who makes more money REALTOR vs Flippers

Question

who typically makes more money?  agents keep telling me that realtors make more income over flippers and i keep telling them otherwise.

average agent vs average flipper = flipper makes more

top flipper vs top agent = flipper makes more

agree or disagree

Alexander Felice · Answer

I would say STELLAR flippers are making this.

I know about 12 guys who flip full time. Most make $15-20k a flip (net) I would say they are averaging 6 flips on low end, 12 on high. lets do some math:

6 flips x 15k = 90k

12 flips x 20k = 240k

Now these are just guys I know and just in my market and averages, but still none of them are coming close to 300k a year.

to your original point: flippers and realtors are different jobs, the best person at ANY profession is going to make a ton of money. Also, like any profession (flipping included) the vast majority are BAD at their job and make very little. Even will all the full time flippers I know, I've met many more that do 1 (or zero) deal and give it up. Same for realtors, many do it for 3-6 months and give it up.

The real answer to your question "who makes more money realtors or flippers" is: the person who works the hardest.

Russell Brazil · Answer

123 agents in Maryland made $1 million or more in 2017.  Pretty sure there were not anywhere near that amount of flippers that did.

J Scott · Answer

It depends on how you define "Realtor" and "flipper"...

If a Realtor is anyone who has a real estate salesperson's license, then the average income is probably less than $20K per year.  Most licensed real estate agents aren't practicing or are only doing work on the side (in other words, most licensed agents aren't full time).

This says about $40K, but again, I'm going to guess that this only counts the working agents...the average is probably less than half of that:

http://www1.salary.com/Real-Estate-Agent-salary.ht...

The successful full-time agents can easily make 6-figures, and the most successful agents I know are making 7-figures (gross income) running large teams.  Of course, they're spending a LOT of money on advertising, so I'm guessing very few are making more than mid-6-figures net income.

As for flippers, how do you define it?  Is it someone who has flipped a house in the past and wants to do another one?  Or just someone who does it full-time?  Are you talking gross profit?  Or net income?

Most flippers I know do it part-time and are only doing a couple deals a year -- they probably net between $10-50K per year.  The full-time flippers I know are making between $100-500K per year (that's where I am these days).  I know a couple full-time flippers who are making more than this, but they are doing higher-risk projects that require a higher capital outlay.

Overall, I'm not sure that you can compare the two careers -- while they both likely have around the same average, median and high income levels, the jobs are completely different, require a different set of skills, a different amount of cash, a different amount of time, etc.

Russell Brazil · Answer

Now I work in a highly productive office with 4 of the top 10 agents in my state, but all 4 of those make over a million. The top agent in my entire company  (he is not in my office) is #4 in the country and makes several million a year. I'd say the top 200 agents in my state likely all break 500k per year and the top 50 are all at a million.

It's not really conjecture either since it's easiest enough to look up their transactions and commissions.

Russell Brazil · Answer

I'd say the average full time flipper makes more than the average full time agent.

I'd say the top agents make considerably more than the top flippers.

Syed H. · Answer

Disagree with that last part.

For the OP: Theres no right answer to this.

There are flippers who flip a handful of houses a year, there are people that do much more than that. Also depends on the flippers margin. Unfortunately, a lot of flippers out there are ok with making pennies on their flips.

Alberto Simpson · Answer

I read some of you are saying if the flipper continues to find deals. Trust me people there are always deals out there, but can you find them is the question. There are always foreclosures, motivated sellers, inheritances not wanted etc. The list goes on and on. Most realtors have to work twice as hard to sell even the lowest price house. Then they may make enough to provide a cushion for a very short period of time then it is back to work again. A flipper can make $50,60,70 off a deal and be set for the whole year. Truth is they both can make money. One point one person made that I completely agree with, they are two different jobs. Flippers in reality cannot compare to what a realtor does, because after a flipper finished the rehab project, who is the first person they call to unload????? Realtor

Alberto Simpson · Answer

If people think that realtors make more than flippers you have to be either crazy or just not know anything about realestate. You have to consider this, agents only get a certain amount of the sale, but flippers see all the profits. I have seen flippers make $100k on a deal and a realtor makes no were near that. Now the flip side of this is if you are a agent that is selling multimillion dollar houses then yes they are making lots of money. But it is not that many of them as opposed to flippers. There are a few shows that highlight this. But flippers can make half a million inside of 6 months, realtors don't

Gi'angelo Bautista · Answer

@Devin Mann Here's an old article about how much real estate professionals make per year, but it still applies:

https://therealdeal.com/issues_articles/how-much-they-make/

Brandon Ingegneri · Answer

I would have to say flipper overall IF they are consistently finding the deals.  You can hit more out of the park on a flip, but can more consistently hit doubles and triples as a realtor.  If you do not regularly flip and only get one or two big hits a year, I would say that an aggressive realtor who is consistently closing a smaller but more frequent number of deals is going to win that one.

who makes more money REALTOR vs Flippers

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