Contemplating another career change...

[Rick Lee]

One of my best friends, whom I first met when we were brand new loan officers in 1998, needs another assistant. He's always talked about wanting me to come work with him, but his boss wouldn't take me, as I got out of the business after two yrs. of starving. But my friend stuck it out, finally reached escape velocity and made about $600k last year. He's certainly no brighter than I am, but just had more tolerance for pain than I did back when he was job-hopping, living on credit cards and paying them off with regular home refis in the crazy DC market.

Anyway, now he's serious and he's the boss with hiring power. His only other asst. is a 26 yr. old greenie, who banked about $120k in his first year working for my buddy. Starting package would be a $4500 per month non-recoverable draw for three mos. Thereafter, it's a $1500 per month recoverable plus $500 for expenses. I can take the pay cut for the first three mos., but I'd really need to start making commissions by the time the $1500 kicks in. I am really torn by this. A few yrs. ago I would have jumped at it. Now I'm fat, happy and unchallenged in my current job and often think about getting out to do something where I have my own schedule, don't drive a desk, drive around to visit clients, etc. I'm 35 and single, so this is probably the last chance I'll get to make a jump like this while I have no real responsibilities. I know plenty of folks who've racked up six figures in credit card debt while starting their own business or starting a commission-only job until the money starts coming in. But they've all made it and the debts are long gone. What should I do?

[mschuep]

That's tough. Only way to know is to try it. If your current job is something that you are skilled and have a lot of experience in, and is something you could fall back on without getting too skinny, unhappy, and challenged...I would go for it

[Jim Richards]

If the job outlook for loan officers is positive for the forseeable future, I'd say jump on it.

[asphaltgambler]

That industry mave have leveled out considerably now.

[Rick Lee]

The wholesale market where my friend works is doing better than ever. The kinds of folks he deals with are not rate or price sensitive. He doesn't do vanilla Fannie/Freddie loans.

[lateapex911]

One one hand, it's risky.

On the other, it has potential.

The deciding factor in my mind is your friend. He can make it or break it for you. If you think he is behind you, then do it.

Sometimes it's now (just) what you know, it's who you know. If I understand your job correctly, it's very contact driven.

After that it's up to you...if you can be tenacous, sharp and creative, then you'll likely do well. But it seems everybody has a ramp up period.

Hows your credit? LOL..

[juanbenae]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
[B Now I'm fat, happy and unchallenged in my current job and often think about getting out [/B]

thats what got me a cracka-lackin on a recent career move, from a public agency no less. i am medicating to sleep until i start later this month, but the challenge was a big draw for me. still waver on whether i did the right thing, i will know in a year or so.

dont suspect this helps, but the unchallenged and political frustration has soured me.

T$

[tabs]

Ohhhh So U took that job with the Builder...

Well be aware that the GLORY Days in the RE biz are behind us. Your now looking at 5 to 8 years of declining fortune, before resurection.

[RANDY P]

Originally posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts
From what I hear, it may not be. This industry is in for a lot of trouble when every finds out how many bad loans have been made out there...

-Wayne

Binge and purge. They assume a certain amount of risk. They'll tighten up ,then after default levels calm down, they'll whore it out again..

rjp

[RANDY P]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
The wholesale market where my friend works is doing better than ever. The kinds of folks he deals with are not rate or price sensitive. He doesn't do vanilla Fannie/Freddie loans.

AE gig?! Nice. If your boy is making $$$ it's because he knows his stuff. It's all about having a couple of good offices that send the biz regularly. As long as you get big offices you'll be set.

Thats what an AE (account exec) does - answer rookie questions and train newbie LO's who don't know the difference between a FICO score and a slice of pizza.

Lots of work though. Bad diet and no free time.

rjp

[Rick Lee]

It's not all Greek to me, as I was an LO for two yrs. I wasn't good at it, but I knew how things worked. I was basically given a desk and phone and told "go". In the Old Town Alexandria market, there weren't many first time buyers and most of the folks who could afford that kind of real estate already had a relationship with some bank or mort. co. So I had a hard time breaking in there.

[RANDY P]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
It's not all Greek to me, as I was an LO for two yrs. I wasn't good at it, but I knew how things worked. I was basically given a desk and phone and told "go". In the Old Town Alexandria market, there weren't many first time buyers and most of the folks who could afford that kind of real estate already had a relationship with some bank or mort. co. So I had a hard time breaking in there.

It'll be scary for a few months, but it'll pay off. Remember though to rack up and save for holidays. that's where it'll hurt if you're new.

It's a different market even from several years ago. There's so much infiltration of new privately held lenders that there's lot s of product to sell. It's all changed rapidly.

Heck, I crashed out of mortgages in 00, and one of the gals that was simply an assistant to an AE when I left - when I came back in 04 took over her bosses old position and she did like $750K 2005 - as an conforming / Alt -A rep.

If you can make people like you, then you're set. I say go for it, but make sure you have some cash for end of October through the end of Jan...

Do it - also a good way to party a lot and meet chicks

rjp

[Laneco]

Do it. You only get so many pitches in life, if you want a home run, SWING THE DARN BAT!!!

I left a solid job that I could do in my sleep where my boss loved me and I had ten years in. But no control of my destiny. A year and a half ago I quit and jumped ship to an employer who, coincidental to your location is in Fairfax VA.

Now I travel quite a bit, but most of my work is done on my laptop from any place I can jump on the internet. I'm making more money and have more freedom than I have ever had. In fact, right after this post is done, I'm heading out to the garage to spend a bit of quality time with the spyder (and no one's looking over my shoulder).

Take the job. Work your buns off, pay off every debt that surrounds you and put money in the bank. If the business goes sour in 1.5 to 2 years, enjoy the money you made and your debt free status and then bail on that job. Your location is very solid in the real estate market for middle to high end loans. Personally, I believe that for you, in your area, it would be a worthy risk.

angela

[Rick Lee]

Originally posted by Laneco
Do it. You only get so many pitches in life, if you want a home run, SWING THE DARN BAT!!!

I left a solid job that I could do in my sleep where my boss loved me and I had ten years in. But no control of my destiny. A year and a half ago I quit and jumped ship to an employer who, coincidental to your location is in Fairfax VA.

Now I travel quite a bit, but most of my work is done on my laptop from any place I can jump on the internet. I'm making more money and have more freedom than I have ever had. In fact, right after this post is done, I'm heading out to the garage to spend a bit of quality time with the spyder (and no one's looking over my shoulder).

Take the job. Work your buns off, pay off every debt that surrounds you and put money in the bank. If the business goes sour in 1.5 to 2 years, enjoy the money you made and your debt free status and then bail on that job. Your location is very solid in the real estate market for middle to high end loans. Personally, I believe that for you, in your area, it would be a worthy risk.

angela

Favorite response.

Yes, I have it pretty good at my current job. My boss thinks I'm a hero, I make decent money and have never had to stay late or work weekends. But the trade off is that I'll never make close to what a lot of my friends are making, who are either self-emplyed or 100% commission. It's a real hassle anytime I need to go to the doctor or pick up my car from the shop, as I'm always stuck in DC. The commute totally blows too. I'm jumping through some hoops tonight so my friend can hire me and I plan to spend a day or two with him, calling on his accounts and shadowing him before I make a decision.

[Rick Lee]

Update.

This looks like it might really happen now. My friend's company's HR person called today and said she and the big guy want to chat by phone tomorrow. Friend and his boss want to meet me for lunch next week and I think that's it. Only way it won't happen now is if the big guy doesn't like me and overrules my buddy. I'm getting nervous and excited - the kind of feeling I used to thrive on, but don't get much anymore. My friend says I will absolutely be making commissions before the non-recoverable draw runs out. That's encouraging. My only real fear now is that my fate is totally tied to my buddy. I feel like all my eggs would be in his basket. His wife is having a baby any day now, he's moving into a new house soon, blah, blah. He's got enough money to easily weather a few bad mos. I don't yet.

[nostatic]

different details, same boat. I had a steady academic administrative job for the past 5 years, then got reorg'd out. Landed in a split position (same pay) doing research for two different departments. One of them wants me full time with a small bump in pay. Pretty stead and interesting stuff. But I suspect that one of my grant funders would be interested in me heading a new program to pull together a lot of their digital education initiatives. It would be a pure soft money position, but I could be affecting (positively I hope) the future of education, especially in developing countries. The other position has a decent public service bent (emergency preparedness) but the reality is I'd be doing a lot of communications work as opposed to directing research.

Guess in the end you gotta go with your heart. For me neither will be a big $$$ windfall, but to be one of the people helping to shape the way things work...pretty tempting.

[RANDY P]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
Update.

This looks like it might really happen now. My friend's company's HR person called today and said she and the big guy want to chat by phone tomorrow. Friend and his boss want to meet me for lunch next week and I think that's it. Only way it won't happen now is if the big guy doesn't like me and overrules my buddy. I'm getting nervous and excited - the kind of feeling I used to thrive on, but don't get much anymore. My friend says I will absolutely be making commissions before the non-recoverable draw runs out. That's encouraging. My only real fear now is that my fate is totally tied to my buddy. I feel like all my eggs would be in his basket. His wife is having a baby any day now, he's moving into a new house soon, blah, blah. He's got enough money to easily weather a few bad mos. I don't yet.

Just run like hell. Foot to the floor in 5th till payday.. Remember the holidays.

Congrats, and welcome back.

rjp

[Rick V]

Don't worry Rick,
Just be yourself, Quiet, on the ball, and from the way you drive, always upfront. The big man will like you.

[Joeaksa]

You have not answered the main question... do you want to do it? Find something you want to do for a living and then do it!

You are at a good age to make a change and if you do not do it then you will always wonder what would have happened...

[legion]

I had an interesting opportunity come up at work. I'm a systems analyst...also known as a peon or code monkey in the trade. I make a decent living for my area. I spend 90% of my time on documentation/support work and 10% doing coding/unit testing...which is what I really love.

The opportunity was presented to me to become a DBA (database administrator). I have to go through a year of training before I can be considered for the position, and another three years of training if I'm accepted into the training program, then a rigorous interview/testing process, then I can become a junior DBA.

The position pays 2-3 times what I'm making now and is much more interesting (50/50 split between real work and documentation). But it's going to take a few years to get there...I'm about to jump in and give it a try.

I know...not a huge change.