Imagine this: You’ve reached the golden years of your life, and it’s time to embrace a new adventure. At this point, you may be contemplating how to fill your days. Some long for travel and quality time with family, while others are eager to explore a new career. Becoming a real estate agent in retirement is a popular choice for many reasons, as it allows you to balance travel, family time, and the ability to work the hours that suit your new lifestyle. Let’s dive further into the benefits, skills needed, and tips for success.
Benefits of Becoming a Real Estate Agent in Retirement
According to the National Association of Realtors, the median age of all Realtors is 60. This fact means that if you’re considering a career in real estate during retirement, you may find yourself among peers who have made a similar choice. Additionally, there are several benefits that you can enjoy by taking this path.
- Sense of purpose: Maintaining a sense of purpose as life changes is important. Choosing a new career can be a great way to find direction and fulfillment and feel more productive.
- Social connections: Staying connected to peers and your community is good for the soul. If you miss the social interactions from your previous career, you might find real estate to be a way to maintain relationships.
- Continued education/Intellectual stimulation: Retirement is a great time to learn something new and take on a new challenge. Getting your real estate license can provide an avenue for intellectual growth and the chance to keep your mind razor-sharp.
- Low barrier for entry: Starting a real estate career in retirement doesn’t mean years of schooling. Real estate education is affordable and can be taken online, leading to licensure within months, not years.
- Financial stability: Living on a fixed income can be tough for many people. While various factors determine how much a real estate agent can earn, it’s great to have the opportunity to make extra income during retirement.
- Adapting to change: Retirement is such a transformative phase, and it’s completely normal to feel the mental strain that comes with it. However, becoming a real estate agent in retirement can truly help ease this transition and foster a greater sense of resilience.
- Flexible schedule: Working as a real estate agent allows you to control your schedule, whether you decide to work as a full-time or part-time agent. This means you can still enjoy other things you want to do in retirement while pursuing a fulfilling career.
Skills Needed to Succeed
Did you know that the expertise you gained from your previous career can be a huge advantage in real estate? The skills needed to excel as a real estate agent often overlap with those required in various other fields and can be leveraged to thrive in your venture into this new industry. Here are some of the more important skills you may tap into:
- Research and market knowledge
- Communication skills
- Basic technology understanding
- Networking capability
- Patience
- Negotiation skills
- Problem-solving
- Time management
- Motivation
- Customer service
- Active listening
- Transaction management
- Confidence
- Data analysis
- Mathematics
- Advertising and marketing
One of the best parts of the real estate industry is the variety. Check out our article about the different types of agents for more details on the various roles you may encounter and the different skills required while working in the real estate industry.
Tips for Success in Real Estate for Retirees
Leaping into real estate is exciting and a great way to set goals and give yourself something to work towards. Following the tips below, you can kick-start your real estate career and embrace this new chapter of your professional life.
Tip 1: Enroll in Real Estate School & Get Your License
When you’ve decided to try your hand at real estate, enroll in a real estate class to start absorbing all the real estate terms, laws, and more. After passing your real estate class, you can take the licensing exam. Online real estate schools, like AceableAgent, offer flexible, self-paced courses tailored to your schedule and exam prep to help you get licensed as smoothly as possible.
Tip 2: Find a Brokerage That Fits Your Needs
Once you’ve completed your real estate class and aced the exam to become a licensed real estate agent, it’s time for the next step: finding a brokerage to hang your license. This is an important step, so you’ll want to meet with multiple brokerages. This will help you understand the various commission splits offered, uncover the training and support available, and discover the resources waiting to help you grow your business.
| Types of Brokerages | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
|
| Pros | Instant credibility | Individualized attention | Higher commission splits |
| Cons | More competition | Smaller marketing budget | Less networking potential |
| Example Brokerage | RE/MAX, Keller Williams | Dream Town, John Greene | eXp Realty, REAL |
Tip 3: Create a Business Plan
Don’t underestimate the power of creating a solid business plan when entering real estate. This will give you the insights you need to focus on the right aspects of your business, manage your budget effectively, and reach your goals. The following elements are some examples of what to include in your business plan:
- Your why: What drives you?
- Production goal
- Income goal
- Marketing and advertising goals and budget
- Education goal
Ready to dive into all things real estate business planning? Head over to our article, 7 Steps to Writing a Real Estate Business Plan, to get started and download your business plan template.
Tip 4: Set a Marketing Budget
When it comes to real estate, it’s all about marketing. Whether it’s through engaging farm mailings or investing in lead generation, it’s important to consider your marketing expenses. Even if you’re just starting and your budget is tight, consider investing roughly 10% of your commission income into marketing efforts. As you begin to reap the rewards and watch your income grow, you can allocate even more towards marketing if you choose.
Tip 5: Work With a Mentor or Coach
If the brokerage you decide to work with has a bunch of training resources, it’s definitely worth taking full advantage of them. Real estate can be quite a lot to take in, so working with someone experienced in the field is an awesome way to ease into things. Your mentor or coach should be someone who’s willing to help, available to answer your questions, and ready to show you the ropes of the industry.
Tip 6: Get Comfortable With Tech
In today’s real estate industry, technology is at the forefront of everything we do. If you’re transitioning from an industry that isn’t tech-heavy, take some time to familiarize yourself with real estate tech. You will regularly use your cell phone, email, transaction management software, client management software, and more.
For example, having a trusted customer relationship management (CRM) system, like Wise Agent, will make a huge difference in how you work on transactions and with your clients.
Tip 7: Work Open Houses
One of the most important things in real estate is getting yourself out there and meeting potential clients. Working open houses can be a great way to do just that and start to grow your real estate business. Keep an eye out for agents who are looking for open house coverage. If you don’t see any opportunities, just search for the listings in your office and contact the listing agents to ask if you can assist with an open house for their listing.
Tip 8: Get Involved in Your Community
One of the pros of being a real estate agent is the opportunity to network and make connections. It encourages you to be more social, which is essential for building a client base. It’s also a fantastic way to combat loneliness or isolation after retiring. Attending networking events, supporting local businesses, and participating in community organizations all help to build connections and maintain in-person interactions.
Tip 9: Know How to Generate Leads
Want to become a lead gen machine? Put systems in place and stay consistent. Planning, tracking, and consistency are vital to securing leads and building your business. After you’ve created your budget, you will better understand your ability to partner with a lead generation company. While teaming up with a company that captures leads for you is a great move, having multiple lead sources, such as referrals, cold calling, and farm mailing, is beneficial.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How old is too old to start in real estate?
It’s never too late to start a career in real estate. Retirement before real estate simply means you have a wealth of experience to bring to a new role as a real estate agent. With your seasoned professionalism, you have the power to make a real impact by helping
Can a real estate agent have a 401(k)?
While a real estate agent is considered self-employed, they can still choose to have benefits such as 401(k), health insurance, life insurance, etc. Real estate agents can benefit from one-participant 401(k) plans, which allow them to contribute without having an employer plan. These plans, also known as Solo 401(k), are traditional 401(k) plans covering a business owner with no employees. These plans have the same rules and requirements as any other 401(k) plan.
What is the best age to start a real estate career?
Depending on which state you call home, there’s a minimum age requirement to obtain your license. But the good news is that every age has unique advantages. In your 20s, you can build your business with rentals and help first-time homebuyers. Moving into your 30s and 40s, you may hover into the territory of assisting people to upgrade their homes. Then, in your 50s and 60s, you’ll have the chance to help people with investments and downsizing. No matter your age or generation, plenty of exciting opportunities await you.
Bringing It All Together
Real estate offers many individuals the exciting opportunity to grow a business, including those who have already had a career in another field. That’s why becoming a real estate agent in retirement is pretty common, and if you’re thinking about it, I’d say go for it! Let us know in the comments if you have any questions about how to jumpstart this exciting new adventure.
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