Occupation: Real estate broker
Job description: Helps clients buy or sell real estate. Manages price negotiations and devises marketing strategies. Must be sensitive to client needs and adapt to a fluctuating real estate market. Brokers, unlike agents, can own their own firms.
Salary range: $15,000 to over $100,000. Most work on commission, which ranges from 3%-6% of a property’s selling price.
Training: Hours of formal classroom training vary from state to state. Brokers must also undergo a series of examinations and log some experience before receiving their license.
Real estate broker Spencer Means has bought and sold some of New York City’s most luxurious commercial and residential real estate for the Corcoran Group. As the third-generation of a Birmingham, Alabama, real- state family, Means, 34, attended New York University, where he got his undergraduate degree in Merchandising. In 1986, he took continuing education classes in real-state brokerage. After two years as a salesperson for a New York realtor, Means received his broker’s license and launched his own firm, Means Realty. In 1995, he joined the Corcoran Group.
Having garnered more than $1 million in sales last year, Means credits his success to a stellar track record and this philosophy: “I look at every morning as a new experience. If there is a 10% positive, then go for it. That, I’ve learned is how many people have made their fortunes.”
For more information about this career, contact the National Association of Real Estate Brokers Inc., 1629 K St. NW, Suite 602, Washington, DC 20006: 202-785-4477.
