Making a Career Change to Real Estate in 2024

If you find yourself headed down a career path that has you considering a course correction, that’s completely understandable and not at all uncommon.

But before we focus on real estate as a possible career path option, let’s talk about the difference between changing jobs versus changing careers.

Changing Jobs vs. Changing Careers

Some would say that a job change is when you stay in the same field with the same responsibilities, but change who you work for.

An elementary school teacher who takes a similar position in a different school district would be seen as changing jobs, but not necessarily as changing careers. On the other hand, if that same person left the teaching profession to open a clothing consignment shop, that would clearly signal a career change.

But what if that teacher took a promotion to assistant principal in the same school they had been teaching in? Is that a job change or a career change? That’s debatable, right?

Why Are You Changing Careers?

The reason it’s important to make a distinction between a job change vs. a career change is that it can help you assess the “why” behind the change you want to make, the direction you might want to take, and the steps required to make it happen.

If you’re just trying to escape an unpleasant boss or company culture, but you’re otherwise happy in your work, a job change — a new boss, a new company — might be all that is called for.

If you’re feeling unfulfilled in your present line of work because of a lack of growth opportunities, misalignment with personal values, or some other perceived shortcoming, a career change is probably in order.

The folks at Indeed have suggested that people will often change careers for:

• Growth and challenge

• Better compensation

• Recognition

• Opportunity for advancement

• Less stress

• More flexibility

Make a List or Two… or Three

If any of this sounds like you, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that you make a list of the things about your current job that you really enjoy as well as a list of those things you’re not so thrilled about. The idea behind their suggestion is that, in looking at the two lists, you’ll be able to better see how dramatic of a change is called for and how urgent the need to take action is.

We agree that such an assessment would be helpful, and we’d also suggest that a third list be created — one that identifies the attributes or characteristics of your dream job.

Having completed that bit of homework, you can begin to look for careers that most closely match your ideal.

What a Career Change to Real Estate Has to Offer

If you’ve created your dream-job attribute list, great. Compare it to our list of the pros and cons of what a real estate career has to offer. And if you haven’t made a list yet, you can still read ours — it might help you formulate your own.

A Career in Real Estate: The Pros

There are several unique benefits to a career in real estate. Here are a few that we often hear about.

Being your own boss

Tired of marching to someone else’s tune? A career in real estate will allow you to be your own boss and set your own goals and priorities. As long as you have the self-discipline to treat this endeavor like a business, you’ll be fine. Just make sure to hold yourself accountable — as any other boss would. And realize that while your sponsoring broker will provide you with some guidance and support, they won’t be holding your hand. If you succeed, it will be because you made it happen.

Unlimited earning potential

Related to being your own boss, you will control how much money you earn. No doubt, there will be external factors that have some degree of influence, but it will largely be up to you and the effort you put forth. Working smart AND working hard will be key.

Building your own business

In real estate, you have the choice of building your business as you see fit. Maybe you envision yourself as a solo entrepreneur, answering to no one and having no one answer to you. Or, perhaps, you have your sights set on building a team within a brokerage firm that eventually expands to multiple office locations. There’s no right or wrong to this choice, and, in fact, many real estate agents start off as solo entrepreneurs until they gain the experience, education, and additional licensing required to build their own real estate empire.

Flexibility of schedule

While it’s true that you have to make yourself available to your clients at hours that are convenient for them, it is still fair to say that flexibility of schedule is a major perk of being a real estate agent. Want to catch a midday matinee? You can do that. Care to extend your lunch hour to include a game of pickleball? Very doable. It’s a tradeoff that many in the profession find very desirable. Sometimes your clients will need to see you in the evenings or on a weekend. But other times you can push your work hours around to accommodate that thing we call life.

Helping people

If helping others appeals to you, a career in real estate can be very rewarding. Purchasing a home is not only one of the biggest financial decisions a person can make, it’s also the realization of a major milestone in that individual’s life. It’s called the American dream for a reason — and you’ll be helping others make that dream come true.

Variety in your workday

Real estate agents love the fact that every day is different. One day they’re meeting with a couple, discussing how to stage their condo for a quick sale. The next day, they’re attending a closing and witnessing the moment their client is handed the keys to their new home. The day after that, they’re driving about town, personally inspecting new properties that have hit the market, making note of those that might be of interest to their buyer clients. And the following day? Something entirely different. There’s no such thing as a rut in real estate.

Client referrals

Satisfied clients are the gift that keeps on giving. Those who choose this profession will tell you that it’s a slow build, but if you put in the time and effort early on and provide excellent service as you go, your grateful clients will refer additional business your way, adding momentum and monetary reward to your career. This is a unique benefit that not many other career choices offer.

A Career in Real Estate: The Cons

Some of the challenges or downsides to a career in real estate are the flip side of the “pros” we just covered. Fortunately, many of those can be easily managed or mitigated with a little effort and discipline. And it should be said that what some view as a “con” is seen by others as a “pro.” See what you think.

The slow start

Once you get your license to practice real estate, you’re starting from scratch. You have no past clients to give you referrals, your network consists of little more than your friends and family, and when you do land a client, the time it takes them to buy or sell a property can take months. So that first commission check could be a ways off. You can combat this challenge with a little preparation. Many in the industry suggest building a nest egg that would cover the first few months of your career as a real estate agent. Alternatively, you can transition to the new career by starting on a part-time basis while you keep the income from your day job coming in, making the change to full-time when you’re ready.

Evening & weekend work

Remember our “pros” conversation about flexibility of schedule? Evening and weekend work is the price you pay for that. There’s really no getting around it; a fair percentage of the clients you work with have traditional jobs and need to use their off hours to accomplish their adventures in real estate. If you like the idea of real estate as a career, but don’t love the hours, you might consider a niche within the industry (outside of residential real estate) that operates during more traditional business hours. While there are several niches to choose from, residential real estate is usually the starting point in an agent’s career. So, you might have to accept evening and weekend work for a bit in the beginning. Who knows? You might like it more than you think.

Downtimes

Many companies have uneven business cycles, but their salaried workers don’t feel it so much because their pay remains constant. Commission-based careers, like real estate, are not like that. Your income will ebb and flow with the highs and lows of the markets and the changes in the seasons. Having the discipline to set aside the surplus in times of plenty will set you up to endure those slower, lower-revenue periods. And if you find yourself not as busy as you’d like to be during those downtimes, use that as an opportunity to fulfill your continuing education requirements and get specialized training that will increase your income potential.

Dealing with the public

Even those of us who sincerely enjoy helping others can admit that some folks are easier to help than others. It takes all kinds, right? The good news is that buying and selling property is often a happy event. That certainly helps matters. But because so much money is involved, real estate transactions can also be stressful. A lot of client stress can be attributed to their lack of experience in this area — and that’s where you, as the trusted advisor will have a calming, comforting impact on the process. That’s rewarding in its own right and will continue to pay dividends in the form of future client referrals.

Requires multiple skill sets

It’s said that to be successful in real estate, you need to be a people person. That’s true. You also need to be organized, detail-oriented, and a skilled negotiator. But, wait — there’s more! You should be a good listener, a good writer, a good marketer, have good visual aesthetics, understand basic construction, etc., etc. And, finally, you will want to be fairly competent with the hi-tech tools of the trade, namely, your cell phone and laptop. If this list is intimidating to you, then you probably see this “jack-of-all-trades” requirement as a con to entering the profession. It’s possible that there may come a time when you can hire an assistant to handle some of this for you. But in the beginning, you’ll want to be sufficiently proficient in all of these areas.

Lack of repeat business

On average, people buy three different homes during their lifetime. And often, those purchases occur in different areas of the country. What this means is that a real estate agent should not expect much in the way of repeat business — no matter how well they treated their client. But, on the other hand, you can always look forward to those client referrals.

How to Get Your Real Estate License

If a career in real estate seems like a good fit for you, we’re happy to report that the barrier to entry is low. The steps to obtaining a real estate license will vary from state to state, but the process is pretty straightforward and within the reach of just about anyone.

In a very simplified fashion, here’s what that path looks like:

1. Take your required pre-licensing course depending on your state.
2. Complete a background check.
3. Submit your real estate license application to your state's licensing authority.
4. Take the real estate salesperson exam.
5. Find a sponsoring real estate broker.

Aceable has got your back throughout your licensing process. Our 100% online real estate pre-licensing courses are designed to help you find confidence in your knowledge and test-taking skills. We offer three exam prep bundles to choose from depending on your study style and needs. Nobody likes to take exams, but we'll help you along the way to make the process less painful so you can be on your way to a new career!