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Part time job as EA?

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TobyLarone
TobyLarone Posts: 72 Forumite
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edited 7 January 2018 at 11:59AM 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!
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  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
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    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: 33,813 Forumite
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    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
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    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.
  • TobyLarone
    TobyLarone Posts: 72 Forumite
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    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.
  • TobyLarone
    TobyLarone Posts: 72 Forumite
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    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
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    Great!

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

    Just what the sector needs......
  • TobyLarone
    TobyLarone Posts: 72 Forumite
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    Everyone has to start somewhere, right?
  • HampshireH
    HampshireH Posts: 4,480 Forumite
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    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
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    TobyLarone wrote: »
    Letting didn't actually cross my mind

    Well, it was you who said "prospective tenants"...
  • Margot123
    Margot123 Posts: 1,116 Forumite
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    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.
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