Many people think of real estate agents as chauffeurs. Agents drive prospective buyers all around town, show them houses for sale and hopefully after a few weeks of searching, the buyers decide on a home. Driving buyers around can be part of the real estate business, but there are many ways for agents to make money. I have not had a buyer in my car for years, and even when I worked with many buyers, they were rarely in my car. Most buyers have a car and are perfectly capable of driving it to see a few houses don’t think being a chauffeur and an agent are the same thing.

When agents become super successful, they realize how valuable their time is. Many agents start a team, or strictly work with listings as their career develops. One of the great things about being an agent is you can make it a business, and there are many ways to make a living.

How Do Real Estate Agents Get Paid?

Real estate agents work on commission. They only get paid when they sell a house. If you happen to be one of those agents driving buyers around all day long and those buyers never buy a house, you are working for free, well actually, you are paying to work because you had to pay for the gas you wasted.

People think that agents make a ton of money because the commissions can be high when they complete a sale. However, people do not realize how much time agents spend on marketing, on prospecting, on training and driving buyers around.

Do Not Get Scared Off From Real Estate If You Are A Prospective Agent!
Yes, you can spend plenty of time on tasks without getting a paycheck, but if you become a great agent, you can make an excellent living.

How Does A Real Estate Agent Make Money Working With Buyers?
The most common way for a real estate agent to make money is being a buyer’s agent. A buyer’s agent works primarily with people looking to buy a house. The agent will look up homes for sale, show houses, write offers on houses for buyers and help the buyers throughout the transaction. Buyer’s agents will also work with sellers as well, but mostly when their buyer needs to sell their house to buy the new home.

It is possible to make good money as a buyer’s agent, but you are limited to how many buyers you can work with at a given time as it takes time to work with them. For each buyer, you must find the houses, show the houses and write offers on the houses before the escrow process starts. It can take hours and hours to show homes to a buyer before they find one that is suitable. However, this is a good way for real estate agents to make money on each sale.

How Do Real Estate Agents Make Money By Listing Homes For Sellers?

Another great way to make money as a real estate agent is by listing homes for sellers. A listing agent has a much different job than a buyer’s agent. The listing agent helps sellers price their home, get it ready to sell, negotiate offers and complete the transaction process. Listing agents often make more money than the buyer’s agent as they don’t need to spend as many hours listing a house as they would helping buyers buy a home. The trick to being a successful listing agent is finding a steady stream of sellers who want to sell their home.

Conclusion

There are many ways to make money as a real estate agent. I am sure I left out a few other things agents can do to create income for themselves. One of the great parts about being an agent is you can create multiple income streams for yourself. If one stream dies, then other streams can keep you going. There is always an opportunity to add new income streams and increase your wealth.