If you want to make money fast then a career in real estate is the wrong place to be. If you are interested in building a career you should have proper expectations of the income potential and the time frames involved.

Think of your first year as 18 months. By the time you start, learn what you are doing, begin marketing yourself, get a client, find a house and close it could easily be four months to six months before you see your first check. If you are going to take the time to build your business you have to think long term. It's not something to just "test" to see if it's for you. Are you financially prepared for this time frame? You either save enough, cut back on expenses, or have another source of income.

A typical new agent who is able gain a foothold and achieves some level of success usually has one or more of the following:

• They have the money to pave the way.  They are able to spend sufficient funds on marketing and advertising immediately without creating a financial hardship.

• They are well connected in their community.  They don't have to spend money buying their way into business because of their personal connections. The more people you know and the more active you are in the community, the better your chances of finding clients.

• They have the skill and willingness to market themselves. Some people just have the experience or  personality which gives them an edge when it comes to knowing how to obtain business.

Which one defines you? If you don't see yourself in one of these three situations that doesn't mean you shouldn't pursue your career. What it means is you just need to prepare even more.

In Ohio, which is typical, the average income for agents with fewer than five years of experience is $27,000. For agents with five to ten years it increases to $67,000. The figure is so low for newer agents because of the high drop out rate (80% within two years) and they haven't created a referral network nor repeat business.

As an experienced broker, my expectations for gross earnings for the typical agent is:

• A rookie makes from 25,000 to $45,000. A rookie status can last from 18 months to several years. The time it takes depends not only on your skills and motivations but how much time you devote, your ability to market yourself and how strong your referral network is.  

• An experienced agent can make from $45,000 to $70,000. This would be the income range for most licensed agents who emerge from rookie status. And the majority of them stay in this range for their entire careers. But if you are aggressively growing your business then you will just pass through this phase. You will be working hard, building a business and investing money back in it. Or you can be satisfied with this income and over time work with mostly repeat clients and referrals. You will be more focused on sustaining your business and not growing it.

• Highly experienced and driven agents make from $70,000 to $100,000. You not only need to be experienced but driven and willing to put in the hours. You would need to have very strong marketing skills and/or be well connected. This level happens because you are building a business and not just going from one transaction to the next.

• Mega agents making over $100,000. The truth is only a small a small percentage of agents ever get to this level. And not all agents either want to make the sacrifices necessary to get there or have the necessary skills. A mega agent has to build a team to support this volume and have created a business that can draw in clients to feed the machine.

Remember that in real estate the 80/20 rule applies. Twenty percent of all agents make up 80% of all the income. There may not be many agents in the last two categories but they will be earning the majority of the income.

Maybe you aren't typical and you will do better quicker. But the truth is most agents are typical and need to have realistic expectations and prepare accordingly.