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Are you Part or Full Time Real Estate Agent?

In our industry many of us take on part time position in our services. I am for one a Full Time Agent. I make my living putting in the long hours to get the income I need to live here in Hawaii. It is also a known fact the change we have seen in the market place. I am having to put in more hours and find new ways to survive. I am wondering how many part time agents we will loose with the change in market. The Part Time Agents must be thinking of getting out of this field. I do know that my costs to have my License has not gone down and costs are going up for marketing.

The easy days are over for many of us and looking to make it or break it. The market has slowed down in many areas in the United States from reading many blogs and listening to news media hipe.

This blog was posted due to reading another blog just yesterday when I had read about an Agent having to cut coupons from the Sunday paper. This will open up many eyes over the next few months.

I am wondering how many Part Time Agents will hang in there. Myself, I am learning to paddle faster.

Posted by Gary Bland on 10/22/2007 11:59 AM

Comments (14)

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This post has been included in Hawaii Information Maui County, HI Information Wailea, HI Information

14 Comments on Are you Part or Full Time Real Estate Agent?

OCT

2007

Gary,

I applaud both your post and your outlook! Thanks, Fran

It is tough. I am busting my rear, determined to survive!

I do not believe part time agents can not give proper service to their clients on their own. A slowing market squeezes them out because they just can not compete with a full time professional.

Even full time agents cannot seem to figure it out. Full time right now means more than 8 hours a day and more than 5 days a week. Prospect/Marketing, BPOs, Appointment (min one a day) is what my day is all about. No BPOs or Appointments - go back to prospecting and marketing!

OCT

2007

The same is true for "Loan officers". I am a Mortgage Advisor. If the best thing to do is hold off from making a purchase that is what I will advise my clients to do. Many "Loan officers" got into the business during the refi boom. Now that the easy money is gone we will see many people leaving the Real Estate and related businesses. I wrote a blog called "a whole lotta pie" it references something similiar. Yes the industry is suffering but as more people leave the level of business for each individual will level out.

It depends on what you mean by part-time. i do have another job, but the hours are nearly 100% flexible apart from 6 hours a week that i actually teach a class - I'm an adjunct professor of biology. In some ways it is helping to stabilize me financially. This semester, I put it aside because my father became seriously ill over the summer and I couldn't take care of him, teach, and attend to my clients. The change DOES allow me to spend more time on prospecting. So we'll see what happens. If the prospecting starts to pay off, then I'll be very picky about what slots I accept or stop doing it all together. People have to survive.

I should add that I was putting in about 80 hours a week for both activities. More than 50 of them in real estate.....

OCT

2007

I honestly don't see many part-time agents in the business anymore unless they are semi-retired and working their referrals only or are part of a team. I agree, the part-timers will probably find it most difficult to be successful in this market1

NOV

2007

Hey Gary, I have never stopped clipping coupons, between my wife and my mom, its been that way thru all the phases of my life..I am also full time, and have turned my attention to cash buyers/investors..best of Luck over there.........Thanks for the comment on my posts too!!

Gary..saw a t shirt in Tenn last week in a white water rafting store..It said////////Paddle Faster, I hear Banjo Music!

NOV

2007

Gary-I'm paddling right by your side. There is no way I'm slowing down. You have a great outlook and your positive energy will keep you going. Thank you for inspiring us all to paddle even faster.

Gary - It would be nice if there were fewer part-timers. I get so tired of working both ends of a transaction when a part-timer is on the other side of the deal. The exception being semi-retired full time agents, who are usually very good to deal with.

FEB

2008

Being a Realtor is NOT rocket science.

I requires no intensive upfront training thus the low bar.

If it was a harder "job" they demographics of the industry will change so unless the bar is raised, may a college degree or a masters to be a Realtor, things will remain status quo.

Then, there'll be a different set of complaints!

MAR

2008

I am a full time agent, but I've seen some amazing part time agents work harder and better for their clients than some full time agents! I think it just a matter of attitude and what their motivation is, when I started I was part time and not a single person knew it!

I was invited to the company that I presently worked for because of my hard work for my buyers and being on top of the transaction at all times. I was working full time while doing this, it was hard, but I made it work, I had to in order to survive and build the dream of doing something better for my family.

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