Leasing agents of Chicago, would you recommend your job?

Pretty much what this guy said. I'll also add that all the people in this thread saying you don't make any money are the ones who didn't work hard enough, or just plain weren't good at it. I see plenty of people come into leasing, think they can work 20-25 hours a week, not have a car, and take every weekend off; these are the people that quit a month later because they aren't making any money. The people that put in a solid 40-50 hours, grind on Craigslist and other portals, work their own marketing and otherwise are always finding new business are the ones that make a ton of money.

My only disagreement is that you can't make any money in the winter, because you definitely can. Although it's true less people are looking to move, it's also easier to sink into a good client and be way more likely to rent them because it's a little less crazy/competitive. Also, a lot of the "120-day card agents" and even a lot of the full-time agents will take off the winter months, leaving a lot less agent competition as well. If you work for an agency that has a lot of management companies' listings, a lot of them will do bonuses in the winter that can be an extra $200-$500 on top of your normal commission.

Also, you can do a lot to minimize the flakiness of clients. When I set up a showing I'd tell the person I'll be calling them 30-60 minutes before the showing to confirm, and if they don't get back to me, I don't leave the office to meet them. They'd confirm 95% of the time, and the ones that planned on blowing me off didn't really affect me because I never left the office and wasted time/gas to get there. Every blue moon, a client would tell me they're out front of the apartment after NOT picking up or calling back to confirm, but that was so rare it didn't really affect my business.

I'll also add that you 100% absolutely do need a car to work this job, unless you are specifically working the downtown high rise market.

/r/chicago Thread Parent