How Much Money do Real Estate Agents Make? - YouTube

Hi, it’s Mark Ferguson with Invest Four More.

Today, I want to talk about how much money real estate agents make.

So before we get started on that, a little bit about myself: I run InvestFourMore.com,

blog about real estate investing, fix and flipping, rental properties, and being a real

estate agent.

I've been a realtor since 2001; my dad was an agent since 1978.

He got me into the business.

I ended up finding success through REOs, listing HUD homes, which is something he never did.

But that just shows there are so many ways to make money in real estate and be successful.

And I want to talk about some misconceptions out there, how much money you really can make

as an agent, and if the information you find online is really as accurate as it seems to

be.

So first off, the average income for real estate agents can seem quite small.

I mean there are some sources that say it’s as little as 30,000 dollars a year for real

estate agents.

And many people see that figure, they automatically think you can’t make any money as a real

estate agent, it’s impossible to become successful, I'm not even going to look into

any farther.

And they start looking for another career.

The fact is, those numbers are extremely misleading.

There's a number of reasons why many real estate agents make much, much more money than

that.

And in fact many agents are extremely successful and make a ton of money.

So the first problem with those statistics that show real estate agents might only make

30,000 dollars a year, is they include part-time agents.

Many, many real estate agents are only part time.

They might be investors, they might be housewives, they might be people with other careers who

become real estate agents to try and make some extra money.

It is very, very hard to be successful real estate agent if you're only working part time.

It's just very tough.

Clients want to see houses at all times during the day, after work, on the weekends, and

people need to get a hold of you.

So if you have a job where you’re working 9 to 5 and you can’t stop to take a phone

call, or you can’t reply to emails, it’s going to be very hard to sell any houses at

all.

And that's why it's so hard for part-time agents to make very much money.

So those part-time agents really bring down the figure of how much money real estate agents

make.

And if you look at full-time agents, they actually make over 50,000 dollars a year.

Now there's even more reasons why real estate agents can make much more money.

I myself have a team; I manage nine people.

We sell close to 200 houses every year.

I make a lot of money as a real estate agent, and at this point in my career I don't even

sell that many houses myself, because I'm managing my agents, and those agents are selling

houses for me.

But that's later on in your career.

To begin with, it’s definitely possible to get started in the business, to make a

lot of money, and sell a lot of houses.

And don't believe those online articles, those naysayers, the people who tell you real estate

agents can’t make any money.

For one thing, have they ever been in the business?

Have those people who wrote those articles ever been a realtor or real estate agent?

Do they know anybody, you know, who has been an agent indefinitely?

Do they interview them, or are they just looking at those statistics you see that show the

incomes are so low?

In my experience, most of those articles are only looking at the statistics.

They’re not actually talking to people, they're not talking to agents, and they’re

not digging into those numbers to see if maybe they're missing something, which I think they

are in most cases, because they're so skewed.

Now besides part-time agents bringing down that average income number, being a real estate

agent is not the same as having a corporate job, as working for somebody else.

In most cases, you're going to have to be your own boss, you’re going to have to push

yourself, you're going to have to motivate yourself to succeed.

Many people just cannot do that.

They need someone there to tell them what to do, you know, tell them when to go to work,

tell them what to do at work, or they just don't do anything.

And many agents kind of spin their wheels trying to figure out what they're doing, different

marketing techniques, taking classes all day long, trying to learn, learn, learn without

doing anything, and they don't end up making any money either.

And the facts are, if you come into real estate with a plan, you set goals, you work with

a broker or company that has a training program and teaches you how to make money, and you

dedicate yourself full-time to being a realtor, you can make a lot of money very quickly.

I’ve got an agent on my team, who in his first year made over a hundred thousand dollars.

Now that’s not typical, I’m not saying that anybody can come in and be an agent and

make a hundred thousand dollars their first year, but it is definitely possible.

I have a second agent on my team who’s probably going to come very close if not reach that

hundred thousand dollars in his first year as well.

He sold six houses in his first few months in the business.

If you know you need to work hard, if you set regular hours, if you're not messing around,

if you have goals, and you have somebody to help you and mentor you, real estate is a

fantastic field to be in.

So don't believe all those online articles, all those people who tell you you can't make

money in real estate because they don't make any money, and there's too many realtors.

I hear that all the time.

“Well there's too many realtors in my area,” you know, “I can't possibly make any money

because there's just too much competition.”

The facts are maybe 10 percent of the agents make about 90 percent of the money in real

estate.

And the rest of the agents barely sell any houses, barely make any money, because they

have no idea what they're doing, or they don't want to work hard, they're working part-time,

or they just don't have their heart in it.

The agents that go at it full time that really put their heart into it make a lot of money.

And there is definitely room for many more agents to make that money as well.

It's not about cold calling, it's not about, you know, door-knocking and talking to complete

strangers all day long.

It's about building your circle of influence, being with your friends, with your family,

doing the best job, the best service you can, and providing a great resource for other people

who are already in your life.

You do that, those people will tell other people about you, it’ll start ballooning,

you do take care of new clients you get, you do have to do some marketing, obviously.

Don't be afraid to talk on the phone, don't be afraid to meet people in person, and that's

really how simple it is.

If you've got some training, and a mentor to teach you all the ins and outs that go

with those basic skills.

So again, please don't knock real estate off your list of vocations just because you see

how little the average agent makes.

There are the three agents in my office who make over a hundred thousand a year; they

actually make a lot closer to 300,000 a year.

And our office has about 30 agents in it.

Those are pretty good statistics when you look at the average income and how much money

people make.

Now again, don't expect to make that money your first year.

Not everybody can make that much money because not everybody will put their heart in it,

they won’t make goals, they’ll say goals are for somebody else, they won't have a plan

because they think things will just fall into place.

But if you start out, you treat it as a business, and you have a lot of discipline to make yourself

work hard, real estate is a great job and can be very rewarding for a lot of people.

Plus, you usually get to make your own schedule.

You can go to your kids baseball games, go to their practices, you don't have to be at

your job 9 to 5, and it’s an awesome feeling being able to have that flexibility.

Thanks a lot.

A lot more information on InvestFourMore.com.

Have a great day.