serious about giving real estate a shot, there are start up costs to becoming a real estate professional. Most brokers do require that you become a realtor which means you have to join the local association and attend their training classes. This can cost about $1000.00 upfront to start with yearly dues required. However, with one sale, this cost will be paid for. The younger generation might also think of the real estate profession as being dominated by fifty year old women. Well, you are correct in believing this stereotype because the average realtor is indeed in their fifties and female. This doesn’t mean that you cannot find an office with a younger member base. There are many offices across the countries that are started by college graduates under thirty. The National Association of realtors even distinguishes their top 30 under 30 in an issue of their monthly magazine. Those featured in the issue are very successful entrepreneurs who have made it big in real estate, starting in their twenties and now owning a thriving business. If you are young, working under someone like this might help you feel more comfortable going to work every day. Not only do new Realtors want to make a living, they want coworkers who they enjoy being around with on a daily basis. Good office chemistry is always a plus when deciding on a place to work. As with all market there are ups and downs. Real estate has been down for the past few years but is in the process of recovering. So, obtaining your license and working now will give you valuable experience for when the market comes back to full strength in the next few years.

This guest post was from Jennifer Gorton a member of http://forexindicators.net- a site dedicated to the explanation and usage of handy Forex trading tools.

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