Stock Market Plummets and Should I Become a Real Estate Broker?

It’s mighty quiet in the office today except for the chatter among my colleagues about the stock market plummet (Dow down more than 300 points if you didn’t know already).  But I’m not here to feed your anxiety, nor mine so if your interested in some truly smart talk about what is going on regarding this story and residential mortgage backed securities, check out my friend Noah Rosenblatt’s blog UrbanDigs. 

On a much lighter note, you absolutely must read"Should I Become a Real Estate Broker?" on Curbed.  It begins like this:

Hi Curbed, should I become a real estate broker? I’m sort of frustrated at my current job and have always fantasized about entering the real estate fray. Becoming a broker seems intriguing, but I have a few questions:

1. Money (will s/he make any)
2. Timing (funny right?)
3. Sphere of Influence (this person allegedly has none)

Check out the entire post paying particular attention to the comments thread…good stuff…some not so good.

Here’s my answer to this Curbed reader’s question:

In my humble opinion, it doesn’t seem like the best time to switch from your current profession to that of a real estate agent.  In short, here’s why:

1. Money-unless you enter the industry as an assistant to a top performer, I can almost guarantee you will make very little or no money at all for your first year or two.  In my 15 years, I have watched the revolving door of agents come and go in as little as 30 days but usually about 6 months.  It takes some thick skin to work in a profession that is covered in a cloud of disrespect.
2. Timing-the entire country with the exception on Manhattan is experiencing a horrendous housing slump.  It seems increasingly more likely that Wall Street isn’t going to setting any bonus records this year (that’s putting it lightly) and that sector has played a great role in buoying our local housing market.  The slump could in fact be around the corner for NYC.  Having said that, I entered the business in 1992 when properties were on the market for 2 years before selling.  I got a great education but the growing pains were numerous.
3. No Sphere of Influence-I too had no "wealthy" sphere of influence when I started in 1992.  My first boss suggested I write down every single person I would invite to a wedding.  I did just that and was stunned at the sources of business that came about from that initial list.  This isn’t a reason NOT to join the industry but the long wait for that first deal and current market conditions may be.

As far as the Curbed readers opening comment about being frustrated at her current job…well…um…uh…you want to experience frustration like you’ve never experienced it before, then come on over.  We’ve got plenty of that to go around!