Question for Commercial Real Estate brokers: How did you earn money when starting out?
I'm thinking of accepting a job offer to become a commercial real  estate broker in a major city (Los Angeles).  The thing that worries me is the lack of income and health benefits when starting out.

For those of you who are established commercial real estate brokers, how did  you stay afloat financially while beginning your career? Did you take a side job with flexible hours that also offered health benefits? Or did you dip into your savings and pay for health insurance out of pocket?

How long did it take before you earned your first commission, and how long before you started earning reliable income?

Thanks in advance.
[{"id": "eiaj8v4", "text": "Everyone I know who has made it as a CRE broker had savings, a spouse, or parents to live off of for 6 to 24 months at the beginning of their brokerage career.\n\nIf you have friends who are business owners looking to find space, who you can very quickly turn into clients looking for space, you could make a leasing commission pretty fast. But realistically, my average time from assignment to commission on a retail lease representation is still 6 months.\n\nI've been at this for 3 years and still don't have an income that I could comfortably call \"reliable.\" \"Regular\" or \"steady stream\" are adjectives I would use, but not \"reliable.\"", "replies": [{"id": "eiajpwg", "text": "\u201cFeast\u201d and \u201cfamine\u201d are pretty accurate depictions. ", "replies": [{"id": "eialb1h", "text": "I have a theory that if I looked back from the middle of my \"famine\" periods, about 9 months previously I would be on Reddit in the middle of the afternoon.\n\nBut, there's no way to know for sure.", "replies": [{"id": "eialdar", "text": "Damn. ", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "eiakbmq", "text": "Thanks, appreciate the insight.\n\nI may have to live with my parents to save on rent while getting established, but how would you recommend getting health insurance during that period?", "replies": [{"id": "eial0dm", "text": "Can you parents get you on their health plan. No sure what the age cap may he and that\u2019s assuming your parents are working with health coverage. ", "replies": [{"id": "eiama5w", "text": "Unfortunately, I'm too old to be on my parents' health insurance, as I'm well over the age of 26. Also, my parents are retired, so they are living off of savings and Social Security.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "eial73q", "text": "Find a firm that has a group-buy policy (where I'm at currently), buy Obamacare (what I did last year), or don't have health insurance (I paid the IRS penalty for not being insured for 4 years).", "replies": [{"id": "eiamb2m", "text": "Got it, thanks.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eiamdlh", "text": "Had to live off parents for 24 months basically.  Was not fun.", "replies": [{"id": "eiaoqia", "text": "Thanks, appreciate the sobering advice.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eiao901", "text": "Like others have said, friends who become cre brokers have savings or rich parents. However, I do have a close friend that started making $300k annually within 3 months of starting, now makes millions after 5 years. He is obviously the exception.", "replies": [{"id": "eiaotu6", "text": "Wow, your friend must be in the top 1% of all CRE brokers to have done that well so quickly.", "replies": [{"id": "eiap18r", "text": "Most likely. Also in very high cost of living area - LA", "replies": [{"id": "eiaqtwx", "text": "Very impressive. I can only dream of being that successful so quickly.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "eiarm8g", "text": "What kinds of deals did he close to earn that kind of commission so fast?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eib3pxe", "text": "5-40 unit multifamily in LA proper. Each unit was like 300-600k. Stupid numbers out there", "replies": [{"id": "eibrpsj", "text": "So MF investment sales?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eibtpa4", "text": "Yes", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eictt8m", "text": "If you'd ask this question a year prior to obtaining your license, I would of said tell everyone and their brothers and sisters that you're getting a license.  This is what I did and got really lucky as one of my friends wanted to buy a piece of land for development and the first day I received my license, I had a deal in escrow.  I was very fortunate because it was 2002 and the market had started to heat up.  I've hung my license with one office boutique agency and was never interested in the big brokerage firms and I have no clue about benefits from those agencies.  Do they actually offer medical benefits, etc.?", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "einapqh", "text": "Reffed sports. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]