My best friend and I want to get into brokerage together, office leasing/tenant rep to be more specific. Is it possible to keep our current 9-5 jobs and work for a brokerage firm on the side to get our first couple of transactions under our belt before we jump ship?
[{"id": "f8q3vdu", "text": "Absolutely not. No firm will take you seriously. Brokerage on its own is not even a 9-5.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f8q4l2y", "text": "100% no. And expect the first 18 - 24 months to be 80 - 90 hours a week if you hope to reach the levels possible in that career path.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f8q8uc7", "text": "no", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "f8q9awn", "text": "Half baked effort gets you a half baked result, and in this case probably no result. Most new brokers who are full time in this industry can\u2019t turn this into a viable standalone career, let alone trying to do it off the side of your desk. If you and your friend are serious about it start putting money aside to float you for at least 6 months and establish goals/timelines to focus on tenant rep full time. It\u2019s a slog but can be extremely lucrative. Best of luck!", "replies": [{"id": "f8qbrnc", "text": "Fair enough. Let me make it clear, I\u2019m not new to brokerage. I worked for Transwestern for a year as an analyst and now I work for a MF developer. There\u2019s extraordinary amount of risk associated with quitting your job and running on your own cash as a young gun; I\u2019m sure you know this lol. So how do you break into the industry and not take on so much risk? Is there a way to mitigate risk while in pursuit of your first couple transactions? Or do you have to risk starving in this business?", "replies": [{"id": "f8qd8q6", "text": "Find a salaried role to get your start. Idk what it looked like at transwestern but most of the large brokerages will start you off as a salaried analyst and transition you slowly as you start bringing in deals.\n\nYou could also work for a REIT or large developer on the in house leasing team and take salary + bonus", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "f8qdr2f", "text": "May I ask why the shift in product-type?  With the limited similarities between the two, you would effectively be starting over", "replies": [{"id": "f8qes7v", "text": "That\u2019s true. I mean I worked in office leasing at Transwestern, I know the fundamentals of the business and the workflow. But you\u2019re right I don\u2019t know the market and I would be swimming in a sea full of sharks lol compensation would be the biggest driver, being your own boss one day once you build a book of business etc. When you work for a developer you rely on your company\u2019s capital, and if they don\u2019t have enough working capital to stay competitive on deal flow then you best bet your salary and upside potential will be very limited.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "f8qe1ma", "text": "if you wanna do straight brokerage - ask for a small draw, live very modestly, and make the biz your entire life for the first year or so. CRE brokerage is a huge sacrifice and grind starting out. there's no away around it, unless you have rich folks to back you, or if you've got family with assets they'll let you broker.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "f8qe9kb", "text": "Gotcha. I hear you it is very risky, especially for those of us who are not handed a book of business, but the commissions are well worth the risk IMO... If I were in your shoes I\u2019d rather take the risk now while I\u2019m young and don\u2019t have the baggage of a family, mortgage, stuck in my ways from having worked the same job for 20 yrs, etc.\n\nMany brokerage houses are willing to pay a draw (essentially an IOU) but I would really try to avoid going this route as you are typically liable to pay it back if you quit and/or it comes out of future commissions. Are you thinking of joining an existing shop? Or starting your own? If the latter and you have some quality prospects already in the pipeline, might make the risk more manageable at that point. Still think it would require full time focus though. \n\nWhat market are you in? And would you be prospecting/building a book of business from scratch?", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]