Thinking of becoming a real estate agent in manhattan now. What is the process?

Stand in front of a mirror & practice lying with a straight face.

lol!

the things people find funny

Are you lazy? Duplicitous? Slothful? Willing to check your ethics at the front door in order to be a parasite making money off someone else's transaction? YOU may be qualified for a career in real estate!

I think what it means to be an agent will change dramatically over the next few years.

Forget just the market going into what could be the biggest drop in a while... technology (like streeteasy) is blowing open the formerly closed system in NYC. I think we're going to see a HUGE percentage of brokers leave the space, and more technology driven firms take over...

I think you take a test or get a law degree. Google it.

If one had a law degree not earned online, they wouldn't be a broker...

There is a test, but I think there are fewer questions than the one at the DMV.

I believe new york state lawyers are defacto licensened realtors much like a captain can legally marry you.

I think lawyers get a license for just applying, but they have to apply. Sort of like lawyers can be notaries without a test, but they have to still apply.

But seriously, the OP sounds like someone saying they want to become a travel agent. Why on earth would you choose to devote time, energy, money to this endeavor at this time? No one will hire you, you can't break into a hard-core down market with no experience, seasoned pros are eating each other alive to get listings and sell because they are or fear they are about to be starving. Are you nuts?

That said, the test requires a prep course I think. If you have no experience in this area, you will need to learn basic terms and legal aspects of RE. A simple google search, as someone else suggested, will provide more info.

Um, no. There is this wee issue called the bar exam. It's kinda hard, in every state. And NY doesn't reciprocate much, so other states show us the same favor. No license just for applying. Go on, give it a try if you don't believe me, Kyle. I guarantee you'll be disappointed.

You take 75 hours in courses and then take the agents exam. After working a certain number of hours you can take a brokerage exame with class updates -in between. The NYREI offers classes and you can even do it online. I'm going to do it. I think there will be a shakeout in the industry so if you're good, you're good. You can always get hired for commission only-it really isn't that hard. Whether you'll make a living at it is something else. GL

evnyc: I think you could easily have understood what I meant, but yes, I could have been clearer. This discussion is about RE licenses. I said "I think lawyers [meaning those who are lawyers] get a license [that is, a RE license] for just applying...." Thanks for the helpful contribution to the discussion.

I understood your comment kylewest. There are so many on this board who misread comments in their haste to attack someone or prove once again to the rest of us that know-it-alls are not much fun.

I construed evnyc's comment to mean that the RE license upon application only applies for those attys who can practice law IN NEW YORK (i.e. passed the NYS part of the bar exam or have reciprocity).

""Um, no. There is this wee issue called the bar exam.""

Yeah, um, like, we're talking about RE licenses here, umkay? No bar exam necessary. You'd have to be a complete dolt not to have understood Kyle's post.

"You'd have to be a complete dolt not to have understood Kyle's post."

That would make the person half-qualified to be a realtor. Throw in a lack of integrity and an inability to work in a structured environment where you actually have to show up at 9AM every day, and you've got yourself a realtor!

repeat after me: There is no financial crisis. This place would be perfect for you. You do know that this is a great deal for Tribeca.

Can I play too? repeat after me: They aren't making anymore land. The market isn't going down, sweety, its going up. There's another offer on the place so we better offer them a little over ask, just to be sure you get it.

Being a real estate agent is a great career because every day is different -- some of it's about networking, some of it's about negotiating, some of it is about visiting physical inventory and having a head for spaces and some of it is very technical and financial.

I like, many agents, went into real estate as a second career, and my experiences in real estate school (I went to REI in New York) and my first year are here: http://tinyurl.com/2ag28z

Good luck!
ali r.
{downtown broker}

My recollection from other threads is that Bela is/was looking at pretty prices UWS apartments. That leads me to conclude that Bela has a pretty good income and/or has a good amount of money (admittedly a guess).

Further, based on my understanding of the economics of being a RE broker, the vast majority of those have/make a lot less money than I am guessing Bela does, based on the above. However, my understanding of those economics is very rudimentary. So the question, to Ali and others is - how much can a middle-of-the road RE broker expect to make for him/herself? How about a good one?

pricey, not prices in the first sentence above, sorry.

not the best timing

Well, my career is somewhat unusual, because I spend half my time selling real estate, and half my time in publishing. (see above post hawking the book). Those two halves together give me a better income/quality of life than I had just as a journalist, but I probably work a little harder too, and I no longer have a 401(k) match/company-provided health insurance.

In terms of absolute numbers, before I jumped into this career I talked to one of the top Elliman agents about it. He was telling me how wonderful a career it was, and how much money I could make if I were a top agent. My response was, "well, I'm probably going to take some time to have kids, and maybe I can't become a top agent! What does the number 50 agent make?"

In 2005 -- boom times -- I was unofficially told that the #50 Elliman agent made $150,000.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

Ali - thanks much for the information. Assuming the #50 Elliman agent is average (of which I have no idea), that's in the range I would've guessed. Which leads me to the question for Bela - is such an income attractive to you?

Back of the envelope: $150k in their pocket. Assume the brokerage takes 50% (for a mediocre broker, won't that number be higher?) so there's $300k of commissions attributed to their name. They're getting half of the total commission typically, meaning gross broker fees on their deals is $600k (half going to some other broker/brokerage). That's 6% of the total transactions, meaning $10M in total transactions. So 10 transactions a year in the 1M range, 15 in the 667k range. Roughly 1 closing per month.

Realistic? How many total closings are there in NYC? How many total full time brokers?

Seems like a lot for just an average broker. I would imagine in this economy, there aren't many brokers closing an apartment a month.

> Thinking of becoming a real estate agent in manhattan now. What is the process?

Sell your soul.

BTW, tons of brokers have left the space because they haven't sold anything. Seems like there is a signficant chance of making 0.... so I hope that the high end would be six figures at least.

actually, now is the best time to get into real estate if you have enough money socked away to make it through 12-24 months of lean times. Brokerages will trip over themselves to hire you if you appear even half alive. And, when the market turns around, and it will, eventually, you can take some pride in having made it through the worst market in 20 years. Qualifications? Test? Personally, my eye doctor's eye chart is more difficult than the state exam.

Oh, the overall numbers are scary. There are what, maybe 11,000 sales a year in Manhattan? You probably have 11,000 members of REBNY (the fancy trade association with 300+ member firms) alone, and lots of agents who aren't REBNY members also competing for that business.

However, as many people have pointed out on this board, there are customer-service niches that have yet to be filled . .. I had a lot of luck starting with high-end rentals ($7K, $10K, even $13K a month) and I've even started finding some of those customers on streeteasy. (Thank you!)

Their expectations are low, and they're pleasantly surprised by expertise and good service, so I'm hoping some of those people "grow up" to be sales customers.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

If you are a NYS lawyer in good standing, you can get a brokers license for the asking -- and a $300 or so fee. In theory, one's real estate law training is equivalent to what you'd learn in a licensing class. People get these licenses for a variety of reasons, but being a standard broker isn't one of them unless you don't have much of a career in the law.

The only thing I would add to that is that if you're an attorney who is getting a brokers' license you might want to brush up on Fair Housing by taking a quick course -- most real-estate education schools offer three-hour ones.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

Fact is this. This is a referral based business or a business that greatly benefits those with a huge roladex of contacts/networks or connections. Coming in with a clean slate, no connections, not many contacts outside your minimal friends (<15) and family, and started a real estate career with the expectation of building a business from scratch, in this environment will prove VERY difficult. Yes the industry will shrink big time as volume slows.

For clean slaters as described above, the first 2 years you are likely to make 60K or under, relying on rentals and an occasional sale here and there, with the first year much lower. The real business comes if you survive and properly network, in your 5th year and beyond where you start to see repeat business and referral business come in.

However, if you have 1,000 friends, a huge roladex of potential clients, or connections to high end investors, its a different story and you can make good money fairly quickly assuming you conduct your business properly and are not an idiot assuming these people absolutely need you sacrificing quality of service. Its hard to build a business from nothing, on your own, with little pocket change to spare. Its not hard if you can let 1,000 people you know and who consider you a trusted friend, to get a bunch of quality leads in a short period of time.

But all in all, volume will slow and there will be less action to go around, making the weak die out and the strong adjust their model to hopefully get market share from a different angle than before.

Me, my business comes from urbandigs readers and is mostly buy side. Ask yourself this if you are a clean slater and made the decision to start from scratch, how will you separate yourself from the pack and gain business? What makes you so special? Good luck!

ali, you're a DOLL; of course people want to work with you.

I've often flirted with the idea of going into real estate sales since I'm bonkers for RE but I read a fascinating article once in the Los Angeles Times when I lived out there a number of years ago, during the boom. It said that, & I don't remember the exact figures but ... roughly 3% of the California realtors were making over 90% of the sales; that gave me pause. However, I figure that if you just gotta do it & assuming you can afford to go without income for possibly many months, you'll certainly be up to speed when the market turns around, as it certainly will. Good luck!

Don't forget to lease a Lexus.

Thanks for the compliment drdrd -- I've got a new rental client that I want to find something special for, and that helps get me fired up!

ali r.
{downtown broker}

ali, xox

Get in when times are tough and survive. Thrive when times are better.