Real estate as a career - too dangerous?
My boyfriend is considering real estate as a career. He's interested in becoming a landlord and I think that's in his plans no matter what, but he's also considering getting a license to become an agent.

I'm lost in my own career and had a conversation with an agent who advised me not to become a realtor. He said there's no inventory in MA (seems to be true-ish), tons of real estate agents, young generations aren't buying and old generations aren't selling. He said he has 4 part-time jobs to keep afloat.

My question is, how much of that was BS? Obviously a realtor wouldn't want more competition.
[{"id": "eqtqgco", "text": "Research demographics in your area to find out. What is gdp doing? Population trends? I believe the northeast in general is seeing a decline in population.\n\nSingle family residential sales is a difficult gig.", "replies": [{"id": "eqwawv6", "text": "Every state in the Northeast is growing except RI and Vermont, the two smallest. Massachusetts is amongst the fastest growers. Incomes in the region are amongst the highest in the county or the world.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eqts0fp", "text": "I mean there is no doubt that there are too many realtors, but that's not really a reason you cant ge successful. It's not easy but there are people that start today that will become very successful. \n\nThere are too many realtors everywhere by the way. I am in a smaller city and there are almost 1k realtors here and growing", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eqtt0bt", "text": "For sales I imagine it's pretty saturated, but for management the market is growing in many areas. Maybe have him reach out to his local BOMA chapter for more info/stats?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "equx4ok", "text": "So two things. First, commercial real estate is 5 units and above. (2-4 is considered residential). Second, there are advantages of NOT being a realtor if you plan on being an investor/landlord.", "replies": [{"id": "eqwytar", "text": "Not sure why folks are downvoting this comment!", "replies": [{"id": "eqx7rd4", "text": "I am not one of the downvoters, but at least in my area commercial\" typically refers office/industrial/retail/etc. and residential is referred to as residential (MFH or SFH as far as I know).\n\nI hear people in residential refer to their practice as CRE a lot, but nobody in commercial ever seems to include residential when they say \"CRE.\"", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "eqxfjaz", "text": "Just curious, what are the  advantages of NOT being a realtor if you plan on being an investor/landlord?", "replies": [{"id": "eqxypz6", "text": "Licensed agents are held to a \u201chigher standard\u201d than non-agents. If you are not an agent you have more leeway. \n\nI\u2019m not saying you \u201cget away\u201d with anything as a non-agent, there is just less stringent rules obviously. \n\nMy boss has a few hundred doors and this is coming from him. I\u2019ll ask for more clarification if you want.", "replies": [{"id": "er2bghd", "text": "&gt;I\u2019ll ask for more clarification if you want.\n\nSure. Go for it.", "replies": [{"id": "er3hm3t", "text": "So here\u2019s some clarification. \n\n1. If you are a realtor you must disclose that. \n\n2. Realtors will not bring you a property if they fear you will take the commission from them. \n\n3. The better you treat brokers the more apt they are to bring you pocket deals. \n\nHope this helps.", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]