Webinar: Is Real Estate The Right Career For You? - Part 4

Sameer Amini: All right, everyone. Welcome, and thank you so much for joining. The question I want every single one of you walking away with today is the answer to the question right on the screen: Is real estate the right career for you? Should you go ahead and invest your time, your money, and your resources starting this career? Now, I'm going to be going through a lot tonight. As I go through the slides, please drop any questions, again, you have in the Q&A panel. There's an option on Zoom, and I'll pause from time to time to address them. Now, by the end of the session, my goal is that you have a real answer to the question on the screen, not just from me, but from you.

Sameer Amini: So here's what we're going to be covering today. First, we're going to determine fit, so whether real estate aligns with the kind of person you are, the skills you have, the lifestyle you want. Second, we're going to understand the realities. So there's a version of real estate you see on Instagram and on TV, and then that version does exist, but it is not the full picture. I want to show you what an actual day looks like, what an actual week looks like, what the first year really feels like. And third, most importantly, by the end of the session, you should be able to make your decision whether it makes sense to invest your time, your money, your energy into this path. Honestly, if by today's session you walk away thinking real estate is not for you, that's a win, just as much as someone walking away saying they are going to enroll tomorrow and this is for them.

Sameer Amini: Both are clarity, and clarity is what you came for here today. So let's continue. A little bit about me. My name is Sameer Mina. I've been in the business now for 12 years. I've been in sales, I've been a broker, I've been managing broker, I've been a broker of record. I've run my own brokerages. I've worked residential, commercial. Today, I sit on the operations side on a very unique luxury brokerage in Toronto, and so I see what happens, and I've seen what happens behind scenes. I see why deals fall apart, who is winning, who's not winning, and why that's the case. I also train here at the Career College Group. I'm one of the lead facilitators with the college.

Sameer Amini: So if you do decide this is the right career for you and you enroll, this is a very good chance you're going to see me again on the other side of this. Now, I want to share something with you. 12 years ago, when I was thinking about this career, I was sitting in a session exactly like this one. Okay? Not virtual, though. This was before COVID. This was in person. I'll be honest, I did not understand what real estate really even meant.

Sameer Amini: What is a real estate agent? I had no idea what the job involved. It was through one of these career sessions that I also figured this out. So this is why these sessions hit home for me. So let's continue. Again, I can't wait for all of you to hopefully walk away as I did back 12 years ago. Let's start with the basics. So what is a real estate agent, really? If you ask the average person, they're going to say something like, "Well, they show houses." That's true, but it is like saying a doctor just takes temperatures. It is the most visible thing they do, yes, but it is a tiny fraction of the job. Okay, here's how I want you to think of it.

Sameer Amini: Think of a real estate agent as a guide, okay? A real estate agent is a guide through one of the largest financial decisions a person will ever make. We're talking about transactions of, let's say, $300,000, $600,000, $10 million. For most of your clients, this is the biggest check they will ever write or the biggest check they will ever get. So these deals are extremely, sometimes emotionally charged. They are legally complex. They involve six, seven, sometimes ten different professionals, lawyers, mortgage brokers, inspectors, stagers. Your job is to keep all of them organized and all of that organized. You're kind of the center. At the end of it all, so make sure your client is informed and that their interests are protected at every stage of this deal, because at every stage of selling a house, something can go wrong, or they may get the short end of the stick.

Sameer Amini: So let me give you a real scenario. Because the abstract job description is one thing, the actual reality is another. Imagine a couple, okay, going through a divorce. They've been together for years. They own a home together, the home where they raised their kids, where they renovated their kitchen, where they made years of memories. Because of the divorce, now they have to sell. It's not that they want to, unfortunately, it becomes a must. So now think about what that means. They probably have never sold a home before. This was their first one, and on top of everything else they're dealing with, the legal stuff, the emotional, the kids, now they have to figure out, "Oh, my God, how do I sell this house now that's worth millions?" Or worth whatever number it might be.

Sameer Amini: So because they don't know what selling means, they don't know how to do it without making very expensive mistakes. This is where you come in, the real estate agent comes in. You walk into the middle of all of this chaos, okay, and you become the guide. You take the stress off of them. You explain what is going to happen this week, next week, the week after. You tell them how to prep the home, how to put it on the market, how the showings are going to go. When the offers come in, you're going to walk them through what that means. You're going to tell them when to talk to the lawyer, when we need to talk to a home inspector, when to talk to an accountant.

Sameer Amini: When you do that job really, really well, when you bring calm and structure to that really hard moment of their life, that family will remember you forever, and that is the kind of work that builds what we call a referral career. So let's talk about, again, the agent's role, your value proposition. So in that same scenario, what is the agent actually doing? Three things. One, you're reducing the client's stress.

Sameer Amini: You become the person who says, "I've got this."Most clients are operating in an unfamiliar territory. You are the expert who has done this hundreds of times, or if it's your first year in the business, no problem. You're part of a brokerage that has done this hundreds of times. Number two, strategic preparation and pricing, okay? You walk through the property, and you tell them, "Honestly, this needs paint. This needs decluttering. We need to take down all the personal pictures, any religious symbols. Let's take all these out." You pull comparables, seeing what the neighbors sold. You're basically building a pricing strategy that balances speed of selling the house in a good, timely manner and making sure they get the best value at the same time. You see, you're not guessing.

Sameer Amini: You're using market data, and you're researching. Number three, you're coordinating the professionals involved here, so the lawyers, the home inspectors, the mortgage brokers, the appraisers. You're the central hub. Without you, all of these moving parts do not talk to each other. They don't. They're not going to cold call the other person. You are the individual in the middle, calling every single one, and then referring back to the client. Okay? That is what clients are paying you for. They're paying for the expertise that turns a chaotic process, heavily involved with emotions, into something that feels managed. That is a value proposition. That is what justifies, again, that commission that we earn. Now, the divorce scenario is just one.

Sameer Amini: Think about how many other scenarios exist out there. A young couple, just married, living in a three-story townhouse, and it's packed with stairs. All it is is stairs. Then she gets pregnant. Suddenly, the stairs become a real problem. They cannot live there anymore. Now again, they have to sell, find something more practical, maybe something bigger, something that's one level. Right? Again, they've never done this before. They need a guide. I'll give you another scenario. A family that took on a mortgage they thought they could afford. Something happened, a layoff, an illness. They cannot make payments anymore. The bank takes over the property. Now, the bank needs a real estate agent to handle that sale. See, that's another one. Now, imagine a retiree downsizing after 40 years in the same home. Estate sale after a family member passes away. Maybe a professional relocating from another province for a new job. Think of an investor building a rental portfolio.

Sameer Amini: They're looking at cap rates, cash flow. A first-time buyer, maybe, who saved for 10 years, they worked hard and saved for 10 years to finally be able to afford their first home. You see, each of these scenarios I'm giving you, I'm telling you on purpose because they all have their own little worlds. Each one has its own emotional weights, its own legal considerations, its own urgency, which is why this career, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting careers out there. You're never doing the same thing twice. Every day feels like a fresh challenge. So let's go kind of behind the scenes, the day-to-day responsibilities. I want to zoom it in more, okay? But before I do, let me pause. Let me check for any questions so far.

Sameer Amini: Is there anything? Okay, we're good. Okay, awesome. So let me continue. You see, when you take a listing, what does the work actually look like? Let's walk through it step by step. Step one, you're going to go through the research valuation.

Sameer Amini: Before you list, you have to know, okay, what is the home worth? What are the neighbors selling? What is the market trend right now in that area? Are they listing selling low? Are they listing low and selling high? What is going on? So you discuss everything together, and you agree on a strategy. Step two, now you have to deal with paperwork and explain the paperwork. Step three, getting the home ready. What does that mean? Decluttering, staging. Sometimes you bring in professionals just to move around furniture. A deep clean, maybe. A fresh paint around the house. Then, once the house is shined up and ready to go, we bring in photographers to fully, professionally do a proper media.

Sameer Amini: Maybe a proper video, drone, et cetera. Whatever we need to showcase this property well and its features. And listen, over 90% of buyers start their search online. So if your listing photos are dim, not the best-looking, you've lost that buyer before they set foot in the home. So this prep work is not optional. It's, again, part of the job. Now, let me drill into the prep specifically, okay? Because this is where a lot of new agents underestimate the work. Buyers cannot picture themselves as living in a home filled with someone else's life, their family photos, the bills on the counter, the kids' artwork on the fridge. So you guide your seller through completely depersonalizing that space, even changing the entire smell of the home.

Sameer Amini: When you bring in, again, with a professional stager, sometimes you might have that professional stager stage the entire house or just rearrange the current furniture in order to give the house a better flow. And again, you're coaching the client through all this. It could be a deep clean, a professional clean that might be needed. And again, when it comes to professional media, you're calling them, you're setting up the dates. You're also showing up there when the photographers are there. You're making sure they don't break something in the house. They're really doing it. So I'm really zooming in here on purpose so you see the work that's involved. Now that the home is ready, we now have to get it in front of buyers.

Sameer Amini: Okay, so now we have to go on the MLS system. That's where it's going to go on realtor.ca. All these other online platforms that maybe you've used before are going to start to pick it up. Okay. Then you do open houses and then showings. You're going to have neighbors walk in. You're going to have a lot of individuals that don't have their own agents walk into this open house, and you get to meet them. Okay, and potentially, hopefullyThey might be the buyer for that house. Okay? And again, throughout all of this, you're keeping the seller informed. You're saying, "Look, we had a showing yesterday. This is what their feedback was." Right? If five buyers walk through and nobody made an offer, there's a reason, and we need to find it. So that becomes another mystery for everybody.

Sameer Amini: Now, this is where, honestly, your expertise pays the biggest dividends. So when the offers come in, because now imagine after all the showings, someone's interested. It's not just about the price, it's about the whole package. What are the terms? What are the conditions in the offer? Are they doing a 10-day inspection? Are they doing a three-day inspection? Well, when is the deal closing? Meaning, when do we have to move out? Does it work with the family or not? Is the deposit okay? Is the buyer pre-approved? Can the buyer even afford this house? So you have all these questions. You see, I've personally seen deals

Sameer Amini: where the higher offer was actually the worst one, because the conditions were so loose and that the deal would never have closed. A skilled agent reads all of that and advises their client through it. We might even have to accept an offer that's maybe $10,000, $20,000 less in value, but because they have better terms, they have a higher deposit, the buyer's pre-approved, they are a lot stronger. We'd rather go with that than to make an extra $20,000 and then take our chances of it not closing with that person. And then you talk about negotiation. Again, this is where you earn it. We always have a tagline, by the way, I'm going to share with you in the webinar. I know it's being recorded, but our tagline with our clients is, "There are two reasons you're hiring us.

Sameer Amini: One is marketing, second is negotiation." Okay? So negotiation, a strong negotiator can find tens of thousands of dollars for the client. That is the difference between someone who knows what they're doing and someone who is just winging it. Okay? It is a skill that you're going to develop. It's a skill that if you feel you're not good at it right now, don't worry. You get really good at it. There's training. There's a lot after that that's going to help you. Nobody's born with this, okay? So you're going to learn it through training and repetition. Now, finally, you've negotiated. Now what happens is, the offer is accepted. Now what? So you move on from a pending deal to an actual firm deal.

Sameer Amini: They're locked in. All the conditions are satisfied. Now we, typically two to three months in Ontario, we wait until we actually transfer the keys and people move out. And during that window, the seller's preparing to move out, the buyer is preparing to move in. You're coordinating now with lawyers, with the lenders, the moving companies, with utility companies. Right before closing, again, there might be a final walkthrough, making sure that the property is in a pretty good condition, there are no complaints from the buyers on the last few days. And now finally, you get the closing dates. Okay, this is again, where the lawyers transfer the names on property, they transfer the keys and the funds. Everything happens on closing day.

Sameer Amini: That moment, watching that first-time buyer get the keys to their home after working for 10 years and saving up for it, this is what makes that career worth it, okay? Because seeing their fulfillment and satisfaction to go through all this, what they thought is stressful, is something you've made so easy. Let's keep going. So the reality behind the image, okay? Now, before you decide that, because I just gave you so much work, now you might think, "Why am I doing this, Hun? Why am I going into this?" Before you decide, I just want to walk you through everything that goes into that one transaction. Okay? Let me share something with you. Personally, after 12 years in this business, I could say easily, and I will say this always, this is the best career I could have chosen for myself. I wake up genuinely excited to see what is ahead of me every day. Every client is different, by the way.

Sameer Amini: Every property is completely different. Every problem to solve is different. That is the satisfaction for me in this career. The version of real estate that you see in social media, and the luxury cars, the big commission checks, or all we do is wear fancy suits and open doors, again, not the full picture. That is part of it, but what you do not see is the hours of unpaid research, the deal that fell through the day before closing because financing couldn't come through. The Saturday morning showing where nobody showed up, the client canceled on you last minute, okay? Or the client who calls you at 9:00 PM on a Sunday panicking about inspection reports. This career rewards people who are willing to do the work that nobody sees.

Sameer Amini: For the right person, those challenges are exactly what makes this work very, very meaningful.

Sameer Amini: So why would you choose real estate? Three big reasons, okay? Every client is unique, so your job never gets boring. You're not doing the same thing twice. Okay? Maybe the paperwork is very similar, but every time the paperwork that you are dealing with, there's going to be nuances. Number two is continuous learning. The market is always changing. Legislation, rules, laws, they're constantly changing. So interest rates move up and down. Right? New neighborhoods become hot. New houses are being built, and new marketing platforms come out. So now we have the world of AI that everybody's on. Right? So the agent who stays sharp long-term are the ones who keep learning. And then you have diverse opportunities.

Sameer Amini: You do not have to stay in one lane. This is the beauty of this business. You can start in residential and then your clients will say, "Hey, by the way, I want to open up my first business. Do you also do commercial?" And slowly they move you into commercial. Or forget both, you could just go into real estate and say, "I just want to deal with pre-construction," or, "I just want to deal with luxury properties." Or you want to become an investor yourself, okay? You can open up your own brokerage.This career has so many branches, and even within commercial, there are multiple sub-branches that you can have 20, 30 years of your career. You see, I started as a sales rep. I'm now in operations.

Sameer Amini: I've been in management and education now. So the path is rarely a straight line, and that is really the appeal of this. Here's a reframe. Okay? I want every one of you to hear clearly today. Getting into real estate is exactly like opening up a business. It is opening a business. The only difference is that you do not have a physical storefront. Everything else about you running a business is true. Okay? What does that mean practically? So, for example, your income is commission-based. So let's say that you help someone sell a property worth $1 million. Okay, I'll do some math here for you. The typical total commission is around 5%. Half of that you share with the other agent who brings the buyer, half of that you take.

Sameer Amini: So that is about 2.5% of $1 million, which is $25,000 on that one transaction. Think about that. I remember 12 years back, when I used to work, I would work the whole year, and I never figured I would look at my yearly income. My yearly income for working at the restaurant was about that one paycheck. So this is the beauty of this, is that there's no income ceiling. Imagine a career with no limit to how much you make. You do not have to ask someone for a raise. You don't worry about losing your job. You're creating the business yourself. You see, I personally know agents earning well over a million dollars a year on commissions. I know agents that earn just $200,000, or agents that make just under $50,000.

Sameer Amini: The range is enormous, and where you land in that range is completely up to you, and that's the beauty of the business. I want to talk about personal control. You see, in this business, you decide your clients, who you want to work with. You decide who's your niche, what's your marketing, what are your hours, how aggressive do you want to go at this. You're in full control. So if you're someone that has kids, well, you can start slow and actually have the hours that you have available, you can put those hours into your business. Or if you're someone that is single, you have the full eight hours, nine hours, 10 hours in the day to you, well, you can really put more and more hours. It's all about how many hours someone puts into this.

Sameer Amini: So if the idea of being your own boss excites you,

Sameer Amini: this is one of the most accessible paths into entrepreneurship in this country. Let's talk about the income potential. Okay? Let me put the numbers on the screen. You can see on the slide. So $25,000 on a deal. You're closing one deal a month, let's say, at that level, okay? And you're looking at $300,000 a year. The math is real. The agents, again, that I told you that I know personally who are doing one or two deals a month consistently are absolutely in this income range. But let's give you, again, the honest version, okay? Because I don't want to oversell this. In your first year, most new agents close somewhere between zero to six deals. That is the build phase. Statistics consistently show that a large portion of the new agents leave the business within the first two years, and the most common reason is that they did not have a financial runway to get through that build phase. So when you're thinking about, "Okay, is this the right career for me?" The question is not, "Can I make a lot of money?" The answer is, yes, you can make a lot of money.

Sameer Amini: The agents who put in the work, who build the network, who follow up consistently, they really, really do get there. The real question is, "Can I sustain myself for 12 to 18 months while I build a business that makes that much money?" Okay? Now, let's talk about lifestyle and flexibility. Again, as I said, if you have kids, you can drop them off at school, do some real estate work, hit the gym, come back to do some more client work, and you should be okay to pick up the kids, have dinner with family, and you can work on a Tuesday afternoon and take a Friday off. Okay? So you can take a working vacation. You're not chained to a desk from 9:00 to 5:00.

Sameer Amini: But flexibility cuts both ways, okay? Your clients also work, by the way, 9:00 to 5:00, which means they want to see properties in the evenings or the weekends. So Saturday mornings are prime showing time. Sunday open houses are very, very normal. See, when people ask me, "Sameer, do you have a work-life balance in real estate?" The answer is yes, but it is a different kind of balance. It is not that my evenings or weekends are off. It is that I get to design my week, but I work when my clients are available. And so, again, honestly, for most people who try the 9:00 to 5:00 and feel suffocated by it, this trade is more than worth it then.

Sameer Amini: Let's talk about the risk, failure, and the upside. Let me actually define the failure for you in real estate. As I mentioned, getting into real estate is like opening up a business. Opening up your own business, the failing rate is pretty high, right? Imagine opening up a restaurant in Toronto, the amount of money that you need to open it. So let's kind of define now in real estate, what does failure mean? In real estate, all you need is a phone, a laptop, and a car. Opening up a business, you need a lot of equipment. Assuming you have those three things in real estate, you're pretty much good to go. Okay? You pay for your courses, your licensing fees, your association dues, but compared to opening up a business, the upfront cost is tiny.

Sameer Amini: So now let's define failure, okay? If you spend, let's say, the whole year in real estate, and all you did was sell one houseThat one house that you sold in that whole year has now paid for all your course

Sameer Amini: fees, for all your membership fees, dues, all of it, and you still walk away with money in your pocket. To me, that is not failure. That is the floor, I would say. You see, most careers, if they do not work out, you have spent two to three years in school, plus tens of thousands in tuitions with nothing to show for it. Real estate, even your worst-case scenario leaves you with cash in your pocket. Think about that. And you get a real set of skills that you can transfer anywhere, negotiation, marketing, contracts, client management, customer service. So that is one of the most underrated facts about real estate. The downside is genuinely limited. So the last reason I love this career and the reason I've stayed in for 12 years, and I'm going to continue to stay on, is the fulfillment. Okay, picture this, okay.

Sameer Amini: As I mentioned, someone worked for 10 years, saved up, and now you are the one who helped them through get their first home, okay. When they get the keys to the home, the smile on their face, that feeling is so, so unmatched. There's no career where I've seen that gives you this kind of a moment as often as one does. Or that divorced couple I described earlier. You see, you guide them through the worst chapter of their life. They feel calmer, they thank you, and then they refer their whole family. From one client, you get five more. You have now built this long-term relationship with them that's going to keep on giving. So you're not just knowing this one client. You get to know their whole family.

Sameer Amini: You're in their housewarming parties. They're inviting you to places. You're trying to find reasons to politely refuse to go at some point. So you're not just facilitating transactions, you're helping people through some of the biggest moments of their lives. That is not nothing. So let me get really practical. What kind of person actually thrives in this career? Who's successful? So let me tell you, comfort with people, okay. This is a people's business. If you can knock on a door and meet someone you've never met before, break the ice, and carry a real conversation, you're in the right business. You're going to be successful very quickly. If small talk drains you and meeting new people feels like a chore, it's going to be hard for you, I'm going to be honest.

Sameer Amini: Communication and trust, okay. You need to explain very complex things in a simple language. You need to build rapport very quickly. You need to deliver bad news with grace and good news without over-promising. You see, trust is the entire currency of this business. And I have another one there called discipline and consistency. Nobody's going to wake you up, by the way. No one is going to set your schedule in this business. You set your own goals. You turn these goals into action steps, and you take these action steps consistently every single week. The agents who succeed are not the most charismatic. They're the most consistent. And one more thing I want you to hear. This is not a business where you have to be a great salesperson.

Sameer Amini: You do not have to sell anyone anything. This is a business about being knowledgeable, having integrity, and being an honest guide, okay? You tell your clients their options, the pros

Sameer Amini: and cons, and you let them make the decision. By the way, nowadays, someone can smell the fact that you're being a salesperson to them. You walk into a retail store, you can tell the salesperson is not there to really help you. They're just trying to sell you some clothes. Okay, so when it comes to real estate, same thing, but that sense of smell for them is super, super strong. So in this business, if you can just be honest and genuine and be yourself, that is what's going to take you super, super far. Now, let's talk about some of the challenges. Now, the challenges you need to be aware of in this business is you have a very delayed income.

Sameer Amini: Let's say that if you do a deal today, you get paid a few months later. If you finish your courses, you join a brokerage. Let's say all that happens today. You just joined. Do not expect a paycheck tomorrow, or in two weeks, or even in a month. Most new agents, honestly, do not see their first commission for three to four months at a minimum. Most new agents do not see their first commission, as I mentioned, three to four months at a minimum. You need a financial runway, either savings or a partner's income or part-time work, something to bridge that gap. The agents who skip this step are the ones who quit by month four because they ran out of money.

Sameer Amini: Okay, number two are the evenings and weekends. So remember, as I said, your clients are at their own jobs. The only time they might be free to speak to you would be after 6 or 7 o'clock. I've had nights with 10 offers on a property that I was selling, where my client finished work at 7, we sat together until midnight reviewing offers. That is a real night in this business, and you have to be okay with that. Or if you have a partner, you have to have a very understanding partner, okay? Number three, self-management. Nobody tells you what to do tomorrow morning. So you're going to have to set wake-up. You have to be extremely self-disciplined, and you have to prioritize what is first, second, third, and all the way to the least important.

Sameer Amini: Most agents who leave the business in their first year leave because one of these three things, not knowing them properly and not understanding it or not being prepared for it. So if you can plan for these three at least, you've already separated yourself from a lot of the newer agents that enter the business. All right. So everything I've said, I hope everything sounds informational, that this is valuable, everything that you're hearing so far.You see, at Career College Group, your journey looks like this. You go through the courses. So you have course one, two, three. You have a simulation that comes in. After the simulation, you go into course four. You have another simulation that comes after course four, and then you do your course five. So you have a total of six exams, and the simulation sessions are practical role-play and scenarios.

Sameer Amini: So imagine reading in the books, and then you get to then be in simulated activities where you get to role-play and actually practice, which gets really, really fun. So now once you finish all six exams, you're now ready to register what we call with RECO. Now, how long does all of this take so far? Well, it could take, finishing your courses up to the point of registering with RECO to become a real estate agent, could take you anywhere from four months to 11 months. Okay? Now, the part that I'm genuinely proud of our college, Career College Group,

Sameer Amini: we offer this learning in two paths, two ways. Number one, you have the self-paced study. You register, you get the e-learning material online, you go through it on your own time, and you book the exams whenever you're ready. This is great if you have a full-time job and you need the maximum flexibility. The second path is the cohort-based. You join a group all the way from your first course. Once you're in the cohort model, which is the group-based model, we set you up with a schedule. For example, course one is going to run for four weeks, with classes being, as an example, Monday, Wednesday evenings. Then course two might be eight weeks. So it's a preset schedule, so hopefully in less than nine months or eight months, you are graduating this whole program, and you're finished all the courses as a group.

Sameer Amini: What's nice about a group-based model is someone like myself will be in those Mondays or Wednesday night evenings, where we'll go through what you've read so far in those courses. I'll give you examples for it. We'll talk about things. So there's a lot more of a learning opportunity. You see, when I started, I'll never forget this, that there was no group option. So I went through the whole program on my own. I'll be honest, course two is the biggest one as an example. So you feel kind of isolated because you're just reading all this on your own, right? A lot of people who fall off right there, it's because the same thing. The content gets really tough to go through on your own.

Sameer Amini: So this group-based model that we offer exists to solve that problem. If anyone, by the way, joins the self-paced and you're doing it on your own, at any point in the program, you can switch to the group-based. Okay? So you can pick whichever format that works for you. Now, while we're on CCG, I just want to bring one more thing. I get a question like, "Sameer, I want to do this, but paying the tuition up front is a bit of a stretch." So here's what's available. If you join the cohort model with the Career College Group, you can split the entire program, or the whole cost of everything included, into 10 equal monthly payments. So you don't have to pay pretty big amounts per course.

Sameer Amini: You just pay 10 equal monthly payments of $478.50. The total program cost is about $4,785. Okay? But you now have this model that you pay per month. There's no interest on it or financing fees. There's nothing we add on top of the actual cost. So this plan for the monthly pay is for the group option only. If you're self-paced, then the monthly plan will not be available. Okay, let's continue. By the way, again, any questions, feel free to drop them in the Q&A. I am getting a few, but I'm almost done. So you know what? Let me take some of them now. Give me a second. Let me see some of the questions. One of the questions we have is, one has to coordinate with many different stakeholders, paperwork, and things for single clients.

Sameer Amini: As a new realtor, one is dealing with multiple clients. What would be the best tip you suggest? So when you have multiple clients, by the way, in real estate, which you will, the best thing we do is we put you on a client relation management program. We call it a CRM. So a CRM program that we put you on, where that program automates your business also. It auto emails your client about who is selling in their neighborhood, so they're aware of what's going on.

Sameer Amini: You put notes on them. You have an AI that could even text them on certain things. So those programs, Meet, is what's going to help you really stay organized with multiple clients, and we use it, by the way, every single day. That is how we start our day. Another question we have is, as a new realtor, and given the market is so crowded in terms of numbers of realtors out there, what is the one important advice you give? Okay, great. If you think about it, folks, yes, we have a lot of agents out here. You're absolutely right about that. Actually, to give you the number, it's about close to $80,000. Okay? I mean 80,000 agents that are in GTA.

Sameer Amini: Out of the 80,000, here's something you didn't know. Close to 60% of that number did zero deals last year. Zero. It's the 15% of the 80,000 that made more than eight deals last year. So if I tell you, oh my God, 80,000 agents, yes, but majority of them don't do much deals. A lot of them maybe have gotten their courses done just because they wanted to do one or two deals with family. They never took the business seriously. It is the 15% to 20% that really is making money. So the question is, when you get in this, do you want to be part of the 80% or do you want to be part of the 20% or 15%?

Sameer Amini: Okay?The next question we have is, how does AI help real estate agents? Oh my goodness. So many ways. It can, right now, make your whole website. It can reply to all your client emails and inquiries and get your approval before they send out anything. AI is now rooted into every part of your real estate business if you want it to, and if you know how to. That's where the difference between agents who are on top of things and agents that are going to, unfortunately, stay behind, because times and technology are moving, and if you're not running with it, you're going to be behind. Okay, good. Amazing. No more questions so far, so I'm going to continue.

Sameer Amini: All right. So now let's say that you finish the courses. Okay? You've launched your career. You now join a brokerage. When you're joining a brokerage, after your courses are done, you have to interview a few, see which one is the right fit. Once you've joined a brokerage, it takes two weeks for RECO to approve you, and you become an agent. After the two weeks, you now have to join a real estate board. They have fees, and once you've paid their fees, now you have access to the MLS. Then your first or two months with the brokerage starts. That means all the hands-on training is going to begin. They're going to walk you through every deal, how deals work.

Sameer Amini: They're going to go through all the little details with you. Okay? So you're not going to be alone. After the first couple of months, you're going to transition into building, actually building your business. The brokerage helps you put together, hopefully, a marketing plan, maybe you know how to generate leads online, and you start opening your own business. I tell every one of my students, pick your first brokerage carefully because the training and the mentorship you get in the first year is what's going to shape you for the rest of your years. Do not pick the brokerage with the highest commissions rate, but pick the one that best supports that. Now, let's keep going. So that's what I'm just giving a bit of an overview of what the future looks like.

Sameer Amini: Now, then you have ongoing career development. Okay? Once you finish your courses, in the first two years, you have to know and remember this, that as an agent, RECO is going to require you to complete a few more courses mandated by them, and you can come back to Career College Group in your first two years and finish a few of those mandatory courses set by RECO in order for you to renew your real estate registrations. And then beyond that, after the first two years are done in your business, you can choose to become a broker, and you get through your broker education. Again, come back to Career College Group.

Sameer Amini: We're going to get you through that education as well. You see, the career has depth. It is not a salesperson forever. If you want to go into leadership, broker of record on your own brokerage, be in management, all these doors are there. I hope I've walked some of those doors myself, well, with you all today in this webinar, and I can tell you that, again, all these paths are absolutely real. Now, that is the picture. We've covered a lot today. Let me leave you with this. Real estate is not the right career for everyone. It is a career for people who are willing to bet on themselves, who can handle uncertainty of commission income. You're not getting a monthly paycheck, unfortunately.

Sameer Amini: People who have the discipline to manage their own day, who genuinely enjoy working with people through some of the most important moments of their lives. You're okay under pressure. So if this sounds like you, this is one of the most accessible paths into entrepreneurship in Canada. Low startup cost, high earning ceiling, real impact on people's lives. If all of this doesn't sound like something that fits for you, that's okay. Knowing what is not for you is just as valuable knowing what is. So for those of you that are interested, I'm going to just exit this presentation and show you our website. So this is Career College website. You can go on the link here, careercollegegroup.com/realestate. That is our link.

Sameer Amini: And just click on the blue button and our team is going to reach out and help you start your journey here with us. Amazing. Now, any questions? I'm going to open some time now for questions. So let me leave that here as well. So let me go to the Q&A. Let's see. I see a few more questions. The question is, "Even if we choose the brokerage, will we get any independence in terms of choosing marketing and related things?" Yes. So, as I said, how you market-- So Mia, I hope I understood the question properly. Yes, you do get to choose the brokerage, but how you market a property or how you go about that, that's all completely up to you. Okay? The brokerage can help you with some guidance, but you can be creative and come up with all of that yourself.

Sameer Amini: Okay? I hope that helps. By the way, let me just see if I can get a link. So we do have an e-book. Host and panelists, if you have that e-book link, I don't have it, unfortunately. Feel free to send it to me and I'm going to paste it in the chat for everyone else that can read more about is real estate the right career for you. Any more questions? Let me take a look. Okay, perfect. So folks, there's going to be an e-book that we're going to send you a link to, and the e-book, everything I've talked about in the webinar, is going to be in writing, so you can read more about whatever we've talked about in that e-book.

Sameer Amini: I'm going to post that link very shortly. But in the meantime, I'm just going to wait if there are any more questions. Okay, I see a more question. Okay, good. So Faye is asking, "What sort of security safety measures are taken when meeting clients alone at their home?" Oh my God, I love that question. We actually had this training last week.Where we talked about safety. We actually even had one of our agents that's a police officer come up and talk about protocols. The brokerage that you join, they are going to have policies on safety and how to go about showings. And before you go on showings, what are the practices to have? For example, asking for someone's ID before the showing if you've never met them. Making sure you have a lot of other protocols.

Sameer Amini: For example, we all carry little personal safety devices where if we feel something is wrong, we click and a few people that we know get messages of our locations, and it's like a 911 distress message to those people. So there's a lot that you're going to learn, but that's going to come in once you join the brokerage and depending on how the policy in that location and how they go about safety, you would just want to follow them. By the way, in the chat, I'm going to type in, I'm going to put the link now. There we go. This is the link for the e-book that you guys can click, read about, again, "Is Real Estate the Right Career for You?" I have a few more questions. So Mirza, "When we will get the 2.5% commission, how much will be deducted from the brokerage?" Okay, great question.

Sameer Amini: So let's say you made $20,000. Okay? From the $20,000 that you made, the brokerage might take, because you're a new agent, they might take 20%. Okay? So let's say that from $20,000 minus 20%, that's now $16,000 left. From the $16,000, you want to put maybe a few grand for the government aside in case for your taxes, and then that's it. So in your pocket from the $20,000, you could cash in about $14,000 plus HST. So remember, you get taxes on top of your commission. Okay? So again, $20,000 minus the brokerage cost, $15,000, $14,000 would be in your pocket, even if you keep about $2,000, $3,000 towards the government. Okay, let's see another question. "What are the yearly expenses to maintain your license?" Okay, great question.

Sameer Amini: I would say if you're joining Toronto Real Estate Board and you're in Toronto, the fee just to be with the board is about $2,000 a year. Then you have your insurance with RECO, that's about 400 something a year. So I would say $2,600 about would be your yearly expenses on just keeping your registration. Great questions. Any others? One more minute I'll put on. Otherwise, for those of you that joined, thank you so much for joining. I hope this was informative, this was valuable, you took away something, and hopefully, you have your answer for the question. Okay. Thanks so much all for joining. Have an amazing week.