I am a real estate agent and I lead a team of real estate agents selling about 100 homes annually in the Chicagoland area.

I like to say each day I am either busy or busy trying to get busy. A real estate agent’s day is driven by three buckets of activity and each has its own level of priority. The most important bucket is the clients-under-contract bucket. These are either sellers who have listed your home and may or may not yet have accepted an offer and buyers who have an offer accepted. As a real estate agent, I am always keeping a pulse on those deals and making sure everything is continuing to make progress in the process.

The second bucket involves continuing to work with active clients who are in the market or not yet under contract. These people are either sellers getting their homes ready for the market or buyers searching for homes. The latter takes the most vigilance; a real estate agent needs to watch for new listings and get his or her buyers in the home as quickly as possible.

Lastly, is general marketing. I do most of this when I am not as busy. Marketing your real estate services includes having an online and offline presence and letting people know what you do.

Each day, I prioritize which of these buckets needs the most attention and those are worked first. Real estate is kind of like working in an emergency room or triage center. Things can be all quiet and then out of nowhere an issue pops up that needs to be handled.

Pros

The pros of being a real estate agent are both a flexible schedule and the ability to guide your destiny by being self-employed. There are excellent opportunities to earn a good living as a real estate agent.

Cons

There are several cons to being a real estate agent. First, though the schedule is flexible at times the hours can be long and unpredictable. Real estate agents need to be able to be available when their clients need them. Secondly, most real estate agents work on a 100% commission basis. This can make your income a bit of a roller coaster, and you should be prepared for this. Another con is some clients can be difficult. Overtime though you can be more selective about for whom you are willing to work.

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