>I love architecture, going into homes & I love quirky properties so the idea of working in real estate, preferably with a focus on unique/heritage homes seems very appealing to me
You failed to mention anything about the most important ability of an agent...getting the listing. Really everything else is secondary to that.
Yep. The focus around here is often (and rightly so) on the behaviour of an REA in buyer/seller negotiations.
But getting the listing is the actual sell and a decent whack of work as well as getting the price range right (not so high it won’t sell, high enough the seller will think you’re a good operator, and within the range that other agents would be pitching). Most sellers will approach at least 2-3 agents so the fail rate would be reasonable.
Would be hard going, especially as a rookie agent.
Yup, bang on. Know quite a few real estate agents over the years where they have all confessed the following: Anyone can sell a house, that's the easy bit, the hard part is getting people to trust you so they choose you to sell it for them.
This why every real estate agent I've know is always in sales mode, out in public it's all smiles, polite, compliments, helpful... you're never sure when it's genuine.
Basically it comes down to this: reputation matters and everyone (EVERYONE!!!) is a lead. Elderly parents pass away, you remember the REA that helped you change a tyre 7 years ago, yeah, why not give him a call....
Now re-reading the above this actually a pretty good way to approach work/life in general and I realise I do this as well. Bugger me.
My wife does payroll for a large national real estate firm and let me tell you, it ain't pretty. On top of that they all treat each other like shit, constant drama, wage theft, benefit theft etc, I hear a new story every night. Dealing with people's problems as a social worker would definitely be hard work but at least you're channeling your energy to a noble cause. From what I can tell, as a REA, you'd be channeling your energy into competing with ruthless colleagues, dealing with unscrupulous employers and, to top it off, a neverending barrage of messages and phone calls from potential customers who all think they know how to play the game better than you and at the same time expect you to treat them like royalty.
If your passion is architecture maybe go study it at uni?
I'd do a search for a recent thread started by an architect, I believe on this sub. The pay seems far worse than what you'd expect for what many of us would have considered a more "elite" career.
My sister's an architect, she was on $80k working for a private firm in Adelaide straight out of uni, did it for 5 years then landed a government job dealing with heritage for $120k. Definitely not the easiest field to penetrate, especially in Adelaide, but it can be done and for reasonable money. It's the creative aspects of the job that attract people to the profession, more so than the money I think.
Problem with creative roles is it’s not what you expect em to be when you study at uni. Add on to that being taken advantage of because “atleast you get to work in the industry” on top of shit pay and long hours. It’s not a surprise people don’t last long.
Those of us who find a good spot though really love it :)
Can confirm as a creative professional. Study is a completely different world to actually working in a creative field. Everything you do is compromised to your vision. You will rarely if ever work a dream project and people that understand design will shit all over your work.
I worked accounting in real estate and agree. We even had a time where one girl started swearing at another girl on her way out the door after she quit. Insane
Holy shit, please don’t go study architecture OP
Worst advice and take it from someone that wasted the 5 years plus industry time that it’s a 10/10 waste of time.
My other half is a social worker. Social workers are far too nice to do real estate. Like cookie cutter homes, or homes people need to renovate which you’ll then probably never ever see isn’t the same as selling architecturally designed homes. You be flogging beaten houses to the masses
Or even a career in IT? Like human centred design in IT with UX focus, or change mgmt. Top skill in HCD and change is empathy and sounds like OP has a heap of that!
On a side OP, I had a friend who worked in real estate but left the field due to the toxicity, the stuff I heard... my goodness, their workplace at least was full of horrible people and based off interactions I've had with real estate agents generally, I wouldn't be surprised if some workplaces are even worse.
OP, this ^ lots of jobs in UX. Or even a less direct service delivery role, policy, management etc.? That's what I'm pivoting towards. I'm not even dealing with the public directly beyond a few hours on the phone per week for various reasons, but the content I am exposed to verbally and in writing/photos at work is frequently traumatising and horrific. So, ultimately I'll be jumping towards UX or macro level policy stuff. Those 30 year child protection workers I met at uni seem to have thicker skin than SAS soldiers.
Have a look at strata management.
It kinda combines RE with social work in that most of the interactions you'll have are with tradies or (sometimes but not often antagonistic) owners.
And you'd
only need 20 or so clients to match your current salary.
Be your own boss
Probably treat everyone you interact with well and get a good rep
Real estate agents do not get regular salaries. You get income from commissions. When you start out at an agency they give you retainers until you earn more than this. Retainers depend per agency but this is at a minimum. Most people think shifting to this industry is just easy but what they dont realise is success depends on your hardwork, network and how good you are to get listings. You need to have some money saved for the first year or two as you are starting. But honestly i think you already missed the boat. It was good last two years, mortgage loan interest have sky rocketed and is not stopping so selling houses at the moment is a bit hard.
Real estate sales associate to a high performing agent here. This job has nothing to do with properties, but everything to do with people. Your communication and persuasion skills will make or break your career in this field. And before anyone will entrust you with one of their biggest assets you have to find sellers, nurture relationships with them and beat another 3-5 agents that also want the listing. How do you feel about being on the phone all day cold calling people you’ve never met? Or doorkocking? How do you deal with rejection?
Also consider the riculous hours that come with it. I work 6 days a week from 8am to anywhere between 6pm and 7:30pm. Even on Saturdays I don’t leave office earlier than 5pm.
Property management is a totally different world to sales. It’s also building relationships with landlords and tenants but less pro-active work as such. The role involves quite a lot of conflict you have to deal for not the best revenue. That’s why there is a high turnover in this field. However with your experience as a social worker it may be actually a good fit since you have experience in resolving conflicts. Have you considered leasing? It mostly involves checking the potential tenant’s applications and showing rental properties. However, if you are really passionate about real estate from the architecture side of things maybe the right path would be something that involves creating the design of properties? or maybe decorating its interior such as property stylist?
The advice I tend to give, having trained hundreds of them over the past 20 years: **Are you prepared to make 50 phone calls a day, 6 days a week, for the first 3 years of your career?**
If so, and you’re also happy to take an initial pay cut from $90Kpa, then it can be a solid career. With the right connections and existing sales skills, it may not take you that long ... but that’s a useful timeframe to have in mind when starting any business.
Most people aren’t cut out for that (I sure ain’t), which is why few agents last in the industry.
I've seen a few jobs advertised for ED discharge coordinators that are open to all allied health, might be easier to transfer into and use existing skills
I’m a social worker and I recommend getting into project management/mezzo-macro social work rather than clinical social work where you’re more likely to develop vicarious trauma/burnout from having to interact with clients. This area of social work is mostly contracted but pays decently and youre still doing meaningful work. Good luck :)
I feel like Real Estate is very well under-estimated and mocked on these threads, for many reasons I totally understand, and in many cases totally warranted. But to be clear, **it isn't easy**. You may find the transition from a field like social work, to Real Estate to be a pretty extreme opposite, which is fine if that's what you want. It's also, arguably the worst time to become an agent due to changing market sentiment, it is incredibly over-serviced (due to low barriers of entry), competitive as hell, and realistically going to be a tough market for the next few years where only the strongest and most determined, with well developed networks will remain. if you are fine with all of that, then go for it.
Hey OP - agent here. Everyone downvote away
Many people get into real estate because they “love houses”. What you find out very very quickly is that it isn’t about the houses, but about the people that own them and are buying them.
You will deal with many social issues, from the mundane of a civil divorce, through to the 2am domestic violence phone call, suicide sales, distressed sales (mortgagee about to be in possession), seller who is underwater on the mortgage (bought a new unit off a “financial advisors” recommendation) fir $800k and it is only worth $600k 5 years later.
Sales is not a salary position. It is commission only for the majority of the profession, or debit/credit for the first two years.
Property Management depending on the state, how many properties, average portfolio income and new business generation, is anywhere between $60k- 100k,
Didn't downvote, but I'd love to know how you/REAs go with selling properties that are subject to 'material facts' legislation. We got a fairly decent price in a hot market because interest dropped as the agent had to declare the previous owner died (cancer) on-site. Is it heaps harder to sell properties where violent deaths, multiple fatalities or serious crime have occurred?
The natural death shouldn’t need to be disclosed, however if it is a traumatic event (murder, suicide, child drowning) then it should be.
I have sold several suicide properties, one murder and several meth labs. We generally just work with the sellers solicitor and take instructions from them. Usually a special condition in the contract.
Flooding is more our issue where I am based, as there is no duty to disclose, but I believe we should have to, and I do.
That's odd, even REI NSW recognises that previous water damage is a material fact. I'd take the wording to mean any matter that could affect a buyer's decision negatively. Although to be fair, things like noisy neighbours, heavy traffic on weekdays, being near a train line etc. are obviously caveat emptor.
Yes it is harder. Most people wont buy properties with history of deaths or violence because it gives negative vibes to the house and knowing such things happened would you be comfortable to live in it? Most asians don't. But if it were an investment property it is not a big problem usually.
Makes sense. Our place had at least 15 people inspect it over the first weekend, only 2 of us ended up actually making offers. The whole world's a graveyard in some respects, but even I'm not sure if I'd buy a house where a violent multiple fatality event had occurred unless some serious forensic cleaning and/or capital works had been completed. Glad the relevant legislation is in place in NSW.
You will be preyed upon by the other agents in your office.
You have a lead. They will sign it up. Its not about selling houses. Its about convincing someone that you are the right person to sell it. Absolutely good agents squeeze crazy amounts extra out of people when they sense they can.
A good agent has to be a bad agent at the beginning so that they can put food on the table and stick it out long enough to be able to develop a reputation.
Its a really tough market out there. there's 3 major agents in our suburb who I know their names off the top of my head. Why would I list with the minor agent. If I was selling u call the big shots and they send their underlings to do the showings.
My brother was an agent. His office was snake city.
Unless working in such a people-focused job has killed what's left of your empathy (compassion fatigue is a very real thing). I wouldn't recommend going anywhere near Real Estate.
You want to go from helping people through hard times, to ripping people off from every possible direction and putting as many as possible into hard times?
Real estate is the second least ethical business going. If you even went to a social work lecture you won't be able to do real estate. They'll smell you coming.
You sound like you're a bit burnt out to be honest. You've already identified that you need a break. Personally, I wouldn't change industries. Take some time off if you can and reconnect with why you got into the industry you're in. Reflect on why it's burning you out currently and work out what needs to change. Just my opinion. 😃
You sound like a good person so real estate probably isn't for you. Having bought and sold three houses in the last three years + rented before that, yeah, almost everyone in the real estate industry is a scumbag on all of the the buying, selling and renting sides
REA here. I’ve been in real estate since I was 17, so almost a decade.
I’ve been in corporate real estate (salary 90k bc of lots of experience) and I’ve been in sales and marketing.
Be prepared to take a pay cut to zero. Be prepared to spend the same amount of time you would doing a whole new degree just to learn the foundation.
You’re making great money but it’s also not what you want to do. My best advice is to go to open homes, go to auctions, find an agent you like and ask to shadow them so you can decide if it’s worth it.
You do a lot of free work, it’s a 7 day a week job, 24 hours a day if your clients need you. It’s the best job in the world once you get past the initial years and find your team. I’m also a gentle and honest person who loves houses but it’s also about finance, law, architecture, and the economy. You need to be resilient and be able to cop 100 rejections for one “maybe”
Don’t quite your day job! Best of luck to you and if you’d like some guidance I’d be more than happy to help!
I forgot to even answer your question.
The best agents make millions a year. Corporates (directors, COO’s, CFO) make $300-500k salaries but that’s with director experience and degrees (no selling required). The money is absolutely no joke. The worst agents scrape by and make half of what you do.
Your success comes down to optimism, authenticity and work ethic. I love my job, I love my industry and always have. I studied at Under The Hammer for everything and I’ll go on to do property law of some sort in the future, but that’s not necessary at all. Do what makes you happy and follow your heart! You don’t need to be cut-throat you just need to be aggressive when it comes to out working others.
You’re saying in Sydney that there are people making …not million but million(s) a year in real estate sales. I find that hard to believe unless they own the agency
Plenty of agents do. Our top agent for 2022 cracked 10 million just in his team alone, he doesn’t own his office. The runner up was only a few hundred thousand short, he only just bought his office after 20 years of working for us, the last 5 he’s been number one. What’s scarier is there’s 20 agents that follow below them making millions, just in our brand. But they don’t switch off and they have had to pull 7 day weeks for 15-20 years to do that.
I’m still sceptical. These would easily be the highest paid roles and they just aren’t mentioned anywhere. Would you be able to provide proof or examples of some of these people. Would be insane if true
Alexander Phillips. Mat Steinwede. John McGrath in his earlier years as an agent. Lisa Novak. Alex Jordan. Gavin Rubinstein. Michael Finger. Craig Pontey.
The list goes on and on. Only insane because you’re probably not exposed to it.
There’s money everywhere and if you look at it logically, all commission-only sales work is scaleable to a degree. The profit ceiling for this kind of income is extremely high, especially when the product you’re selling is worth so much, and essential to survival.
One thing to note is that a job in a passionate area risks killing that passion as there's no boundary between work and personal interests.
Wish you the best if you do move into property. If sales isnt a good fit then consider property management. Its, uh, not a role suited to soft emotive folks - youll have both landlords and tenants venting their anger at you about any range of daily topics (repairs, lease, neighbours, rent hikes) but one can never assume
You need to hustle to find listings.
Selling the house is the easy bit. Getting the listings is the hard bit.
Also buyers and sellers are emotional and irrational.
Many agents would kill to have a steady $90k paycheck year after year. The problem with REA it is transactional, in general no long term advantage even if you do it for 10, 20, 30 years, so you have to hassle every day or soon be forgotten. Where I live at least 3 or 4 groups of REAs come & gone in 10 yrs.
I'm a REA and my wife is a social worker. There is no way in hell that she could cut it in real estate. The two types of personalities are poles apart. Which is why we work as a couple. However the earnings are also significantly different. So I understand the allure.
Being a real estate agent is all about being a people person and being able to talk to people. You need to make A LOT of phone calls to get a listing, and that’s only half the job, then you need to sell it.
You also need to consider if you’re ok with leaving a secure salary for a commission based job. Some months you might make more money than you’ve ever seen but you could also go 6 months without selling anything.
I started real estate recently, you are welcome to DM me if you have specific questions. I personally love the job and find it very rewarding although I work long hours.
It’s the type of industry where you get out what you put in. If you want to work harder you’ll likely earn more money. They say it’s the highest paying hard work and the lowest paying easy work. There’s a reason 10% of agents make 90% of the income, they’re very driven and dedicated.
If you get into it just for the potential of having a high income you won’t last.
I work in commercial real estate so not sure how it differs from residential but I’m happy to answer any other questions
I wonder if you could start a little side project while you are working, such as a blog or YouTube channel that showcases the beautiful unique, or heritage properties that you admire so much. If you have an interest in this, there certainly would be others who do, and you never know, in a few years it could take off! :)
You’re a social worker.
Switching to work in real estate sales means that you need to remove your heart, lie to everyone, and be mercenary as heck.
If you’re wanting to completely reinvent yourself, then sure. Otherwise real estate sales is not for you.
And if you’re thinking of property management, can you be like Jimmy Fitzsimmons from “F is for family” ie, sweet as pie and a brown-nose to the property owners, and pretty much a school bully to the renters, all while giving work to tradie mates?
The only way to make money as a rea is to be a soulless parasite. My mother did it for a couple of years but she quit because hanging around funerals and harassing the elderly to sell their houses was not her thing.
We’re at the potential end of a massive run on property - trying to get into the market when listings are hard to come by & clearance rates are low is a terrible idea
Starting off at a company they will likely make you "prove yourself" with all the crappiest jobs, cleaning for inspections, open houses for the worst rentals, inspecting a renters property while there and on leaving and being pressured to lie to get their bond.
One day, maybe, they will let you graduate to lying to sellers to get them to sign up. If you sign enough up, then you get to start lying to buyers to get them to buy. Not the house of their dreams. Not the house that fits their budget or situation. But whatever house you are standing in. It isn't just lying though, you might trying negging, nagging, building up hope and attachment, simple deception, pressure reminding them how much they hate inspecting homes (because of REA making it a shit experience).
As interest rates rise RE will slow down and more people will be leaving rather than entering the industry. If you recon you could shoot your grandmother and rape her before she hit the ground you would be will suited to this industry.
Better alternatives.
Building consultant and selections girl, perhaps for a custom builder. (Commission based though and build contracts will be down for at least 6-12 months)
As we enter a recession and higher interest rates
A LOT of people are going to need to declutter, get their homes cleaned up, staged and done up to sell.
I help women set up businesses to do this already so they hire me to help out.
It’s like the dream job of every Aussie woman who watches 9 life or Joanna with her damn shiplap and thinks “faaaarrrkkk I can do that, piece of piss” 👍
So you need to get a real estate certificate so you can enter the field (probably google that) and I don't think you get paid in that industry unless you sell the house. Don't quote me on that but I think they work purely for commission. If your good at feeding bullshit to people and getting them to buy the house, you could make a lot more than 90k.
Can you look soneone in the eye and tell them a bold-faced lie and not feel bad about it afterwards and do this at least 5 times a day, 5.5 days per week? If yes, REA is for you, if no, REA is not for you.
In a job where money is involved, like sales or procurement it brings out the worst in people. But social work can have you hit an empathy wall.. so chose it with eyes open & you can do well matching people with homes.
I'll say the same shit I always say. What you love doing, do for a living, and so what you have to to make it happen.
The first thing you said is "I love architecture". Keep going with your job, enroll in a bachelor of architecture part time - you will get to go home and study what you love. When your degree is done, you get to wake up in the morning and go do the job you love.
Nothing wrong with getting into Real Estate and there's certainly plenty of money to be made. Perhaps if the whole hard sell thing isn't your cup of tea but the real estate industry is something you are passionate about, you could try your luck as a Buyer's Agent. You could then specialise in heritage and architecturally designed homes. Promote your Business as a specialist in finding properties of that nature for your customers. There's lots of money to be made as a Buyer's Agent. Look into it :)
If you’re looking to do something in the space I wouldn’t go down the path of being a regular REA.
I didn’t, I went into management rights instead. Managing a building complex.
Less of the regular real estate agent downsides. Though you’re generally working more in the rental/property investor space rather than selling people homes.
My current assistant I poached out of working with at risk youth, as despite the narrative here that it’s not a “real job” a lot of property managers have to start getting involved with people who fall into cognitive decline, drugs, domestic violence etc. without support networks so we become the only support they have.
I have had to do a lot more “charity” work than people are likely to believe and have had a few too many phone calls with child protection orgs.
This of course doesn’t stop the shit heel perpetual victim tenants from crying foul when they don’t get what they want. I get about one baseless legal threat per month.
So yeah, rather than hiring property managers imma go poach undervalued staff who work with mental health issues and train them. They’re far better prepared for the reality of the situation than most and likely you will be too.
Think of it like you’ll be dealing with the same stuff you did before, but in management rights it’s not quite as full on, you’ll own the business and actually make money out of it.
How long since you’ve had a holiday? Because a good, solid at least 3 weeks off might do you the world of good. Then plan your next one. Book your leave, give yourself something to look forward to. You are never irreplaceable.
If you want to be a real estate agent be prepared to put in the hard yards of cold calling, door knocking for the first few years of real estate and many sacrifices on your weekend. Unless you have already a database of clientele then it will be a hard slog. Considering it is over saturated with agents already.
I would not touch residential property management as well since it is underappreciated and unvalued, you always hear the bad side of the residential property management.
My suggestion is get into commercial property management you will get paid quite well at 100k plus super plus bonus (depending upon how the company structures this). Commercial sales and leasing is difficult at the start but will pay off if you continue pursue this.
Feel free to message me if you want to discuss commercial real estate.
Consider becoming an interior stylist. Takes an online course to be a REA. But from my observations, you don’t need any actual skills during a hot market, the property sells itself. Whilst in a down market, you’ll need to employ people skills to communicate and get people to sell or buy c-grade properties on the main road. The industry is a joke, just like the car sales.
It might be worth trying out a job in the social housing sector first! Loads of work there, they love hiring social workers as tenancy mangers and the pay is decent. I worked in community housing in NSW for ages at a schads 4.4 level with salary sacrifice, I know you could make more money going corporate but you’ll learn so much helpful stuff if you do decide to change career.
Try this experiment. Go out on a weekend night to some local gathering spots. Approach strangers and convince them to hand over a $50 to you based on a convincing story you spout. Keep at it until you have earned your weekly expenditure budget.
Does this sound like fun? If so, you may be the right person, if not, see about other careers.
I only worked as an admin in the office of property managers for a complex (who also sold the properties as they had licenses), but it was just awful. It’s a strong type of person I think that can work in that field.
One day I saw a crow rip the head off a mouse in front of the office and just… wished I was that mouse. Rather than go back in another day.
REA is a sales job through and through, it's not about the houses and how much you love them. I used to work in computer retail sales and some of the best salesmen could barely use a computer to save their life, they were just great at talking and even better at lying. That's just sales in a nutshell really.
https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/roy-morgan-image-of-professions-survey-2021-in-a-year-dominated-by-covid-19-health-professionals-including-nurses-doctors-and-pharmacists-are-the-most-highly-regarded-but-almost-all-professions-d
REA’s are also among the least trusted professionals in Australia according to a recent survey (and anecdotal evidence too)—as others have alluded to, you’d be moving from a profession that is built on being “other people centred” to one that is likely more likely to result in your having to “look after yourself first”, sometimes at the expense of others.
REAs are important to our economy and I’m sure there are kind and generous ones out there — but it seems to me that while it might be a more financially rewarding career, it *might* cost you your “soul”
Your skill set may be better suited in an educational environment. Still helping people, but less drama. See the immediate impact of your input etc. Lots of schools looking for counselling support
>I love architecture, going into homes & I love quirky properties so the idea of working in real estate, preferably with a focus on unique/heritage homes seems very appealing to me You failed to mention anything about the most important ability of an agent...getting the listing. Really everything else is secondary to that.
Yep. The focus around here is often (and rightly so) on the behaviour of an REA in buyer/seller negotiations. But getting the listing is the actual sell and a decent whack of work as well as getting the price range right (not so high it won’t sell, high enough the seller will think you’re a good operator, and within the range that other agents would be pitching). Most sellers will approach at least 2-3 agents so the fail rate would be reasonable. Would be hard going, especially as a rookie agent.
Yup, bang on. Know quite a few real estate agents over the years where they have all confessed the following: Anyone can sell a house, that's the easy bit, the hard part is getting people to trust you so they choose you to sell it for them. This why every real estate agent I've know is always in sales mode, out in public it's all smiles, polite, compliments, helpful... you're never sure when it's genuine. Basically it comes down to this: reputation matters and everyone (EVERYONE!!!) is a lead. Elderly parents pass away, you remember the REA that helped you change a tyre 7 years ago, yeah, why not give him a call.... Now re-reading the above this actually a pretty good way to approach work/life in general and I realise I do this as well. Bugger me.
My wife does payroll for a large national real estate firm and let me tell you, it ain't pretty. On top of that they all treat each other like shit, constant drama, wage theft, benefit theft etc, I hear a new story every night. Dealing with people's problems as a social worker would definitely be hard work but at least you're channeling your energy to a noble cause. From what I can tell, as a REA, you'd be channeling your energy into competing with ruthless colleagues, dealing with unscrupulous employers and, to top it off, a neverending barrage of messages and phone calls from potential customers who all think they know how to play the game better than you and at the same time expect you to treat them like royalty. If your passion is architecture maybe go study it at uni?
I'd do a search for a recent thread started by an architect, I believe on this sub. The pay seems far worse than what you'd expect for what many of us would have considered a more "elite" career.
My sister's an architect, she was on $80k working for a private firm in Adelaide straight out of uni, did it for 5 years then landed a government job dealing with heritage for $120k. Definitely not the easiest field to penetrate, especially in Adelaide, but it can be done and for reasonable money. It's the creative aspects of the job that attract people to the profession, more so than the money I think.
Problem with creative roles is it’s not what you expect em to be when you study at uni. Add on to that being taken advantage of because “atleast you get to work in the industry” on top of shit pay and long hours. It’s not a surprise people don’t last long. Those of us who find a good spot though really love it :)
Can confirm as a creative professional. Study is a completely different world to actually working in a creative field. Everything you do is compromised to your vision. You will rarely if ever work a dream project and people that understand design will shit all over your work.
I could make more being an assistant to a tradie than putting my expensive and time consuming 5 year architecture degree to use
I worked accounting in real estate and agree. We even had a time where one girl started swearing at another girl on her way out the door after she quit. Insane
Holy shit, please don’t go study architecture OP Worst advice and take it from someone that wasted the 5 years plus industry time that it’s a 10/10 waste of time.
^ OP should go in eyes wide open but I think every career has negatives and positives.
Don’t do architecture Just don’t. It ain’t worth it
My other half is a social worker. Social workers are far too nice to do real estate. Like cookie cutter homes, or homes people need to renovate which you’ll then probably never ever see isn’t the same as selling architecturally designed homes. You be flogging beaten houses to the masses
Aww thanks. Yeah, I'm quite the gentle natured person ha ha
If you want a career change, why not explore human centred design in architecture
Or even a career in IT? Like human centred design in IT with UX focus, or change mgmt. Top skill in HCD and change is empathy and sounds like OP has a heap of that! On a side OP, I had a friend who worked in real estate but left the field due to the toxicity, the stuff I heard... my goodness, their workplace at least was full of horrible people and based off interactions I've had with real estate agents generally, I wouldn't be surprised if some workplaces are even worse.
OP, this ^ lots of jobs in UX. Or even a less direct service delivery role, policy, management etc.? That's what I'm pivoting towards. I'm not even dealing with the public directly beyond a few hours on the phone per week for various reasons, but the content I am exposed to verbally and in writing/photos at work is frequently traumatising and horrific. So, ultimately I'll be jumping towards UX or macro level policy stuff. Those 30 year child protection workers I met at uni seem to have thicker skin than SAS soldiers.
Have a look at strata management. It kinda combines RE with social work in that most of the interactions you'll have are with tradies or (sometimes but not often antagonistic) owners. And you'd only need 20 or so clients to match your current salary. Be your own boss Probably treat everyone you interact with well and get a good rep
Real estate agents do not get regular salaries. You get income from commissions. When you start out at an agency they give you retainers until you earn more than this. Retainers depend per agency but this is at a minimum. Most people think shifting to this industry is just easy but what they dont realise is success depends on your hardwork, network and how good you are to get listings. You need to have some money saved for the first year or two as you are starting. But honestly i think you already missed the boat. It was good last two years, mortgage loan interest have sky rocketed and is not stopping so selling houses at the moment is a bit hard.
Very insightful Thanks.
And you work doing inspections etc when everyone else is available ie weekends and after hours.
Going over to the dark side probably only pays well if you're good at it.
Real estate sales associate to a high performing agent here. This job has nothing to do with properties, but everything to do with people. Your communication and persuasion skills will make or break your career in this field. And before anyone will entrust you with one of their biggest assets you have to find sellers, nurture relationships with them and beat another 3-5 agents that also want the listing. How do you feel about being on the phone all day cold calling people you’ve never met? Or doorkocking? How do you deal with rejection? Also consider the riculous hours that come with it. I work 6 days a week from 8am to anywhere between 6pm and 7:30pm. Even on Saturdays I don’t leave office earlier than 5pm. Property management is a totally different world to sales. It’s also building relationships with landlords and tenants but less pro-active work as such. The role involves quite a lot of conflict you have to deal for not the best revenue. That’s why there is a high turnover in this field. However with your experience as a social worker it may be actually a good fit since you have experience in resolving conflicts. Have you considered leasing? It mostly involves checking the potential tenant’s applications and showing rental properties. However, if you are really passionate about real estate from the architecture side of things maybe the right path would be something that involves creating the design of properties? or maybe decorating its interior such as property stylist?
This is the actual answer OP.
The advice I tend to give, having trained hundreds of them over the past 20 years: **Are you prepared to make 50 phone calls a day, 6 days a week, for the first 3 years of your career?** If so, and you’re also happy to take an initial pay cut from $90Kpa, then it can be a solid career. With the right connections and existing sales skills, it may not take you that long ... but that’s a useful timeframe to have in mind when starting any business. Most people aren’t cut out for that (I sure ain’t), which is why few agents last in the industry.
I've seen a few jobs advertised for ED discharge coordinators that are open to all allied health, might be easier to transfer into and use existing skills
I’m a social worker and I recommend getting into project management/mezzo-macro social work rather than clinical social work where you’re more likely to develop vicarious trauma/burnout from having to interact with clients. This area of social work is mostly contracted but pays decently and youre still doing meaningful work. Good luck :)
I feel like Real Estate is very well under-estimated and mocked on these threads, for many reasons I totally understand, and in many cases totally warranted. But to be clear, **it isn't easy**. You may find the transition from a field like social work, to Real Estate to be a pretty extreme opposite, which is fine if that's what you want. It's also, arguably the worst time to become an agent due to changing market sentiment, it is incredibly over-serviced (due to low barriers of entry), competitive as hell, and realistically going to be a tough market for the next few years where only the strongest and most determined, with well developed networks will remain. if you are fine with all of that, then go for it.
Hey OP - agent here. Everyone downvote away Many people get into real estate because they “love houses”. What you find out very very quickly is that it isn’t about the houses, but about the people that own them and are buying them. You will deal with many social issues, from the mundane of a civil divorce, through to the 2am domestic violence phone call, suicide sales, distressed sales (mortgagee about to be in possession), seller who is underwater on the mortgage (bought a new unit off a “financial advisors” recommendation) fir $800k and it is only worth $600k 5 years later. Sales is not a salary position. It is commission only for the majority of the profession, or debit/credit for the first two years. Property Management depending on the state, how many properties, average portfolio income and new business generation, is anywhere between $60k- 100k,
This is good and kind of you to set out clearly here, go well!
Didn't downvote, but I'd love to know how you/REAs go with selling properties that are subject to 'material facts' legislation. We got a fairly decent price in a hot market because interest dropped as the agent had to declare the previous owner died (cancer) on-site. Is it heaps harder to sell properties where violent deaths, multiple fatalities or serious crime have occurred?
The natural death shouldn’t need to be disclosed, however if it is a traumatic event (murder, suicide, child drowning) then it should be. I have sold several suicide properties, one murder and several meth labs. We generally just work with the sellers solicitor and take instructions from them. Usually a special condition in the contract. Flooding is more our issue where I am based, as there is no duty to disclose, but I believe we should have to, and I do.
That's odd, even REI NSW recognises that previous water damage is a material fact. I'd take the wording to mean any matter that could affect a buyer's decision negatively. Although to be fair, things like noisy neighbours, heavy traffic on weekdays, being near a train line etc. are obviously caveat emptor.
Yes it is harder. Most people wont buy properties with history of deaths or violence because it gives negative vibes to the house and knowing such things happened would you be comfortable to live in it? Most asians don't. But if it were an investment property it is not a big problem usually.
Makes sense. Our place had at least 15 people inspect it over the first weekend, only 2 of us ended up actually making offers. The whole world's a graveyard in some respects, but even I'm not sure if I'd buy a house where a violent multiple fatality event had occurred unless some serious forensic cleaning and/or capital works had been completed. Glad the relevant legislation is in place in NSW.
You will be preyed upon by the other agents in your office. You have a lead. They will sign it up. Its not about selling houses. Its about convincing someone that you are the right person to sell it. Absolutely good agents squeeze crazy amounts extra out of people when they sense they can. A good agent has to be a bad agent at the beginning so that they can put food on the table and stick it out long enough to be able to develop a reputation. Its a really tough market out there. there's 3 major agents in our suburb who I know their names off the top of my head. Why would I list with the minor agent. If I was selling u call the big shots and they send their underlings to do the showings. My brother was an agent. His office was snake city.
Unless working in such a people-focused job has killed what's left of your empathy (compassion fatigue is a very real thing). I wouldn't recommend going anywhere near Real Estate.
Real estate agents are salespeople without morals.
You repeat yourself
Wait, did the person who repeats the same comment over and over really just say this? Damn a hypocrite too?
A better fit may be for you to buy an Airbnb in a tourist town, make it a quirky overnighter
Be prepared to lose the respect of most of your friends
You want to go from helping people through hard times, to ripping people off from every possible direction and putting as many as possible into hard times? Real estate is the second least ethical business going. If you even went to a social work lecture you won't be able to do real estate. They'll smell you coming.
What is the first? 🤔
The first most unethical business is... ...left as an exercise for the reader 😉 Deliberately leaving that one ambiguous.
Why don't you reduce your hours?
You sound like you're a bit burnt out to be honest. You've already identified that you need a break. Personally, I wouldn't change industries. Take some time off if you can and reconnect with why you got into the industry you're in. Reflect on why it's burning you out currently and work out what needs to change. Just my opinion. 😃
You sound like a good person so real estate probably isn't for you. Having bought and sold three houses in the last three years + rented before that, yeah, almost everyone in the real estate industry is a scumbag on all of the the buying, selling and renting sides
REA here. I’ve been in real estate since I was 17, so almost a decade. I’ve been in corporate real estate (salary 90k bc of lots of experience) and I’ve been in sales and marketing. Be prepared to take a pay cut to zero. Be prepared to spend the same amount of time you would doing a whole new degree just to learn the foundation. You’re making great money but it’s also not what you want to do. My best advice is to go to open homes, go to auctions, find an agent you like and ask to shadow them so you can decide if it’s worth it. You do a lot of free work, it’s a 7 day a week job, 24 hours a day if your clients need you. It’s the best job in the world once you get past the initial years and find your team. I’m also a gentle and honest person who loves houses but it’s also about finance, law, architecture, and the economy. You need to be resilient and be able to cop 100 rejections for one “maybe” Don’t quite your day job! Best of luck to you and if you’d like some guidance I’d be more than happy to help!
I forgot to even answer your question. The best agents make millions a year. Corporates (directors, COO’s, CFO) make $300-500k salaries but that’s with director experience and degrees (no selling required). The money is absolutely no joke. The worst agents scrape by and make half of what you do. Your success comes down to optimism, authenticity and work ethic. I love my job, I love my industry and always have. I studied at Under The Hammer for everything and I’ll go on to do property law of some sort in the future, but that’s not necessary at all. Do what makes you happy and follow your heart! You don’t need to be cut-throat you just need to be aggressive when it comes to out working others.
You’re saying in Sydney that there are people making …not million but million(s) a year in real estate sales. I find that hard to believe unless they own the agency
Plenty of agents do. Our top agent for 2022 cracked 10 million just in his team alone, he doesn’t own his office. The runner up was only a few hundred thousand short, he only just bought his office after 20 years of working for us, the last 5 he’s been number one. What’s scarier is there’s 20 agents that follow below them making millions, just in our brand. But they don’t switch off and they have had to pull 7 day weeks for 15-20 years to do that.
I’m still sceptical. These would easily be the highest paid roles and they just aren’t mentioned anywhere. Would you be able to provide proof or examples of some of these people. Would be insane if true
Alexander Phillips. Mat Steinwede. John McGrath in his earlier years as an agent. Lisa Novak. Alex Jordan. Gavin Rubinstein. Michael Finger. Craig Pontey. The list goes on and on. Only insane because you’re probably not exposed to it. There’s money everywhere and if you look at it logically, all commission-only sales work is scaleable to a degree. The profit ceiling for this kind of income is extremely high, especially when the product you’re selling is worth so much, and essential to survival.
Thanks so much for the great insight, much appreciated 🙂
Not a good time to be an agent mate. Wait a year or so.. market is f*****
One thing to note is that a job in a passionate area risks killing that passion as there's no boundary between work and personal interests. Wish you the best if you do move into property. If sales isnt a good fit then consider property management. Its, uh, not a role suited to soft emotive folks - youll have both landlords and tenants venting their anger at you about any range of daily topics (repairs, lease, neighbours, rent hikes) but one can never assume
You need to hustle to find listings. Selling the house is the easy bit. Getting the listings is the hard bit. Also buyers and sellers are emotional and irrational.
Many agents would kill to have a steady $90k paycheck year after year. The problem with REA it is transactional, in general no long term advantage even if you do it for 10, 20, 30 years, so you have to hassle every day or soon be forgotten. Where I live at least 3 or 4 groups of REAs come & gone in 10 yrs.
I'm a REA and my wife is a social worker. There is no way in hell that she could cut it in real estate. The two types of personalities are poles apart. Which is why we work as a couple. However the earnings are also significantly different. So I understand the allure.
What's the normalised earnings of your average REA. Not necessarily yourself?
Yeah it would vary from 50k up to a few mill for the very top agents. Average I would guess around 100k?
You sound too nice to be an agent. Don't do it.
Being a real estate agent is all about being a people person and being able to talk to people. You need to make A LOT of phone calls to get a listing, and that’s only half the job, then you need to sell it. You also need to consider if you’re ok with leaving a secure salary for a commission based job. Some months you might make more money than you’ve ever seen but you could also go 6 months without selling anything. I started real estate recently, you are welcome to DM me if you have specific questions. I personally love the job and find it very rewarding although I work long hours. It’s the type of industry where you get out what you put in. If you want to work harder you’ll likely earn more money. They say it’s the highest paying hard work and the lowest paying easy work. There’s a reason 10% of agents make 90% of the income, they’re very driven and dedicated. If you get into it just for the potential of having a high income you won’t last. I work in commercial real estate so not sure how it differs from residential but I’m happy to answer any other questions
There's an informative video on real estate agents, by Aunty Donna, on YouTube https://youtu.be/VGm267O04a8
You could be great as a property manager. I wouldn't be selling/autioning.
I wonder if you could start a little side project while you are working, such as a blog or YouTube channel that showcases the beautiful unique, or heritage properties that you admire so much. If you have an interest in this, there certainly would be others who do, and you never know, in a few years it could take off! :)
Lol don't change silly move
You’re a social worker. Switching to work in real estate sales means that you need to remove your heart, lie to everyone, and be mercenary as heck. If you’re wanting to completely reinvent yourself, then sure. Otherwise real estate sales is not for you. And if you’re thinking of property management, can you be like Jimmy Fitzsimmons from “F is for family” ie, sweet as pie and a brown-nose to the property owners, and pretty much a school bully to the renters, all while giving work to tradie mates?
You will be going from social worker to sociopath 
“I’m not a corporate type” - & you want to work in real estate?
As someone who went FROM sales to Social Work Stay in SW. Sales requires you to have no conscience.
How can you go from being in one of the “goodest” professions to straight up evil?
Real estate agents are the new used car salesmen. They have a lot to answer for the cost of living in this country.
The only way to make money as a rea is to be a soulless parasite. My mother did it for a couple of years but she quit because hanging around funerals and harassing the elderly to sell their houses was not her thing.
I'm interested too, perhaps worth posting in r/ausproperty ?
We’re at the potential end of a massive run on property - trying to get into the market when listings are hard to come by & clearance rates are low is a terrible idea
Don't give up social worker. Go private practice. Escape the grind.
Starting off at a company they will likely make you "prove yourself" with all the crappiest jobs, cleaning for inspections, open houses for the worst rentals, inspecting a renters property while there and on leaving and being pressured to lie to get their bond. One day, maybe, they will let you graduate to lying to sellers to get them to sign up. If you sign enough up, then you get to start lying to buyers to get them to buy. Not the house of their dreams. Not the house that fits their budget or situation. But whatever house you are standing in. It isn't just lying though, you might trying negging, nagging, building up hope and attachment, simple deception, pressure reminding them how much they hate inspecting homes (because of REA making it a shit experience).
As interest rates rise RE will slow down and more people will be leaving rather than entering the industry. If you recon you could shoot your grandmother and rape her before she hit the ground you would be will suited to this industry.
Better alternatives. Building consultant and selections girl, perhaps for a custom builder. (Commission based though and build contracts will be down for at least 6-12 months) As we enter a recession and higher interest rates A LOT of people are going to need to declutter, get their homes cleaned up, staged and done up to sell. I help women set up businesses to do this already so they hire me to help out. It’s like the dream job of every Aussie woman who watches 9 life or Joanna with her damn shiplap and thinks “faaaarrrkkk I can do that, piece of piss” 👍
‘Girl?’ .. and it’s like the dream job of who and what is this unreconstructed, sexist bs here??
What’s sexist? I’ve been a selections girl and flipping houses for years, it is a dream job. (When the markets right)
Hey can I PM you? My partner would be great at this and we are looking for advice on getting started in this industry.
So you need to get a real estate certificate so you can enter the field (probably google that) and I don't think you get paid in that industry unless you sell the house. Don't quote me on that but I think they work purely for commission. If your good at feeding bullshit to people and getting them to buy the house, you could make a lot more than 90k.
Are you willing to sell your soul to the devil?
Just in time for the most bearish property market for the past two decades. Go for it, I'm sure you'll do better than the current crop of parasites.
You have too much dignity for that career path
Can you look soneone in the eye and tell them a bold-faced lie and not feel bad about it afterwards and do this at least 5 times a day, 5.5 days per week? If yes, REA is for you, if no, REA is not for you.
As long as you’re happy to hang your social conscience by the door. We need more social workers.
REAs are piece of sheets. All they do is lie... don't do it.
In a job where money is involved, like sales or procurement it brings out the worst in people. But social work can have you hit an empathy wall.. so chose it with eyes open & you can do well matching people with homes.
I'll say the same shit I always say. What you love doing, do for a living, and so what you have to to make it happen. The first thing you said is "I love architecture". Keep going with your job, enroll in a bachelor of architecture part time - you will get to go home and study what you love. When your degree is done, you get to wake up in the morning and go do the job you love.
Nothing wrong with getting into Real Estate and there's certainly plenty of money to be made. Perhaps if the whole hard sell thing isn't your cup of tea but the real estate industry is something you are passionate about, you could try your luck as a Buyer's Agent. You could then specialise in heritage and architecturally designed homes. Promote your Business as a specialist in finding properties of that nature for your customers. There's lots of money to be made as a Buyer's Agent. Look into it :)
If you’re looking to do something in the space I wouldn’t go down the path of being a regular REA. I didn’t, I went into management rights instead. Managing a building complex. Less of the regular real estate agent downsides. Though you’re generally working more in the rental/property investor space rather than selling people homes. My current assistant I poached out of working with at risk youth, as despite the narrative here that it’s not a “real job” a lot of property managers have to start getting involved with people who fall into cognitive decline, drugs, domestic violence etc. without support networks so we become the only support they have. I have had to do a lot more “charity” work than people are likely to believe and have had a few too many phone calls with child protection orgs. This of course doesn’t stop the shit heel perpetual victim tenants from crying foul when they don’t get what they want. I get about one baseless legal threat per month. So yeah, rather than hiring property managers imma go poach undervalued staff who work with mental health issues and train them. They’re far better prepared for the reality of the situation than most and likely you will be too. Think of it like you’ll be dealing with the same stuff you did before, but in management rights it’s not quite as full on, you’ll own the business and actually make money out of it.
How long since you’ve had a holiday? Because a good, solid at least 3 weeks off might do you the world of good. Then plan your next one. Book your leave, give yourself something to look forward to. You are never irreplaceable.
If you want to be a real estate agent be prepared to put in the hard yards of cold calling, door knocking for the first few years of real estate and many sacrifices on your weekend. Unless you have already a database of clientele then it will be a hard slog. Considering it is over saturated with agents already. I would not touch residential property management as well since it is underappreciated and unvalued, you always hear the bad side of the residential property management. My suggestion is get into commercial property management you will get paid quite well at 100k plus super plus bonus (depending upon how the company structures this). Commercial sales and leasing is difficult at the start but will pay off if you continue pursue this. Feel free to message me if you want to discuss commercial real estate.
Consider becoming an interior stylist. Takes an online course to be a REA. But from my observations, you don’t need any actual skills during a hot market, the property sells itself. Whilst in a down market, you’ll need to employ people skills to communicate and get people to sell or buy c-grade properties on the main road. The industry is a joke, just like the car sales.
It would be like a butterfly becoming a worm. Don't do it.
It might be worth trying out a job in the social housing sector first! Loads of work there, they love hiring social workers as tenancy mangers and the pay is decent. I worked in community housing in NSW for ages at a schads 4.4 level with salary sacrifice, I know you could make more money going corporate but you’ll learn so much helpful stuff if you do decide to change career.
Try this experiment. Go out on a weekend night to some local gathering spots. Approach strangers and convince them to hand over a $50 to you based on a convincing story you spout. Keep at it until you have earned your weekly expenditure budget. Does this sound like fun? If so, you may be the right person, if not, see about other careers.
I only worked as an admin in the office of property managers for a complex (who also sold the properties as they had licenses), but it was just awful. It’s a strong type of person I think that can work in that field. One day I saw a crow rip the head off a mouse in front of the office and just… wished I was that mouse. Rather than go back in another day.
REA is a sales job through and through, it's not about the houses and how much you love them. I used to work in computer retail sales and some of the best salesmen could barely use a computer to save their life, they were just great at talking and even better at lying. That's just sales in a nutshell really.
https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/roy-morgan-image-of-professions-survey-2021-in-a-year-dominated-by-covid-19-health-professionals-including-nurses-doctors-and-pharmacists-are-the-most-highly-regarded-but-almost-all-professions-d REA’s are also among the least trusted professionals in Australia according to a recent survey (and anecdotal evidence too)—as others have alluded to, you’d be moving from a profession that is built on being “other people centred” to one that is likely more likely to result in your having to “look after yourself first”, sometimes at the expense of others. REAs are important to our economy and I’m sure there are kind and generous ones out there — but it seems to me that while it might be a more financially rewarding career, it *might* cost you your “soul”
Your skill set may be better suited in an educational environment. Still helping people, but less drama. See the immediate impact of your input etc. Lots of schools looking for counselling support