Belt Auction

How would a real estate job work with being a mom?

I've been considering becoming a residential real estate agent once my daughter turns one. I love real estate so I think I may enjoy this work. I thought the hours would mostly be evenings and weekends, that way hubby could take care of our daughter while I'm at work and I can take care of her during the day. I realize I might have to have some childcare occasionally during the days if a client needs my help at that time. Does anyone have any experience working in real estate? Do my expectations sound realistic?

Public Comments

1. Wrong the hours are mostly Saturday and Sunday. Open house is Wednesday and Sunday from 9 till 5 So this will not suit your schedule
2. You will need day care. 95% of the work is Mon-Fri 9-5. Where did you get the idea it was nights and weekends? Almost everything you deal with will be normal business hours, when the banks, the title companies, the inspectors, the appraisers etc all work. There is no possible way you can do this at night and weekends. None of the parties involved with the sale will tolerate that, you will NOT be able to sell anything.
3. Listen to Landlord because she is correct! Being a real estate agent is something you should not do if you have a newborn child (1 is still very young) who will constantly need your attention (or someone's attention). Your clients won't care that your daughter had a fever so you can't take them to showings or deal with the counter offer. They won't care that you're 45 minutes late because she wouldn't go down for a nap or your husband couldn't take over or you couldn't get a sitter. Being an agent is practically a 24/7 job because clients always want you to be available. The worst client I had enjoyed shopping during the day and did NOT want to be disturbed so only wanted to talk about properties during the evening starting at 9:30pm. The longest phone call I had with her was from 10pm until 12:30am and this was constant for months. My other client wants to see things yesterday - yes yesterday. So what that means is I generally have to cancel any personal time I have scheduled during the day to accommodate since my clients expect good service (and sometimes a lot of bending over on my part). I've started work at 8am and also come home from work at 10pm. I've been stuck at home inspections for 6 hours during the day. I've also been stuck in 2 hours of traffic getting to a showing. Clients can be unforgiving and we have no set work schedule. We work when our clients want us to work. If you tell them no or that you can only do it around your schedule, you're telling them that you're not interested in earning your commission. This isn't a job that you can leave at the office or do a few hours here and there. It pretty much becomes your life. If you can't deal with that...this isn't the industry for you unfortunately.