Currently in Residential, Wanting to break into Commercial
I currently work for a residential builder/developer, but my wife and I are moving soon to be closer to family and I am considering trying to make the switch to commercial. What is the difference and what are the pros and cons of each side? As a residential agent, I work  a lot of nights and weekends. I have heard commercial is much more 9-5 mon - fri. 

  
Any advice or tips would be appreciated!
[{"id": "iu58m7z", "text": "Commercial you'll hardly ever work nights or weekends as your clients (and other brokers) don't work much past standard work hours. Especially if your clients are on the corporate/institutional side. Although it sounds great, understand that commercial is significantly harder to break into; there are far fewer leads, far fewer deals, and far fewer listings to go after than residential. It's a challenging industry to break into, but also much more lucrative and higher ROI on your time than residential.\n\nIf you're serious about switching over to commercial I'd highly recommend researching the major commercial firms and see if you have any connections there. Stay away from companies that do half and half; folks who are \"resimercial\" agents are spread too thin and can't develop many strong relationships because they're trying to specialize in too many things.\n\nBest of luck!", "replies": [{"id": "iu5d3wx", "text": "Thank you this is great! So harder to break in, but once you\u2019re in generally more lucrative / more time off?", "replies": [{"id": "iu5dkj9", "text": "Yes. Understand that the overwhelming majority of people who jump into the industry make $0 for a solid 6-12 months. If you can withstand that and stay consistent, the majority of people years 5+ make very, very good money.", "replies": [{"id": "iu6higg", "text": "What is work life balance like? Overall culture?\n\nMy wife is working and I did well in residential, so I think I can manage 12 months for the long term payout.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "iurkg5z", "text": "With both its about having a network and getting exposure to deal flow. In my experience there are different types of people in these fields and maybe one is better suited and will find more success working with likeminded people. That said it's going to be all about networking and getting under the wing of someone good who will mentor you and bring you up, to whatever degree you can make that available to yourself.  The big difference to me at the end of the day is residential, the client, is a personal and often emotional choice whereas commercial is more financially driven. That said everyone has emotions and as a broker you will deal with them.  Sent you a PM", "replies": [{"id": "iurr6gt", "text": "Awesome thank you. Not seeing your pm. Shoot me another one", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]