Thoughtful Thursday Week 13 – Homeschooling and Real Estate

In the world of homeschooling moms, there are those who wonder about becoming a REALTOR “on the side.” I received several questions about what this subject, so I will address it here in this post.

Let’s start with the most obvious questions: should you get a real estate license while homeschooling the children? Would that be something that can produce an easy stream of income?

The answer is, “You can get a real estate license while homeschooling the children, sure. No, it will not produce an easy stream of income.” Real estate is hard work. You work on commission, which means you might work hard for a whole month and get $0.00. Many transactions do not close. To get to a contract, you must show and list a lot of homes. That takes time and resources. The average REALTOR makes about $32,000 a year, but you would be hard-pressed to find a REALTOR who makes that kind of money “on the side.”

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After 10 years in the real estate business, I am getting ready to retire my license. I do not know when I will take it out of retirement again. I do know that since I became a mom I focused on my children so much, real estate got put on the back burner. I lost interest. 

I have not put much time in the real estate business for several years. It’s time to make it official.

Since 2015 is my year to do LESS, I finally gave myself permission to take real estate out of my things to do. I came to the realization that I did not have time for real estate, motherhood, and homeschooling but I kept my license active because retiring it felt like quitting. And I am not a quitter.

Enough years have passed by for me to realize there is no need for a real estate license I am not using.

When I asked a real estate broker what it takes to be successful in real estate, he said, “The luck of the draw.” In other words, no matter how much work I put into it, if I don’t happen to be in the office at the right time, when the right client comes in, all is in vain. Or, if I don’t answer the phone every time it rings, I may miss out on an opportunity. If I can’t drop everything I am doing to go show a house when a person is driving around the neighborhood where my listing is, I will miss out on a commission. It’s tough luck.

Is there something in your life that is taking your time and resources without bringing much in return? It’s time to get it out of your life. Get your spring cleaning on.

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2 thoughts on “Thoughtful Thursday Week 13 – Homeschooling and Real Estate

  1. Hello,

    My name is Ronnie Rivera, Broker of Covenant Realty, Inc. in Florida. I just read your article and sorry that you didn’t have the time to do real estate. My wife homeschools our 4 children and also holds her real estate license. She helps with that when possible. It seems that the Brokers that you spoke to were not supportive and weren’t familiar with homeschool culture.
    We love real estate. We found a way to do real estate well and make it work with Homeschool. We actually created a program that benefits homeschool families. Check us out http://www.homesforhomeschoolers.com. Do you still have your real estate license? If so, I would like to speak to you.

    • No, I retired my license in 2015. Thanks for the encouraging words. I don’t think it was my brokers’ fault. I wanted to go more in the direction of homeschooling and publishing. Also, the children were super young and needed my presence. Besides this blog, I written 8 books and over 260 columns for the local newspapers. That was my major in college – publications. So… it was for the best to leave real estate behind.

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