One of the main things that you should know is that there is a vast difference in the amount of time that it takes to get started. With residential real estate, you can have success within a relatively short period of time. As little as 90 days is needed to get in and start making some sales. While it doesn't always work like this, you can expect to be up and running in six months or less if you know what you're doing. On the other hand, commercial real estate sales take longer to break into. Commercial real estate isn't something that you just jump into and start making money. You have to work at it for a while and then the sales will slowly start to trickle in. In some cases it can take up to a year to generate your first sale. This means that you'll have to live on your savings for quite some time when you get started.
Another key difference between residential and commercial sales is the amount of money involved. The typical residential transaction is around $200,000. On the other hand, commercial sales usually average $3-4 million. This means that when you get a payday, it's going to be farther between with commercial, but it's going to be quite a bit larger. Commercial brokers average about $80,000-$90,000 per year while residential real estate agents average about $40,000.
Commercial real estate usually has higher standards to get into as well. With residential real estate, you're not usually required to have any college degree to get started. As long as you know the market and you have some sales experience, you'll usually get a shot. However, with commercial real estate, you're usually expected to have a college degree in business or finance as well as some sales experience.
While you're still selling real estate in both jobs, the environments are quite different as well. In commercial real estate, your working environment is usually much more formal and corporate. You'll be dealing with CEO's and a lot of people that are high on the ladder. This usually calls for a very professional working environment. With residential, you get to know every kind of people and deal with them on a one-on-one basis. You can joke around and relax a little more in this setting.
Overall, both careers can be very promising to the right person. Just be sure to consider the key differences in the professions before you decide which field to enter.
