flexible career options

Flexible Career Options in Real Estate for the Perfect Work-Life Balance

flexible career options

 

If you’re looking for flexible career options, you are not alone. In fact, that’s why most real estate professionals get into the industry in the first place. In our 2018 State of the Real Estate Profession survey, 82 percent of real estate professionals surveyed said the flexible schedule real estate offers was “very important,” to them.

Having a flexible job schedule in this industry doesn’t mean just being a real estate agent. There are many flexible career paths in real estate that you can take to achieve that elusive work-life balance — maybe some you haven’t even considered!

Want to know what some of your options are?

We’ve put together a list using information from our past students.

Use real estate for part-time income

Maybe you don’t want a new, high powered full-time career. Perhaps you’re looking for a way to make extra income. We see many post-secondary students and educators get their real estate license to take advantage of natural breaks in their schedule. For some, it’s a great source of summer income or a way to make money that fits easily around classes they have to either take or teach.

About 55 percent of our students who are educators themselves outside of real estate use real estate as a flexible, part-time career. The numbers get even higher in engineering. Almost 70 percent of students who come to us with an engineering background say the plan to use real estate for part-time income. Retirees also see real estate as a way to achieve work-life balance with just less than 70 percent of our retiree students indicating their intentions of using real estate to earn money part-time.

Find flexible career options with non-traditional hours

As we said before, there are many flexible careers within real estate that don’t necessarily involve being a real estate agent. One you might consider is property management.

Being a property manager is a challenging job that is usually in high demand — and it comes with flexibility perks. Owners of buildings rely on property managers to look after their assets, which includes dealing with tenants, sometimes leasing units, overseeing maintenance and, in general, making sure the ship runs smoothly and the building, be it commercial or residential, makes money every year.

Often, a property manager can set their own hours. The job does require being available during some non-traditional working hours (such as evenings or weekends) but usually, these hours are not set in stone as property managers deal with problems as they arise. A flexible job doesn’t necessarily mean an easy job. Property managers put in hard work and many hours. However, they usually get to control how they go about doing their work which means, to an extent, their schedules.

Find roles that allow remote work

If you hate going to the office and need a job you can do mostly from home, you might consider a job as a leasing consultant. Leasing consultants arrange for people to rent certain spaces — think of the person who rented you your last apartment, or the person you contact when you’re looking for new office space in a particular building.

The job requires you show units to clients — scheduling showings or open houses at a time that is convenient for them. While you may have to work evenings and weekends in this role, it does come with a degree of flexibility and many of the tasks, such as background checks or posting ads for new vacancies, can be done online from the comfort of your home.

As remote work becomes more and more mainstream, many employers are updating their policies to allow for it. Finding an employer who will let you work from home several days a week could make being a leasing consultant one of the most flexible jobs you pursue!

Become the most forward-thinking real estate agent in your market with our free playbook.

Start a side hustle related to real estate

Are you an entrepreneurial type? Don’t want to be committed to an employer? Want to be your own boss in a big way? There might be a side business you can start creating that helps either agents or buyers do their jobs better. We love the story of Debra Gould, a home staging expert who trains women on how to make a business out of their home staging knowledge. If you have real estate knowledge and are looking for a flexible way to put that to use, a side job like a home staging business could be a good fit for you.

Find the fit that’s best for you

There are so many different aspects of the real estate business that provide flexible ways to earn either full or part-time income. When it comes to real estate, the problem isn’t finding flexible options, it’s choosing the flexible option that suits you best.