Estate agents?

gemgem1990

Ok well im 18 and I'm on a gap year at the moment. For years I have really wanted to work in an estate agents, and then go on to do Property development when im older.

Therefore I really want to get a job in an estate agents in Surrey. However no where seems to be interested in you unless u have 1year or more experience. Therefore how on earth am i meant to get experience if I cant get a job in the first place??

:confused:

Reply 1

Quady

Wait until estate agents are expanding rather than closing down. ie 2012
Why property development? Have you seen how badly people who give it a go on TV do?
How are you going to get the project management experience?

Reply 2

gemgem1990

lol ahh now your worrying me! im not entirely sure why property development, just something I have always wanted to do, and im not planning on going in to PD until im quite a bit older (considering how much money I need to have to start!) and so by then hopefully I should have enough experience to know what Im doing.

Reply 3

Quady

Experience from what?
Estate agents dont PD, the only experience you would have is in valuing property (quite handy) but you would have no project management experience.
Will you get yourself a house first before doing PD?

Reply 4

gemgem1990

wow u really know how to panic me! Surely if you are an estate agent, you would learn about valueing the property obvisously but you would also learn about layouts and stuff?

I'm not entirely sure what im gonna do about the whole property management thing tho! although i may do a degree in property developement if needs be ... altho if i can avoid studying it for 4 years I would prefer to!
Also im not sure about whether i would get a house first? what do u think would be best?

Reply 5

Quady

Sorry about panicing you, just trying to make sure you think about your career before starting.
I'm just a bit curious about why someone would go into something so cyclical.
When your doing PD you need somewhere to live while you wont have any income. If you have a mortgage you wont be able to get another at anywhere near a competitive rate which will impact profitability. If you rent, likewise. And banks dont lend money on properties that are being knocked in to redo unless you have another property to use as securitisation.

PD works in a rising market (and being an estate agent), but if you were in this right now, what would you be doing with your life for the next 2-3 years?

Reply 6

gemgem1990

yeah i doubt I would be able to afford to buy/ mortgage a house whilst also buying a property to develop. Hmm i dunno what to do now!

I know, if i was an estate agent or property developer at the moment, in the current market, i wouldnt be doing too well! It is really something I want to do though, do you think it is worth doing a degree in it then?

Reply 7

GraemeSmith

Get into the Construction Industry, not sales which an Estate Agents role essentially is. Working in Construction is one of the only ways you're really going to be able to gather the contacts to begin serious property development if you're set on that due to the nature of simply building or developing property. No one can do it single handedly. Check out all the different roles within the industry to see if any take your fancy! Quantity Surveying could be a reasonable basis to begin from. A good friends father was Quantity Surveyor by trade who eventually specialised in acquisition before developing property very successfully with his business partner.

Reply 8

Runninground

Check out this weeks episode of Hillary Devey's 'The Intern'. She sends 3 people to a top property company in London and they have to sell million pound penthouses and deal with unexpected problems. I think you'll like it OP :smile: