14 Jun Why Choose a Career in Real Estate?

If you are looking for a career to pursue that can land you in the upper-middle class in Missouri, it may be time to give some serious thought to becoming a real estate sales professional. The St. Louis Business Journal indicates that the average salary for a real estate sales professional in the St. Louis area is $62,000+/-. That’s almost 5% higher than the average of 107 other metropolitan areas across the country (and about $3,000/year more than the average real estate broker makes). If you couple that with St. Louis’s historically low cost of living, you can have a very comfortable life in St. Louis as a real estate professional.

And you don’t just have to buy/sell houses. Commercial real estate is booming as well.

The truly appealing aspect of a career in real estate is that it requires relatively little capital and time to get started in comparison to other careers. While pipefitters, plumbers, and carpenters are in extremely high demand, those careers require a few years of technical school training, and, of course, those schools cost a modest amount of money to attend. If you want to be a lawyer, accountant, doctor, etc. you’ll have 6-10 years of school to complete and mounting debt when you are finished. Furthermore, those jobs are not readily available upon graduating. However, if you are out of high school and trade school and a college degree is not something you are interested in pursuing, a career in real estate offers the quickest way to establish yourself in a stable career.

In order to become a real estate agent in the State of Missouri, you need to take a week-long class and pass a (multiple choice) state-sponsored exam. The class will run you a few hundred dollars and the exam costs are minimal as well. Upon passing your exam, you will become a registered real estate agent and can begin practicing as a real estate professional. You’ll need to either start a brokerage (which costs a lot of money and time) or join an existing brokerage. Whichever route you choose, you’ll need a decent amount of money to begin. This money is needed to set up your business. You’ll need to join the Realtors association, join our MLS-based service, purchase your business cards, website, marketing materials, etc. Now, while that seems like a lot to set up a business, it actually pales in comparison to starting many other businesses.

You can help people buy/sell houses or even work in the booming commercial real estate business. In commercial real estate, you will assist clients who want to develop property for strip malls and other businesses, and/or buy or lease new business space.  It’s pretty exciting stuff.

The market is hot right now. The income (once you are established) is steady and there is always a need to buy and sell houses and commercial property. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit and good people skills and are asking yourself ‘What am I going to do for a living?’, consider a career in real estate, or better yet consider a career in real estate at Hermann London!

Matt Simon
Commercial Broker
The Hermann London Group
7350 Manchester Road
Maplewood, MO 63143
Cell: 314.922.3523
Office: 314.802.0797
msimon@hermannlondon.com