We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
The Forum now has a brand new text editor, adding a bunch of handy features to use when creating posts. Read more in our how-to guide

Part time job as EA?

TobyLarone
TobyLarone Posts: 72 Forumite
Tenth Anniversary 10 Posts Combo Breaker
edited 7 January 2018 at 10:59AM in House buying, renting & selling
Hi All,

Hopefully this is the best place to post this...I assume there are some Estate Agents are reading this forum.

I've always fancied a job as an estate agent, but the job i'm in now (IT Consultant) pays fairly well so wouldn't be prepared to make the jump and do it full time as I imagine it would take several years to get to the salary I'm earning now. I just want to get a taste for it and I think I'd enjoy it.

What I would love to do is approach EAs offering myself on a casual basis to show prospective tenants around houses on Saturdays only. Emphasis on casual since I want to have a life and not work 6 days a week but work both ways as I wouldn't expect work each and every week.

My question is, would this kind of arrangement be worth proposing to EAs or would I get 'laughed' out of the door? I can see it would be beneficial for them as they would only pay for the time they are short staffed (holiday cover, sickness, mat/paternity leave etc). How would I go about it?

Thank you!
«134

Comments

  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Funnily enough, one of my locals has been offering exactly this recently, but for selling work, not letting. Not weekends only, though. A 22 hour week including weekends.

    How do you suggest to your locals that you could do this? Contact them.

    Do you have your own car? They'll probably expect you to (the advert I saw above did). Is your car insured for proper business use? It will need to be. Will the pay scale adequately cover the extra running costs of your car? If not, all you'll get will be work experience.
  • Doozergirl
    Doozergirl Posts: 34,082 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Many of the agents in my area have exactly those jobs. Saturday is the busiest day.
    Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Generally the people I've met showing properties appear to be exclusively doing that, not negotiators etc from the office. So I would expect suitable positions to exist.
  • Hi, thanks for the reply. Yes car is insured for business.

    Letting didn't actually cross my mind, was only considering selling but either would be fine.

    What I was thinking is I could offer myself to get paid per viewing rather than an hourly rate. I guess the smaller independent agents would be more flexible than chains. But how much per viewing? I'd want to make myself as attractive to agents as possible with no expectations of regular work.
  • davidmcn wrote: »
    Generally the people I've met showing properties appear to be exclusively doing that, not negotiators etc from the office. So I would expect suitable positions to exist.

    Great, hopefully I'll find something then! Thanks
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Great!

    Another totally unqualified amateur unable to answer the simplest of questions accurately.

    Just what the sector needs......
  • Everyone has to start somewhere, right?
  • HampshireH
    HampshireH Posts: 5,007 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    TobyLarone wrote: »
    Hi, thanks for the reply. Yes car is insured for business.

    Letting didn't actually cross my mind, was only considering selling but either would be fine.

    What I was thinking is I could offer myself to get paid per viewing rather than an hourly rate. I guess the smaller independent agents would be more flexible than chains. But how much per viewing? I'd want to make myself as attractive to agents as possible with no expectations of regular work.

    I think if you were to seek part time employment via an EA then they would dicatate the rate they pay you. They would also need some kind of structure in place prior to taking some one on, on a pay per viewing basis as it would cause a nightmare for their payroll team if you were a special case.

    Additionally they would need to consider data protection and all their legal requirements and you would be taxed on your 2nd job so you would need to consider whether financially it would be worthwhile or whether you were soley seeking work experience.

    If the latter then they may questions your commitment and require a set number of viewings/hours per week to make the admin costs etc of having you worthwhile for them
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    TobyLarone wrote: »
    Letting didn't actually cross my mind

    Well, it was you who said "prospective tenants"...
  • Margot123
    Margot123 Posts: 1,116 Forumite
    In my hunt for a house, I came across several Purple Bricks part-timers who were doing exactly what you are proposing. Maybe take a look at them rather than a high street EA.
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 353.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 254.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 455K Spending & Discounts
  • 246.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 602.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 178.1K Life & Family
  • 260.6K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.7K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.