People often do other jobs in between their necessary day jobs, and being a part-time real estate agent can be a very favorable job if someone wants to do it.
However, this is a type of job that requires very strategic and meticulous thinking to do it right. Real estate agents need to spend time cultivating and nurturing a healthy relationship with their leads and clientele, alongside managing their time doing everything else.
This article will delve into how people can balance their day job with being a part-time real estate agent so that they can find success as a real estate agent.
Starting Out As A Part Time Real Estate Agent
No matter what industry someone wants to plant their feet in, it is key to understand the various dynamics of that industry. Find out what is important, how to get ahead, and what people are looking for in the profession. This exact same logic applies to real estate agents and the real estate industry and needs to be adhered to in a smaller amount of time by part-time real estate agents.
Knowing and Understanding Real Estate
Understanding the nuances of the real estate market and the industry itself is very important for people to get started out in it. For example, people can either become part-time real estate agents for commercial properties or residential properties.
On top of all that comes the requirement of learning how to deal with people and communicating with them the essentials of deals while also maintaining amicability.
Becoming a Licensed Real Estate Agent
The education and licensing requirements remain the same whether someone wants to become a part-time or full-time real estate agent.
Academic Requirements:
- Age: 18 or 19 years old and onwards, depending on the state
- Education: High school graduate/high school diploma/equivalent qualification
- Pre-Licensing Courses: Courses can range from 30 to 180 hours
- Exam: Passing a state exam for real estate to operate in that state
Understanding how to become a licensed real estate agent requires more knowledge, for example different states have different requirements for becoming a licensed real estate professional.
Choosing the Correct Brokerage For You
Once the hurdle of becoming licensed has been crossed, real estate agents are then faced with the challenge of finding a suitable brokerage. In order to practice legally, newly licensed real estate agents must find a brokerage to sponsor their license.
Some factors to consider are:
- Size: The new agent must make the choice between small and large brokerages, and which would be more beneficial to them.
- Training: Finding brokerages that also provide training services will help newly licensed agents to learn faster and more.
- Commission Structure: It is important to find brokerages that meet the payment method of the new agent; flat fee, split, or flexible payment plan.
- Flexibility: If someone is looking to become a part-time real estate agent, they need to seek out a brokerage that allows them that flexibility with timing and work, while giving them the opportunity to succeed.
Balancing Day Job with Real Estate
Becoming licensed as a real estate agent is one thing, but knowing how to manage life with a day job and as a real estate agent can be tough. However, there are certain things that can be set and done to help the process.
Time Management
Managing time is one of the most crucial things when doing two jobs especially if one is in real estate. However, there are two tips that can be used to ensure a new agent does not get burned out:
- Prioritizing tasks to finish the most urgent and important tasks first by understanding which would affect the brokerage’s business the most.
- Do tasks in batches, especially similar tasks such as different kinds of paperwork.
Learning Real Estate Technology/Tools
Technology has been integrated into every industry and the real estate industry is the same. There have been various integrations into real estate businesses to help them become more optimized.
Real estate CRMs are the biggest integration, and the best real estate CRMs come with various features that help people churn out mind-numbing tasks in a faster and more efficient manner. On top of that, they also help declutter a lot of information by automatically sorting everything out with just a one-time setup.
A real estate agent in the modern day and age needs to learn all of the new tools of the trade in order to be a more valuable asset and also help their work be better.
Setting A Flexible Schedule
It is important to have a flexible schedule in place so that a new agent does not get bogged down by their day job and real estate.
- Clearly create and set out working hours with the brokerage and the available times to the leads and clients.
- Using tools and technology to help create schedules for all tasks, such as using calendars.
Avoiding and Overcoming Common Issues
Doing two jobs and long hours makes it very easy to experience burn out and lose balance of life. However, ensuring certain measures are set in place can help avoid that.
- Creating boundaries between work and personal life so that the person can enjoy their off-time without thinking about work.
- Delegating certain tasks to other employees so that the agent only deals with important real estate issues.
Conclusion
Being a real estate agent is tough enough, let alone be a part-time real estate agent with another job already present. So, it is important to ensure that everything is set in place to help a part-time real estate agent manage their work life and separate it from their personal life to help avoid burnout.
Maintaining certain strategies such as delegating work, setting strict working hours and a flexible schedule can help anyone maintain their time working and time away from real estate.