How hard it is to be a realty agent? How does it work?

The Real estate market sucks where I am now. Most people take those courses and either don't pass the real estate exam or can't make it in the office they end up in. Very tough right now and all the things the other guy said about how it works but there are also fees to you may have to pay up front and cost of a decent wardrobe ( if you don't have already) can mean some serious start up money with little or no return the first 6 months or more. Something to think about- do you have a lot of contacts in the area where you will be selling? Do you belong to a church or many groups and clubs etc. If you know many people- hopefully you will do well with some leads already. I would also consider doing rentals- I think that is the big change going on right now where I am - many more rentals than sales. Good Luck.

As a newly licensed agent, you have to work in a broker's office. The office will have lots of agents who pay part of their commissions to the broker, who has a broker's license to run the office. Newbies usually end up babysitting open houses, which is where you will try to get leads from people interested in purchasing a house. If you're lucky, you'll impress someone enough to where they want you to work for them as a buyer's agent. At this point, you then work with the buyers to find properties they may be interested in, arrange showings, and pretty much be at their beck and call. After all, what you're providing is service. However, the buyer doesn't pay you. The seller does out of the proceeds from the sale of the property when escrow closes. So, you're basically working for free in order to get the potential commission payoff one the deal is completed. You may also have a bone or two thrown to you by other agents in the office, where someone called the office about buying or selling, and the broker wants to give you a leg up. They may also expect you to pound the pavement, make cold calls, send out flyers, or whatever other activities you can think of to drum up business. Again, not being paid for your time, but for the payoff at the end when a property you're involved with finally sells.