Benefits Of Making The Jump From Residential To Commercial Real Estate
People who picture real estate agents often think of cheery professionals who help people buy and sell homes. While it's certainly true that many real estate agents work in this capacity, there are others who focus heavily or even exclusively on commercial real estate. Whether you're a real estate agent who has experience with the residential side of the business or you're new to this profession, commercial real estate might be a topic that interests you. There are many benefits to specializing in this side of the business, including the following.
Opportunity To Earn More
One of the big benefits of working as a real estate agent is that your income is commission based. This means that the harder you work and the busier you are, the more you'll get paid. In commercial real estate, there's a real chance to earn a significant amount of money due to high commissions. For example, if you work in residential real estate, you might often find yourself selling homes between $150,000 and $200,000. While the commission checks from these sales can be significant, imagine working in commercial real estate and selling properties that might be worth $750,000 or even into the seven-figure range. Each commission check you receive from these sales can be hefty.
Clients May Be More Focused
One of the challenges that residential real estate agents often find is that their clients are wishy-washy. A client may think that he or she wants to buy a single-family home, only for you to show the client a couple dozen properties over the course of a few months — and then the client decides that a condo would be a better choice. While there can certainly be uncertain and unfocused commercial clients, you may find that this is seldom the case. For example, when a business needs to move into a new location, it can't afford to devote too long to the searching process. This, in turn, makes deals quicker and makes your life easier.
Relationships Can Be Lucrative
Building networks is important for every real estate agent, but you may have lucrative opportunities to form relationships with builders when you focus on the commercial side of the business. For example, if you form a relationship with a builder who is going to be developing an industrial park, he or she will need an agent to sell each of the properties in the park. Should the builder choose you, you may be looking at life-changing money over the course of the next few years.
