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Tom Panos believes it’s a great industry to be in, although certainly not for everyone.
The renowned Real Estate Gym coach, trainer and auctioneer was reflecting on 2023 and sharing what to expect in 2024 with Momentum Media’s Phil Tarrant when he was posed the question of: “Is [real estate] an attractive profession to be in?”
From his point of view: “If you’re a person that tells the truth and has got a long, sustainable opportunity in real estate, it’s a great way of life.”
“And that’s why we’re seeing university graduates enter real estate more and more versus in the past they didn’t.”
He commented that previously, “the person that became the real estate agent was the guy that didn’t want to be a plumber or sparky, that didn’t get into university and wanted to actually wear a suit”.
But not now.
Now, Mr Panos sees that there’s “a lot of people that are saying goodbye to the corporate world”.
Those who don’t want to be working in an office tower or sitting in their pyjamas on Zoom or having meetings at home while “working for some corporation”.
“There’s people out there who want to run their own business who realise they can get into real estate,” he pointed out.
These people want to run their own business, and see real estate as the perfect outlet to do so: “You don’t have to have an outlay when you’re a real estate agent and you can have uncapped earnings.”
But optimism for the profession is not without a big caveat, with the trainer remarking that “it’s the highest paid hard work and it’s the lowest paid easy work”.
He acknowledged real estate is an industry “that has a big influx of people joining it when the market is going strong”.
“They come from other industries; they come in when things are hot and then they leave when they’re not.”
Noting some of these people “are not born real estate agents”, he also flagged the inherent struggles that come with a real estate career, raising that “it is a challenge if you don’t have a predictable, repeatable income coming in, if you’re living the first day of every month, not knowing where your next deal is going to come from and you don’t have the luxury [of knowing] there’s money going into their bank account”.
“That’s not the life of people that work in real estate.”
“They’re very commission-based people, and a lot of them are going away on holidays at the moment, [and] also aware that they’re not going to make a hell of a lot of sales in December and January, and that’s going to hit their bank account in February because there’s a lag between sales and your bank balance.
“It’s not for everyone. It can be extremely challenging waking up and knowing that you live in total unpredictability.”
Listen to the full conversation here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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