Real Estate Agent · Portland, OR · Member since 2016 · 19 posts · 5 votes
For those who have worked full time as real estate agents and have transitioned to primarily being an investor yourself, how has your work/life balance changed and your stress/anxiety level?
I've been a residential agent in Portland, OR for 3+ years and am getting a little tired of the grind and pace although I primarily enjoy the work. My goal is to buy my first investment property this year, and I'd like to transition to being a full time investor (mostly apartments) instead of agent down the road.
@Bryan Atkinson - Still early in this but thought I would chime in since no one else has.
Right now in both, still full time agent (and full(ish) time one of my other jobs) and got my first SFH I plan on holding and renting and eventually sort of flipping and reselling. Because it's my first and funds are tight, it's been quite the process... Working so much (and we stayed really busy for our market until just this last week!) and popping in at nights to do a few hours of work at a time to get it up and rented has been a process. Then there's having days that I planned to commit to getting this thing up and rented that go to real estate contracts, calls, showings, you know...It sorta messes everything up.
However, it's really cool and nice overall. It's something that I know can go toward my future so it's worth the work, and it allows me, like you, to cut out some stuff so I can be a little more choosey in real estate and not so overwhelmed and stressed all the time. Also, I am happy that I got into RE before the investing side, because there's so many connections that have really helped me in this.
So I guess, to answer your question, don't underestimate how hard it will be to transition, if you're like me and need to do RE while REI and not just quitting your RE to focus on the investing. It will be a struggle and if you're like me, doing a lot of work yourself to save money, your timelines will be a lot sadder than if you have people helping you. Overall, I think my stress will be much better but right now, it's not great!
I've been an agent, and an investor. I've also worked a W2 job and currently have my own business with 15 employees. Unfortunately, I feel like the inability to maintain a work/life balance is more a personal issue than it had to do with what role you're currently in. Even at my 9-5 W2 job, I found myself reading and doing things in the evening, just because that's the kind of person I am. I'm always wanting to do better, do more, etc.
I think unless you can figure out how to have a good work/life balance as an agent, it will not be any better with an investor. I think delegation is a huge piece that people struggle with and will be no easier as an investor. As an agent you can pay for an admin assistant, have buyers agents do your showing, etc to help with your work life balance. Often times a person will not want to do these things because it's cheaper to do it yourself, but in the end it's not worth it as you lose out on potential business and burn yourself out. As an investor/lanlord it will be the same kinds of dilemmas, why hire a plumber to come out and fix a 5 minute issue for $100, when you can go do it yourself, etc.