The debate about whether people should be allowed to be real estate professionals on a part time basis rages on. What interests me about this issue isn’t so much who’s right and who’s wrong but what motivates the points of view from either side. I believe when we look closely at the people arguing against part-timers we find they’re usually motivated by self-interest borne out of their own waning competitive edge in this business. They mask their elitist, anti-competitive views in essentially hollow rhetoric.
People on the “no” or “nay” side of the question usually stereotype part-time real estate professionals. To the nay sayers all part-timers are lazy, know little about real estate, rely on getting business from friends and family, and price their services low to undercut competitors. Therefore, the nay sayers think all part timers are stealing business from the full-timers and not serving their clients or the general public well.
I lean toward agreeing with the nay sayers during periods of the real estate market where this part-timer stereotype is often found in reality. During the recent boom in the real estate market (especially in the US) and with a seller’s market and plenty of buyers to go around, naturally this type of market will attract the “something for nothing” people. It attracts the people who (like real estate or stock market speculators) jump in when times are great in hopes of making a quick buck with little effort.
But now, with the market having shifted over to the buyer side, it ups the ante for all real estate professionals and forces them to improve themselves to stay competitive in the business. This naturally weeds out most of the “something for nothing” part-timers who never had a competitive advantage to begin with other than a booming market that would inevitably settle down. When the gravy train stops, professionalism and expertise comes back to the fore.
I know from experience that it’s exceedingly difficult to start a new business from scratch, especially without any prior experience in the field and limited funds to back yourself personally along with your new venture. That’s why starting out part-time is a great way to go. Being self-employed full time is so different from being employed by someone else and so much more difficult that so many people need to go through a transition process, a weaning process from dependency to independency in every sense you can imagine.
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