I’m considering leaving my IT job for one in real estate, I know I will probably take a significant pay cut but I think in the long run it will be beneficial for my investing career. So basically I’m just curious about what kind of jobs are available in real estate that would teach an investor more about the business.
I’m considering perhaps looking into appraisal or inspection work, but outside of that I don’t have too many other ideas. Also what does it take to become an appraiser or home inspector?
Well, first of all these are not jobs in the traditional sense. You would be working as a contractor or freelancer and your income is based on your ability to market yourself. I am not sure how many appraisals work for companies that pay them salaries vs them working for themselves.
Another option is becoming an agent. All three will reward you based on your ability to sell yourself and find prospects who want to do business with you.
This is what I do. I am an engineer working for a multinational company. They pay me a lot of money and I use that money to establish a lifestyle. I use real estate to increase my outside streams of income until they are at least as large as my living expenses and then I can quit my job. Use your IT job to establish your lifestyle and use the real estate to keep your lifestyle.
I don’t want a real estate job. I want a real estate business. A business makes money if you are there or not. A job is trading time for money. I am in real estate to get out of the time for money game.
Think of your lifestyle as a covered porch. The roof is held up by an old post. In order to change out that old ugly post (your job) with a new pretty ornate post (real estate) you jack up and brace the roof put the ornate post in and knock the old post out and then let new ornate post support the roof. You want to support your roof or lifestyle with a real estate business and not just another job in another field.
In order to figure out what that roof is like you can’t budget because budgeting doesn’t work. You need to determine how much you need to live your lifestyle. Look at the last 3 months of your bank statements. List how much you spend for each item each month. Use all the items that you spent. Don’t say that you will spend less because you won’t. That is your monthly nut. Every month you have to earn that much money. That is the target that you need to shoot for in your real estate income. Don’t replace your income, replace your expenses.
A small boutique property management company may be a good place. The salary won’t be great, but if you develop a good relationship with an entreprenuerial owner (who knows a lot of owners, their properties and their situations), you may be able to partner with the owner in some acquisitions.