There are many perks to a career in real estate sales. One of them is “flexibility.” When you earn a license to sell homes in South Carolina, you immediately gain control over your own schedule. That alone is a perk; however, it’s definitely not the only one. Another reason many people choose real estate sales as a career is the ability to adapt your business to full-time or part-time work.

You might start out working part-time in real estate, then decide to switch to full-time or vice versa. It’s something to think about before you start listing houses on the market, and it’s often best to explore your options while you’re still taking pre-license courses. This way, you can have a plan in mind and set goals for your future business, and when you finally have a license to sell in your hand, you’ll be ready to go full force, no matter which option you have chosen to pursue.

Pros and cons to working full-time in real estate

If you’re earning a license to sell homes because you want it to be your full-time job, there’s no question that you’ll have your work cut out for you. This is typically the more challenging option of the two. As with most career choices, there are pros and cons to working full-time in real estate, several of which are included in the following list:

• One pro is that working full-time gives you an edge over competitors who are working part-time.
• Brokers are more likely to consider training full-time workers because it’s more worth their time and effort.
• Full-time work increases your chances for referral because you’ll no doubt connect with and interact with more people than you might if you’re only working part-time.
• A possible downside is that you’ll have less free time, even if you’re in control of your own schedule.
• If you’re working with a broker, you’ll have to share your commissions.

It’s logical to assume that putting full-time work and effort into selling homes increases your chances of generating leads and getting contracts that go to closing.

There are legitimate reasons for working part-time in real estate

Earning a real estate license to work part-time is a great benefit to many people in certain stages of life. For instance, if you’re a mom who sacrificed an initial career to stay home full-time and raise a family, you might want to work part-time in real estate when your children get a little older. This next list shows additional perks and possible downsides from working part-time in real estate:

• Full-timers will have an edge over you in the field.
• Brokers might be hesitant to sign you on with their teams.
• You might not be available to a client at a particular time.
• If you’re working another job in addition to selling homes, you might be putting in more hours than you would if you were to sell homes full-time.
• A benefit to part-time real estate work is that it’s a useful tool when you are satisfied with your current job but need a way to generate supplemental income.
• You have more free time to focus on other things.

As mentioned earlier, it’s possible to make changes in your schedule when working in the real estate industry. At one point, you might only want to work part-time. However, down the line, you might decide to devote 100% of your work time to real estate. Either way, it’s nice to have options, and you can adapt your schedule to fit your needs, your budget and your career goals.