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What is a reasonable amount for a first year real estate agent to expect making in his/her first year?

In CA, if I am to work part time as a real estate agent (under a well respected and successful brooker) would it be too ambitious to expect $45,000 in my first year?

Public Comments

1. Assuming you are either only the buyer or seller agent (not both), then you would need to transact $1,500,000 of houses to gross $45,000 at the 3% commission. The median home price in California is 250,000. Using this figure you would have to sell 6 houses to gross $45,000. While six house over the course of the year does not sound like that much, your Part Time Status may prevent you from fully pursuing the leads and leg work needed to get the listings needed to sell 6 houses. (Clearly this could be more or less depending on the prices of the specific houses you are involved in, but this is a good starting point) On top of that, as a first year real estate agent you would not have a great deal of experience or contacts to develop many listings in the first year. Good real estate agents work many hours completing offers, attending walk-thrus, cultivating contacts, working with clients and searching for houses to make transactions. For a part-time status, your 1st year goals seems quite lofty
2. I would not hire a part time agent at my firm except as a salaried assistant. A part time agent never seems to be there when their client needs them- never there when they need to research an answer- and also never seems to be truly motivated. I know that it is scarey to quit all security. But that is exactly what seems to motivate most agents.
3. The above figure forgot that you split your commission with your broker, you need to sell 3 million in house to obtain 45k in pay. Most agents average 1 house per year, and they are available during the day, when the majority of the work is done. The odds of you even selling one house your first year as a part timer is really slim, basically you have to have a buyer already in your pocket, or a seller. You are better off having enough money to live on for at least a year in the bank and going for this full time.
4. It all depends on the current market. If your just looking for averages you can go to salary.com to find out.