So today, I'm going to talk about a question that I get asked more and more often, especially since the pandemic, more people are stuck at home not working, turning on the TV, going on social media, and seeing the real estate market just booming. They call me and say, ”Kevin, should I become a real estate agent?”

So this is a really tough question to answer. Because it depends a lot on your reasoning. Some people do it for the money. Some people do it for passion, they want to become investors, some people do it because they think they'll have freedom. They don't work the nine to five job. So obviously, I'm a little bit biased. I love my career, and I couldn't see myself doing anything else. But there are a few things that I have to let people know when they start looking to it as a career.

People are always really surprised and shocked when I tell them the average real estate agent only sells about three homes a year. Now, these stats can be a bit skewed because you have a lot of part-time people in the business. But 80% of new real estate agents, don't make it past the third year in real estate.

A lot of people struggle in this business because although the real estate courses do teach you the legal side of things, they don't teach you how to be successful as a real estate agent. They don't teach you marketing or how to generate business, they don't teach you the skills on how to negotiate or convert the business and how to close the deals. A lot of new Realtors struggle with their actual knowledge of homes about construction costs about after repair values, how to spot flaws in a home. These are skills that are learned only through repetition through going on multiple home inspections. But once you decide to become a real estate agent, you have another big question. And that is do you want to be a solo agent? Or do you want to join a team? To answer that you really want to side? Why is it that you're in real estate?

So the main reasons that people join teams are for the coaching, or for the generation of business to support and often the culture. The main reason people want to be a solo agents, and so they can keep 100% of the commission. But they also have to do 100% of the work. That means they have to find a way to generate the business. They have to do all the paperwork themselves. They have to do all the calls themselves. And they have to do all the showings and writing offers themselves with a team the mentality is how much more can you sell? When all you have to do is play your position? You have a person on the team who does the marketing, you have a person on the team who does the paperwork, and you have the person on the team who makes all the calls. And you have the person on the team who does all the showings and writes the offers. How many more homes a year can you sell if all you have to do is go on appointments and write offers.

I'm sure you've heard the term jack of all trades and master of none. I find that relates a lot to my career as a real estate agent. When I was a solo agent, I was stuck doing everything at once. Once I joined the team I was able to focus on becoming an expert at exactly my position.

Another big part of it is when you're a solo agent, the business relies on you, so if you go on vacation or if you get sick and you're not there to pick up your phone, you find that your clients often abandon you and go somewhere else. Whereas with a team you're supported so you're able to get time off and you know the business is always taken care of.

Obviously, not all teams are created equally. And you got to make sure that you find the right team for you. I hope that helped answer some questions. But if you have more questions, hit the contact tab.