to pay me 50% of my commission once I was selling well, but when I reminded him it was time to increase my share to 50% he refused. So, I had no alternative but to leave.
Working for a Boss
My next boss made me sign two agreements, one for the Government that said I had a retainer of $500 and a car allowance, plus 53% of my sales commissions. The second agreement was between him and me that only offered me 53% of the commissions on my sales. The retainer and car allowance had to be paid out of this commission, so if the commissions were too low, some weeks I wouldn’t earn any income during these periods.
I was willing to accept this as I knew I would always have enough sales and at least I was earning more than 50% of my commissions and didn’t have to pay back to my boss retainers and car allowances paid in advance of commissions.
It wasn’t right to have two agreements just for him to be seen as doing the right thing for the Government.
Getting frustrated with working for a boss I conducted a private survey at that time and found 10% of the women I spoke to who were working in the industry in either sales or property management had a full real estate agent’s license and could have been operating their own businesses. When I asked them why they didn’t work for themselves they responded, “I wouldn’t want to take on all that responsibility. I might get sued if something went wrong.”
The women I’ve met who are operating their own agencies are doing very well. Some are now employing their husbands to look after the administrative side of the business for them. Women entrepreneurs are usually very creative and original in their approach to small business and careful to do everything correctly and thoroughly so there are no problems.
The women employing their partners are extremely lucky to have men in their lives supporting them and working in their business. Men are generally better than women at making sure the business is profitable and are good at investing the money earned.
Women Care
Women are extraordinarily good at servicing clients, they’re often more tolerant. One of my women’s network members in real estate said, “Lucille, why did you choose to go into real estate? It’s the most frustrating business of all.” She was absolutely right, it is frustrating, long hours and you need a lot of patience.
However, the longer I work in the industry the more I love it. It’s a people business and you meet some wonderful people. The good ones certainly make up for the small-minded individuals who give you a hard time and don’t realize how many hours behind the scenes you work for them each day. Unfortunately, in this industry people only see what you do at open inspections or at auctions. They aren’t with you at 6 am when you get a call on your mobile phone, or at 10.30 pm when you are in a restaurant on Saturday night trying to relax with a friend and receive a call from a buyer about a home you are selling.
I’m certainly not going to paint a pretty picture for you about the real estate industry. It’s one of the hardest fields I’ve ever worked in, but at the same time one of the most rewarding. Throughout this book I’ll give you some examples of why I love it more every day. I so like to help people and when you touch their lives and make a huge difference to the way they live you’ll know what I mean. I feel God led me in this direction for a reason and the longer I work in real estate the more I understand why.
I’m not a regular church goer but I believe following my intuition is the way God communicates with me. While I was struggling with the studies and 24/7 work-load I started a prayer book. Late at night I would write down my thoughts and one night being very tired I asked the question. “Why real estate?” The response I received was, “There is enough land for everyone to have a small piece.”
I thought about this and realized that what was happening was that the rich were getting richer by investing and the hard workers (like me) were too busy working and not aware of the opportunities real estate offered them.
“Perhaps my Higher Purpose is to help those who haven’t invested yet. My book may encourage people to take a chance and invest if they have never invested in property before.” I decided to help women become aware!
Profitable Investments Improve your Lifestyle
After 14 months I had a meeting with a young lawyer who purchased his first investment property from me. I was surprised when he reminded me he only paid $65,000 for his two-bedroom unit because in just over a year, I told him it had increased in value and was probably worth $120,000.
“Do you think so? If it is I’d like to sell it and buy a newer, courtyard home for myself rather than stay in my parents’ home,” he said.
So I listed his property for sale and found a buyer within two weeks who was prepared to pay $130,000 for the unit. This transaction took place in 2003 you wouldn’t find any units in South Australia today for such a tiny price. A similar unit today is worth over $300,000.
Another young woman who bought a unit from me at Henley Beach approached me after nine months to sell it for her. I did for a profit of $35,000. This profit paid for her honeymoon. In 2009 she rang again telling me she is now a mother and asked for assistance to sell six adjoining properties owned by herself and her mother.
Real estate in South Australia has been so much fun since late 2000 when I got into the industry. We are one of the few states left in Australia where you can still buy an investment property and positively gear it, which means the rental return is higher than the mortgage payments and other associated costs with owning property.
My son Steve’s unit is providing him with a healthy monthly income above his mortgage payments. It’s great that his investment property is now contributing to his lifestyle because he’s refinanced it three times initially to buy a car, then equipment for his photographic business and in 2008 to convert our city warehouse into a modern photographic studio.
Why Real Estate?
It’s not about houses, shops, units and land; it’s about fellow human beings and their needs. I find people enlightening, intriguing, withdrawn, crazy, honest, fascinating, fun and everything in between. I’m never bored.
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