Webinar: Is Real Estate The Right Career For You? (Part 8)

Sameer Amini: Welcome, everyone, and thank you so much for joining the webinar. I want to make sure that after this webinar, the question you see on the slide is absolutely answered for you, because you are going to be investing your time, your money and your resources into starting this career. So it is a very important question: Is real estate the right career for you? By the end of the session, my goal is that you have a real answer to that question.

Sameer Amini: What are we going to cover today? First, we’re going to determine fit — whether real estate aligns with the kind of person you are, the skills you have and the lifestyle you want. Second, we’re going to understand the realities. There’s a version of real estate you see on social media and television. That version does exist, but it’s not the full picture. I want to show you what an actual day looks like, what an actual week looks like and what the first year really feels like.

Sameer Amini: Third, and most importantly, by the end of the session you should be able to decide whether it makes sense to invest your time, money and energy into this path. Honestly, even if you walk away thinking real estate is not for you, that is also a win, just as much as someone walking away saying they are enrolling tomorrow. Both are clarity, and clarity is exactly what we’re here for.

Sameer Amini: A little bit about me. My name is Sameer Amini. I’ve been in the real estate world for just over 12 years. I’ve been a sales representative, a broker, a manager and a Broker of Record. I’ve run brokerages. I’ve been behind the scenes and in front of the scenes. I’ve worked in commercial and residential real estate. Today I’m on the operations side of a boutique luxury office in Toronto, where I see the compliance, the deals that fall apart, the agents who succeed and the agents who don’t.

Sameer Amini: I also train through college programs, including here at Career College Group, where I’m the Lead Facilitator for the program. If you enroll in the career path with Career College Group, there’s a very good chance you’ll see me again on the other side of this webinar going through the material with you.

Sameer Amini: Twelve years ago, when I was thinking about this career myself, I was sitting in a session exactly like this one. I did not really understand what real estate meant or what a real estate agent actually did. I had no idea what the job involved. It was through career sessions like this that I started figuring it out. That’s why today I want to give you more than surface-level answers.

Sameer Amini: So let’s talk about the big question: What is a real estate agent? If you ask the average person, they may say, “Well, they show houses.” That’s true to some degree, just like a doctor takes temperatures. It’s one of the visible things they do, but it’s a tiny fraction of the actual job.

Sameer Amini: Here is how I want you to think about it. A real estate agent is a guide through one of the largest financial decisions a person will ever make. We’re talking about transactions that could be $300,000, $600,000 or more than a million dollars. For many clients, it is the biggest cheque they will ever write when buying a property or the biggest cheque they will ever receive when selling one. Those transactions are emotionally charged, legally complex and involve multiple professionals.

Sameer Amini: Your job is to keep the people and the transaction organized, keep your client informed and protect their interests through the entire process. Let me give you a scenario. Imagine a couple going through a divorce. They’ve been together for years. They own a home together, raised their children there, renovated the kitchen and built years of memories. Now, unfortunately, they have to sell.

Sameer Amini: They may have never sold a home before. On top of the legal issues, the emotional issues and everything happening with the family, they now have to figure out how to sell a property that may be worth a significant amount of money without making expensive mistakes. That’s where you come in. You walk into the middle of that chaos and become the guide.

Sameer Amini: You take some of that stress off them. You explain what is happening this week, next week and after that. You explain how to prepare the home, how it will be marketed, how showings and open houses work, how offers will be handled and when the lawyer becomes involved. When you bring calm and structure into a difficult moment in someone’s life, people remember that experience. That’s the kind of work that builds a referral career.

Sameer Amini: In that scenario, what is the agent actually doing? Number one, you’re reducing stress. You become the person who says, “Don’t worry. I’ve got this.” The client is operating in unfamiliar territory. You’re the expert, or you are part of a brokerage with people who have done this many times.

Sameer Amini: Number two is strategic preparation and pricing. You walk through the property and give honest advice: maybe it needs paint, decluttering or repairs. You study comparable properties, look at what neighboring homes sold for and build a pricing strategy using market data rather than guessing.

Sameer Amini: Number three, you coordinate the professionals involved — the lawyer, inspector, mortgage professional, appraiser, photographer, stager and others. You are the centre of all of those moving pieces. Without someone coordinating them, communication can break down and transactions can fall apart.

Sameer Amini: This is what clients are paying for: expertise that turns a chaotic, stressful process into something that feels managed and doable. The divorce example is only one scenario. There are many others.

Sameer Amini: Think about a young couple whose family is growing and they need a different home. Think about a family that took on a mortgage they believed they could afford, then experienced a layoff or illness and can no longer make the payments. Think about a retiree downsizing after 40 years in the same home, an estate after a family member passes away, a professional relocating to another province, an investor building a portfolio or a first-time homebuyer who has spent ten years saving a down payment.

Sameer Amini: Every one of those situations has different problems, different emotions, different legal considerations and different urgency. That is one reason I think this is such an interesting career. You are not doing exactly the same thing twice. Every client and every situation creates a different challenge.

Sameer Amini: So let’s go behind the scenes. When someone says, “Sell my house,” what does the work actually look like? Step one is research and evaluation. Before you list a home, you need to know what it is worth. That means researching comparables, studying the neighborhood, understanding what is selling, what is sitting on the market and what the current trends look like. Then you sit down with the client, present the research and agree on a pricing strategy.

Sameer Amini: Step two is the paperwork. There is a lot of documentation involved in a real estate transaction, and it is extremely important that you explain documents to the client in plain language so they understand what they are signing.

Sameer Amini: Then you get the home ready. That may include decluttering, staging, deep cleaning, moving furniture, painting or bringing in a handyman. Then you bring in photography, video and possibly floor plans. More than 90% of buyers begin their search online, so if the photos are dark or the property is cluttered, you may lose the buyer before they ever step inside.

Sameer Amini: We also talk about depersonalizing the home — taking down personal photographs, clearing paperwork from counters and removing things that make buyers feel they are walking through someone else’s life. You want a buyer to be able to imagine themselves living there.

Sameer Amini: Once the preparation is complete, we move into marketing. The property goes onto the MLS system, which then feeds many of the public websites people use to search for homes. You may also market the property through social media, open houses, private showings and other channels.

Sameer Amini: Once someone is interested and offers start coming in, remember that it is not just about the price. You have to look at the whole package. What conditions are attached? What is the closing date? Is the deposit enough? Is there a financing condition or an inspection condition? Does the offer actually meet what the seller needs?

Sameer Amini: I’ve seen situations where the highest-priced offer was not the best offer because the conditions were so loose that the transaction was much less likely to close. A skilled agent reads everything in the offer and helps the client understand the complete package.

Sameer Amini: Then comes negotiation. This is where you can really earn your value. A strong negotiator can find tens of thousands of dollars for a client. That is the difference between somebody who knows what they are doing and somebody who is just winging it. Negotiation is a skill you develop. Nobody is born an amazing negotiator. You learn it through training and repetition.

Sameer Amini: Let’s say the negotiations go well and the offer is accepted. Once any conditions have been satisfied, the deal becomes firm. Then we enter what we call the closing period. In Ontario, that is often around two to three months. During that window, the seller is preparing to move out and the buyer is preparing to move in, and you are coordinating with the lawyer, lender, moving company, the other agent and everyone else involved.

Sameer Amini: Right before closing, buyers may do another walkthrough to make sure the property is still in the agreed condition. Then comes closing day. That is when the lawyers transfer ownership, keys change hands, money is released and you eventually get paid.

Sameer Amini: Watching a first-time buyer who spent ten years saving receive the keys to their first home, or watching a family successfully receive the proceeds from selling their property, makes a lot of the hard work worth it.

Sameer Amini: Now, I just walked you through a lot of work that can go into a single transaction. You may be thinking, “That sounds like a lot. Why would I want to do this?” Personally, after more than 12 years in the business, I still say this is the best career I could have chosen for myself.

Sameer Amini: I genuinely wake up excited to see what is ahead because every client has a different need and every transaction gives you a different problem to solve. But the version of real estate you see on social media — the nice car, good clothes, large paycheques and simply opening doors — is the highlight reel. It exists, but it is not the full picture.

Sameer Amini: What you don’t see are the hours of unpaid research, the deal that falls apart the day before closing because financing does not come through, the Saturday morning showing where a client does not show up, or the client calling at nine o’clock on a Sunday night because they are panicking about something in the deal. This career rewards people who are willing to do the work nobody sees.

Sameer Amini: So why choose this career? I’ll put it into three big reasons. Number one, every client is unique and every transaction is its own project. If you get restless doing the same thing every day, this career can be the antidote to that.

Sameer Amini: Number two is continuous learning. The market changes. Interest rates move. Trends change. Legislation gets updated. Neighborhoods become popular and new marketing platforms emerge. Agents who stay sharp over the long term are people who continue learning.

Sameer Amini: Number three is the diversity of opportunity. You don’t have to stay in one lane. You could sell residential homes. You could work in commercial real estate. You could help builders with pre-construction properties. You could focus on luxury, go into property management, become an investor yourself or eventually open a brokerage.

Sameer Amini: Commercial real estate alone has many different branches and career paths. Personally, I started as a real estate sales representative buying and selling homes, and today I work on the operations side. The path is rarely a straight line, and that’s actually part of the appeal.

Sameer Amini: Here is another way to think about real estate: getting into real estate is like opening a business. The main difference is that you do not have a physical storefront. Everything else about running a business is very real.

Sameer Amini: Your income is commission-based. Let’s use a simple example. Suppose you help sell a property worth $1 million and the total commission is around five percent. If half goes to the cooperating side, your side might be around 2.5 percent. That is about $25,000 on one transaction.

Sameer Amini: There is no income ceiling. You don’t have to ask a boss for a raise. You are creating the business yourself. I personally know agents who earn well over a million dollars a year in commissions, and I know agents earning under $50,000. The range is enormous, and where you land in that range depends heavily on the business you build and the effort you put into it.

Sameer Amini: Another benefit is personal control. You decide your clients, your niche, your marketing, your hours and how aggressively you want to grow. If the idea of being your own boss excites you, real estate is one of the more accessible paths into entrepreneurship.

Sameer Amini: Let’s talk about income potential. If one transaction produced $25,000, then mathematically one transaction a month at that level would be $300,000 a year. Agents I know who consistently do one or two transactions a month can absolutely be in that income range. But I don’t want to oversell this. In the first year, many new agents close somewhere between zero and six transactions. Your first year is the build phase.

Sameer Amini: Statistics consistently show that a large portion of new agents leave the business within the first two years. A common reason is that they did not have the financial runway to get through the build phase.

Sameer Amini: So when you’re asking whether this career is right for you, the question is not simply, “Can I make a lot of money?” Yes, you can. Agents who put in the work, build their network and follow up consistently can earn six figures and sometimes seven figures. The more important question is: Can I sustain myself for 12 to 18 months while I build the business that is eventually going to make money for me?

Sameer Amini: On the lifestyle side, one of the genuine perks is that you set your own schedule. If you have children, maybe you drop them off at school, do some real estate work, go to the gym, come back and do more client work, then pick up your children and have dinner with your family. You might work a Tuesday afternoon and take a Friday off. You are not chained to a desk from nine to five.

Sameer Amini: But flexibility cuts both ways. Your clients also work nine to five. That means they may want to see properties in the evenings or on weekends. Saturday mornings are prime showing times and Sunday open houses are normal. So when people ask me whether there is work-life balance in real estate, my answer is yes, but it is a different kind of balance. I design my week, but I also work when my clients are available.

Sameer Amini: Another question I get is, “What if I fail?” Let’s define failure by comparing real estate to opening another business. Suppose you opened a restaurant in Toronto. You might need well over $100,000 for the unit, construction, equipment, staff and the ongoing monthly expenses. That is significant risk.

Sameer Amini: Now compare that with real estate. You need a phone, laptop and vehicle. Assuming you already have those, you pay for your education, registration and association costs, but compared with many businesses the upfront cost is relatively small.

Sameer Amini: Imagine you spent your whole first year in real estate and only completed one transaction. That one transaction may be enough to cover your course costs and many of the fees you paid to enter the business, with money still left over. I think that is an important way to understand the downside risk compared with opening many other businesses.

Sameer Amini: The last reason I love this career, and one of the reasons I’ve stayed in it for so long, is fulfillment. Picture someone working for ten years and saving with one goal in mind: becoming a property owner. After all of that sacrifice, you get to help them receive the keys to their first home. The smile and joy in that moment are unmatched.

Sameer Amini: Or think again about the couple going through a divorce. You guided them through one of the hardest chapters of their lives and made the transaction feel manageable. They remember that. They thank you. They refer family members to you. From one client you may eventually get five more. That is how the business compounds.

Sameer Amini: So what kind of person actually thrives in this business? Number one is comfort with people. This is a people business. If you can knock on a door, meet someone you have never met, break the ice and carry a genuine conversation, you are in the right business. If small talk drains you and meeting unfamiliar people feels like a huge challenge, that part may be harder for you.

Sameer Amini: Next is communication and trust. You need to explain complex things in simple language. You need to build rapport quickly. You need to deliver bad news with grace and good news without overpromising. Trust is the currency of this career. There was a survey asking homeowners and buyers what they looked for most in a real estate agent, and trust was the number-one answer.

Sameer Amini: Then there is discipline and consistency. No one is going to wake you up. No one is setting your schedule. You are your own boss. You have to set goals, turn those goals into action steps and then take those actions consistently every week. The agents who succeed are not necessarily the most charismatic. They are often the most consistent.

Sameer Amini: One more thing I want you to hear: you do not have to be a great salesperson. You don’t have to sell people things. This business is about being knowledgeable, having integrity and being an honest guide. You tell clients, “These are your options. These are the pros, cons and risks,” and then you let them make the decision. That is the job.

Sameer Amini: There are challenges, and I want every aspiring agent to understand them. Number one is delayed income. When you complete a transaction today, you generally get paid later. If you finish your courses and join a brokerage today, do not expect a paycheck tomorrow, in two weeks or even necessarily in a month. Many new agents do not receive their first commission for three to five months.

Sameer Amini: That means you need a financial runway — savings, a partner’s income or perhaps another job you can manage while you build your real estate business. You need something that bridges the gap.

Sameer Amini: Number two, there will be evenings and weekends. Clients may not be free until after 5:00 or 6:00. There may be dinners you have to cancel because a client needs you. If you have children, you need to understand that weekends may also be some of your busiest times.

Sameer Amini: Number three is self-management. Nobody tells you what to do. You have to prioritize your day, set your goals and remain consistent. Many agents who leave during their first year or two were not prepared for one of these realities. Knowing the challenges does not guarantee you will handle everything perfectly, but at least you can see them coming and plan for them.

Sameer Amini: Now let’s say everything I’ve said sounds good and you want to give this a real shot. What does the path look like? At Career College Group, you begin with Course 1, Course 2 and Course 3. Each course has an exam, and you need to complete and pass each step before moving to the next.

Sameer Amini: After Course 3, you go into Simulation Session 1, a mandatory live session where you practice what you have learned through role-play, real-world scenarios and hands-on activities. It is one of the most interesting parts of the program because the theory finally starts to click.

Sameer Amini: After Simulation Session 1 you move into Course 4, which focuses on commercial real estate. Course 4 has an exam. Then you complete Simulation Session 2, focused on commercial real estate. After that comes Course 5, which does not have a final exam and explains what happens next. In total there are six examinations or assessed steps across the pre-registration program before you are ready to move toward RECO registration.

Sameer Amini: At Career College Group, we offer the education in two different ways. The first is self-paced. You register, work through the e-learning material at your own pace and take the exams whenever you are ready.

Sameer Amini: The second option is our cohort model. We place you with other learners in a group with a set schedule so that, for example, the entire group may progress through the program together in under nine months. Every week we meet online. It might be Monday and Wednesday evenings, for example, and we discuss the material you have been reading.

Sameer Amini: Someone like me may be leading those sessions, explaining what you just read, giving examples and helping make sure the concepts make sense. You also see the other learners and become accountable to the group. You know you have to show up next week having completed a certain portion of the material, and the group follows a planned timeline for the exams.

Sameer Amini: When I started 12 years ago, there was no group option available to me. I was doing everything on my own and had to continually push myself to keep reading and progressing. That is one reason I think the group option is so useful.

Sameer Amini: When you are in the program at Career College Group, you also have access to instructor support. You can book one-on-one time with me to talk through something specific you need help understanding or to discuss questions you have about the program.

Sameer Amini: We also have a payment option for learners in the group pathway. The program cost can be spread across ten monthly payments rather than paying separately for each course and exam as you reach it. I believe that works out to roughly $478.50 per month, around that amount.

Sameer Amini: Once you have finished the Career College Group program, completed the required material and are ready to register, the next step is joining a brokerage. Before applying with RECO, you will normally interview brokerages and choose the one you want to work with.

Sameer Amini: Once you choose a brokerage, you and the brokerage work through the RECO application. There will be paperwork, a police check and an approval process. After that, your brokerage will help you join the appropriate real estate board so you can gain access to the MLS and the tools and data you need.

Sameer Amini: Then comes brokerage training. That practical training is where you begin learning how to actually operate the business and carry out the work you studied in the education program.

Sameer Amini: I’ve done another webinar about how to have a successful first year in real estate, so if you want more detail on what happens once you enter the field, you can find that through Career College Group as well.

Sameer Amini: Once you are in the career, remember that your RECO registration is renewed every two years. Before your first renewal, you have to complete the post-registration education. During your first two years you complete the mandatory course and the required electives through the college. Those courses do not have final exams. You complete the learning material, and when the required progress has been completed, it is recorded.

Sameer Amini: When your two-year renewal comes up, RECO can see that you completed the required post-registration education, and then you can continue with the renewal process.

Sameer Amini: Let me leave you with this. Real estate is a great career, but I’m not going to say it is for everyone. It is a career for people who are willing to bet on themselves, who can handle the uncertainty of commission income, who have the discipline to manage themselves and who genuinely enjoy working with other people.

Sameer Amini: If that sounds like you, this can be an incredible career. There is a high earning ceiling and a real opportunity to affect people’s lives. If it does not sound like you, that is okay too. Knowing what is not right for you is just as valuable.

Sameer Amini: For those who are ready to take the next step, visit careercollegegroup.com/realestate, click Apply Now and enter your information. Our team will contact you and help you determine whether you want to progress on your own or join one of the scheduled cohort groups.

Sameer Amini: Now let’s go to some questions. One question is: Is this the best time to get into real estate? That’s a powerful question based on the market. For the past several years, the real estate market across the GTA and surrounding areas has been in a softer period.

Sameer Amini: My personal view is that getting into real estate while the market is not at its strongest can actually give you time to complete the education and brokerage training. If you began now and were ready several months from now, you could potentially be entering the profession around the spring market, which is traditionally one of the more active periods of the year.

Sameer Amini: But honestly, there is no perfect time to start. It depends on your own circumstances, where you are in your career and your life, and when you feel you can take this on.

Sameer Amini: Another attendee said they had been working as a leasing agent and property manager and wanted to know how that previous experience might affect the education path. For a situation like that, I recommend going to our website and clicking Enroll Now. When our team contacts you, explain your specific situation and they can tell you exactly what can or cannot be recognized.

Sameer Amini: Another question was about what happens after the first two years. During your first two years in the profession, you complete the mandatory post-registration course and the required electives through the college. There are no exams for those courses.

Sameer Amini: After that initial post-registration period, ongoing continuing education is handled through RECO. RECO provides the continuing education requirements associated with future registration renewals. So once you have completed the post-registration education during your first two years, your required college education is essentially complete.

Sameer Amini: Another attendee asked whether real estate is too competitive and whether it is still worth entering the profession. There are tens of thousands of registered agents in the GTA and surrounding areas, but a very large portion complete very few transactions in a year. So your real competition, if you are serious about building a business, is not necessarily every registered agent.

Sameer Amini: There are still neighborhoods and areas where people do not have a strong relationship with a specific real estate professional. An agent can go into an area, consistently market there, build relationships and become known as somebody who serves that neighborhood.

Sameer Amini: The cohort program also has different schedule options. We may have groups meeting Monday and Wednesday evenings, Tuesday and Thursday evenings or on Saturdays. Within a cohort, however, the schedule itself is structured because the entire group needs to remain aligned.

Sameer Amini: You can move between approaches. If you begin on your own and later decide you need the group environment, you can move into the cohort pathway. If the cohort pace feels too slow for you, you can move into the self-paced pathway and progress on your own schedule.

Sameer Amini: The next question was from someone who described their computer knowledge as basic and asked whether that would prevent them from entering the field. Unfortunately, in today’s real estate business, your laptop is one of your most important tools. Property research, home evaluations and many other parts of the job are done on a computer.

Sameer Amini: But I would not use limited technology experience as a reason not to enter the business. If you identify that as a weakness, then you’ve identified something you need to work on. Put additional time into learning it. No matter what your age is, you can absolutely improve those skills. You may simply need to put more time into it.

Sameer Amini: Aziz asked whether exams can be completed online. Yes. There is an online proctoring option. I’ve heard that some people find going to a testing centre easier because you can arrive, there are people there to help and the environment is already set up correctly. But both in-person and online options are available.

Sameer Amini: Another question was whether it is possible to join a class later than September. Yes. Click Enroll Now on the website and our team can help line you up with the appropriate option and schedule.

Sameer Amini: Thank you, everyone, for being engaged and for your time. We regularly run webinars, including career information sessions like this and sessions on more advanced real estate topics. I recommend continuing to join those if you find them useful.

Sameer Amini: Another question: Once I’m ready, can I write the real estate exam right away, or do I have to wait for a specific exam date? If you are doing the program on your own, then once you have completed the required reading in the course platform, the system allows you to move into the exam-booking process.

Sameer Amini: For example, if you completed all of Course 1 very quickly, you could potentially be ready to schedule the examination soon afterward. Then you move into Course 2. If you are comfortable reading and understanding the material quickly, the self-paced option lets you progress at your own speed.

Sameer Amini: Someone also asked what happens if you do not pass an exam. You get a reattempt. There is a fee for the reattempt. If you do not pass the permitted reattempt, then you may need to register and pay for the course again before receiving another opportunity to write the exam.

Sameer Amini: For an online exam, you receive instructions about how the room and your surroundings need to be set up. You download the required software on your computer and follow the proctoring requirements. They may use your computer webcam and possibly another camera angle to monitor the exam environment. Once everything is set up correctly, you can complete the exam online from your computer.

Sameer Amini: Another question was about how the online courses work. The entire learning program is online. When you get access to Course 1, you log into the course portal and the reading material is there. As you work through the material, you move from one page or section to the next, and the system records your progress.

Sameer Amini: When the system records that you have completed the required course material, you receive the information you need to move on to the exam. Different courses have different amounts of material and different required hours, so our team can give you the details for each course.

Sameer Amini: Are the exams open-book? No. They are closed-book exams. The exams are multiple choice, and there is generally one permitted reattempt if you do not pass the first time, subject to the applicable reattempt fee and exam rules.

Sameer Amini: Another attendee asked whether there is an additional fee for the weekly online cohort sessions. I’m not 100% sure about the exact pricing difference, so that is something I recommend confirming with our support team. They can tell you exactly what is included with the pathway you select.

Sameer Amini: Okay, great. Folks, again, thank you so much. Have an amazing week. We’ll see you on our webinars, and continue to join us.