Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

You already know the ways to make money buying and selling real estate. That’s not what I’m talking about here. Am talking about the many ways you can make money on the side. Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

As a real estate agent, you have connections and skills you can easily leverage into entirely new income streams. Without quitting your day job.

In fact, when done right, these ways to make money can simultaneously increase your brokerage business.

What Makes a Good Income Stream?

Again, let’s be clear: we’re not looking to replace your day job. We’re looking to strengthen your position, your value, and your income at your day job. Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

And we’re not looking to get rich quick. We’re looking to strategically build additional income streams that will provide cash flow long into the future. It might start slow, but it will grow.

A Good Income Stream Is One That:

Can be managed relatively easily
Is fairly inexpensive to test and to start
Truly serves your clients and prospects; start with their needs
Diversifies your income so you have some protection against changes in the real estate market
Doesn’t take an unreasonable amount of time to start (though of course, they will all require some investment of time)

Using this criteria as a guide, I’ve come up with a list of 26 income streams for your consideration.

They’re broken up into four categories:

Online Information
Services
Products
Investments

This post will cover each category in some detail. Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Side-Note: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

This might be the longest blog post you’ve ever read. It’s certainly the longest I’ve ever written. But it’s packed with useful information and actionable advice!

You’re going to get a brief overview of the most lucrative income streams available to real estate agents. So settle in and get ready to make some money.

Ways to Make Money in Online Information

As the name implies, online information income is money received for providing information online.

This includes mediums like

Blogging,
Youtube, and
Podcasting

Information is presented differently in each medium, but the income models are the same.

Blogging: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Blogging is a no-brainer for agents. If you don’t have a blog, you are at a disadvantage in today’s real estate industry.

Let’s forget about the income-producing potential (for just a moment!), and look at one key reason to have a blog: the new generation of buyers and sellers expect it of their real estate agents.

How do current buyers and sellers find real estate agents? Google search.

A consistent, high-quality blog will raise you to the top of the Google search results. It will get you in front of more millennial eyes.

Sure you can get by without millennials for now, but not for much longer. And the generation coming up behind them will expect even more of a web presence from their agents.

If you’re a forward-thinking agent, you’re going to start building that consistent, high-quality blog content now so you’ll be the #1 search result when the next generation is ready to buy.

Many agents mistakenly believe they must blog only about buying and selling real estate to be effective.

YouTube: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Just like blog, a YouTube channel gives you a platform to generate income in multiple ways. You can earn money directly through affiliate links, ads, and sponsored posts.

Or you can use YouTube as a launching point for your product or service sales. Or you can use it simply to serve your clients and attract new prospects. Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

But don’t those videos already exist?

Yep, they sure do! Which proves that there’s money to be made there; people are actively seeking that information. So find a way to put a spin on your videos to make them stand out.

Not to be sexist, but simply being a woman is an advantage in this niche. More single women are buying homes, and they want to know that women can handle home repairs.

If 1 of the top 10 search results shows a woman rolling up her sleeves and unclogging that drain, which video do you think the average single woman will decide to watch?

Not lucky enough to be a woman? Spin your videos in your own way. Appeal to fellow Packer fans by always wearing your cheese head and jersey. You’ll stand out and be memorable.

Podcasting: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Podcasting is the final income stream for online information income. You would niche-down in the same way as with blogs or YouTube. Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Focus on real estate investing, ownership, maintenance, or even real estate careers.

I’ll be perfectly honest. I have zero podcasting experience.

But I listen to them constantly. And the great thing about podcasts is that your audience doesn’t have to be sitting still to consume your information.

They can be driving, walking, or cleaning the house. People choose podcasts over blogs and videos for that very reason.

And compared to the number of bloggers and YouTube channels, there are many fewer podcasters to compete with.

You can still monetize in the same way as with blogs and YouTube, but everything will be audio. So you’ll need to spell out your affiliate links to your listeners (or refer them to the online show notes where you can link the affiliate product through your standard affiliate link).

You may even be able to land sponsors who will pay you to read off a radio-style commercial for their product during your podcast.

Ways To Make Money In Services

There are many great ways to create new income streams by providing services.

And services are a great option for agents because there are so many real estate-related service fields.

In fact, many of these service side-hustles will work hand-in-hand with your real estate sales practice.

You’ll be able to meet potential buyers and sellers through your service business who may become brokerage clients, and vice versa. Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

With all services, there are three ways to create income streams:

Do the work yourself and collect a reasonable fee for service.
Negotiate referral fees with existing businesses. You refer clients to existing service businesses, and in return the businesses pay you a small referral fee. Of course the referral fee relationship should always be disclosed to clients. And you should only refer clients to businesses you would use yourself.
Start a service business and hire contractors to complete the services on behalf of your company. This is much more scalable than doing the work yourself because services inevitably take time to complete. And your time is not only limited, but also incredibly valuable. This business model is typically the most profitable route, especially for time-consuming services.

A word of caution: When providing real-estate related services, always be aware of potential conflicts of interest and ethical issues that could arise from providing multiple services to your brokerage clients.

And there are certain services implied in your role as a real estate agent (like advice on home-staging, pre-sale repairs, and home inspections). Never withhold this advice or base it on your ancillary service businesses.

So what service businesses are we talking about? Well, let’s explore some options.

Property Tax Appeals: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Property Tax Appeals is a completely untapped agent revenue stream! And, depending on the market and your state property tax laws, you can make good money helping people appeal their property taxes.

It’s actually quite simple. Property taxes are usually based on the County Assessor’s estimation of the value of the property. But Assessors are often wrong because they apply broad value increase formulas by sub market (they can’t possibly value each property individually every year).

If the homeowner (or their representative – that could be you!) can show the County that the actual value of the property is less than the estimated value used to calculate their taxes, the homeowner will be granted a tax reduction.

So this really involves a simple property valuation (most states don’t even require an appraisal), which you could complete as a real estate professional, and presentation of your valuation findings to the county taxing authority.

Quite often the value presentation can even be presented via email or phone call!

You can charge a flat fee for your services. But you’re often better off charging a percentage of the tax savings.

Homeowners are much more likely to work with you if they can pay you out of their tax savings instead of paying you upfront.

The brilliance of adding this income stream to your business is that property tax appeals cycle inversely with real estate sales.

When sales are up, there is less opportunity for tax appeals, but when sales are down because of a market downturn, tax appeals go through the roof!

I actually spent six years in property tax appeals, and I’m happy to provide more information if there is interest in this income stream.

Check out my post on How to Make Money with Property Tax Appeals, and then contact me or leave a comment if you want to learn more about this opportunity.

New Home Photo Shoots: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Millennials have photo shoots to mark every big life event:

Birth…
Marriage,
Pregnancy,
Engagement,

What About A New Home?

The new generation of buyers would absolutely be interested in a new home photo shoot.

It could be anything from just a few shots of the buyers posing on the porch, accepting the keys, and walking in the front door.

Or it could be a “moving day” shoot to capture the drama of actually moving into the home. Or a day-in-the-life shoot of the buyers doing domestic things like cooking and gardening.

You may already have some decent photography skills from shooting photos for your listings. Or you know a professional photographer you could partner with.

To learn more, check out How to Make Money with New Home Photo Shoots.

Home Staging: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

You know how important staging is to home sales. And even if you’re not a skilled decorator or designer, you know how to stage a home to sell.

You also know that many sellers struggle with appropriate staging.

This is a perfect opportunity to earn a fee for your time spent staging the house while simultaneously increasing your commission when the house sells for more than it would otherwise.

The seller also benefits from the higher sales price and less time on the market.

As a general rule, staging information should be included in your role as real estate agent.

But when you start laboring (or hiring laborers) to move furniture, take things to storage, paint, hang wall art, or rent furniture and accessories for a vacant space, you’re perfectly entitled to a staging fee.

Home Repairs and Maintenance

You know more about home repair and maintenance than the average homeowner. And you probably know some reliable handymen. This information can bring you a nice little income stream in the home repair and maintenance arena.

Notary Services: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

There may not be a ton of money to be made in notary services, but it’s fairly easy and inexpensive to become a notary. So it’s a nice and simple starter income stream.

Guide to Local Experiences

Providing local experiences is a cool new way to make money in today’s gig economy. It often takes the form of personal tour guide.

Tourists will pay decent money for a unique travel experience. It could be:

A photo-op tour (a walking tour of all the best photo-op locations in your city while you explain the history of the city and importance of the landmarks)
A paddleboard tour (you provide the paddleboards and guide your clients around the canals or bay, discussing points of interest along the way)
A nightlife tour (you take your tourists out for a night on the town; selections of locals-only hot-spots are especially popular)
A learning experience instead of a tour (teach your tourists how to cook local dishes, dance local dances, or play local sports)

Since you already like people and are used to showing people around, adding this income stream should be easy and fun for you.

And it’s not crazy to think these tourists might have such a great time that they decide to buy a vacation home in your city. And which agent do you think they’d contact to help them with the purchase? Right.

To learn more about adding this income stream to your business, check out our post, How to Make Money Creating Local Experiences for Tourists.

Content Writing: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Do you love to write in your down time? Consider expanding your real estate business by selling your writing services to companies in adjacent industries!

Write articles for mortgage companies, contractors, or national real estate publications! You’ll increase your market authority and online profile while earning a side income.

On the flip-side, if you dread writing content, even for your own real estate blog, hire me to do it! I’ve helped multiple agents increase their Google rank by creating high-quality blog content for consistent publication. And I have multiple content solutions to fit any budget!

House-Flipping Management

Managing flips is a difficult gig to land, but a great way to increase your income if you can pull it off!

You’d need to find a hands-off investor, build a relationship through multiple deals, and lead them to some profitable flips.

Now most people who invest in flips like to do some of the work themselves and even have a real estate license so they can save on the commission.

So to make this work, you would need to find out-of-state investors, or investors who are completely uninterested in the process itself, and happy to hand the reins to you as the experienced professional.

As a flipping manager, you will make a commission on both the purchase and the sale, plus a fee on the management of the flip. Negotiate a flat fee or a percentage of the profit.

Side note: if you’ve flipped a house, you know how time-consuming the management is. To be successful in this income stream, you would need to create a management business and hire help.

Rental Property Management: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

With many millennials opting to rent instead of buy, there is a growing number of SFRs being used as rental properties. And more and more absentee owners in need of property management services.

You may already have experience with property management, but for those who aren’t familiar with it, it basically involves:

Drafting leases
Collecting rents
Screening tenants
Negotiating renewals
Addressing any tenant issues
Marketing properties for rent
Scheduling maintenance and repairs
Making properties ready for new tenants
Managing move-outs and return of deposits
Touring properties with prospective tenants
Handling any eviction proceedings (if it ever comes to that)

In an ideal world, you find great tenants, spend a little time on the paperwork upfront, then sit back and watch the rent money roll in online every month for multiple years with just a couple minor maintenance issues scattered in there.

Believe it or not, that’s been my personal experience so far. But it’s only been two properties over two years, and I’m smart enough to know it won’t always be this good. So I’m going to enjoy it while it is!

Because for now, this is easy money.

Fees are nearly always a percentage of the rent. It varies by market of course, but 5% is fairly standard for year-round management. Then there’s usually an additional fee for finding new tenants; 50% of the first month’s rent is typical in many markets.

Landscape Design and Maintenance

There is a great opportunity for a landscape design and maintenance income stream for higher-end real estate. Many owners just don’t have the time or desire to mow, rake, trim, and plant. Or God-forbid, shovel.

So offer them reliable, high-quality landscape maintenance services.

Or help them add curb appeal by designing an inviting front yard landscape. They get more enjoyment from the property while increasing the property’s value, and you have a new income stream.

Painting: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Painting always sounds easier and more fun than it actually is. Once your homeowners try to paint just one room and realize how miserable it is, you can offer your painting services to finish the house for them.

Cleaning

Cleaning can be a weekly gig or more of a make-ready gig for your investor-owners who need help turning units over for new tenants.

Roofing

Have a seller that really needs to replace the roof to get top dollar? How great would it be to offer your roofing services to them? The seller gets a roofing company owned by someone they trust, and you get the added income.

Property Inspection

I imagine you’re very familiar with the home inspection process. Have you ever thought about getting certified as an inspector? To avoid conflicts of interest, you could focus your inspection business on a different property type than your brokerage business.

Real Estate Appraisal: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Or how about getting certified as an Appraiser? If you love the number-crunching side of real estate, appraisal work could be a great fit for you.

Ways to Make Money in Products

Selling products is a fantastic income stream because it’s so passive. Once the product is created and posted online for sale, you can earn money round the clock with minimal active management. Make money while I sleep? Yes, please.

eBooks

I’m going to guess that you have acquired some serious real estate knowledge and insight in your time as a real estate professional. Package that knowledge in an eBook and sell it!

But aren’t there literally thousands of books on real estate already on the market?

Yep, so you know there’s a market for them. You just need to make yours stand out. Niche-down and write for one specific group.

You might be wondering why I keep saying to niche-down. Why not try to appeal to a wider audience to increase your chances of a sale? It’s because, as you know, there’s a lot of competition in real estate publishing.

Courses: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Courses offer a different way to package and present your knowledge. They also provide an opportunity to charge more than an eBook because they are more involved. And they allow you to support your students through the steps required to learn the material you’re teaching.

You have valuable skills and knowledge worth passing along! Share it with the world and add an income stream in the process.

Learn More: How to Create Online Real Estate Courses

Real Estate Stock Photography

Have you ever had to select images for a website, mailer, or social media post? Someone took that photo, and they most likely make a little money every time it sells.

You could do the same: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Selling stock photos online isn’t a get rich quick scheme. It takes some time to build a sizeable bank of images and for your photos to gain momentum. But once they do, it’s basically free money.

I’m playing around with this income stream now, but haven’t committed much time or effort to it. I’ve spent probably 3 hours signing up as a “contributor” on different stock photo sites, uploading a dozen images, and tagging them all with keywords (super important to get your images found!).

So far I’ve sold the same photo 5 times for a total income of…drumroll please…$3.50.

$0.86 per hour isn’t a great pay rate. But I don’t have to invest any additional time or energy in those photos.

And they’ll continue to earn money on their own. The more photos I upload, the better this rate will ultimately get.

Again, this is highly competitive, so niche-down to find your specific audience.

Have some photos to sell? Get started today on these platforms (sign up with multiple platforms to reach a greater audience).

Equipment Rental: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

If you’ve worked with first time homeowners, you know they usually buy a starter home requiring some fixes, and they don’t have the money (or need, really) to buy expensive DIY equipment, so they head to Home Depot and rent it.

Why not offer to rent your tools and equipment to them? In my experience, the rentals at Home Depot are often in poor condition, too expensive, and sometimes not even available for weeks at a time.

You can provide a better rental experience!

I suppose equipment rental could be considered a service or a product. It’s not as passive as the other products we’ve discussed, but you have the added benefit of earning money on the same piece of equipment over and over.

Just for the love of God, make sure you get their credit card on file for a healthy deposit in case they somehow destroy your equipment.

Learn more: How to Make Money Renting Out Tools and Equipment

Ways to Make Money in Investments

The final category of income to cover is investment income. We’ll focus on real estate investments like REITs, rental property ownership (long-term rentals and vacation rentals), and flipping, but let’s not overlook the dull-but-wise index funds.

REITs

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are the easiest and, arguably, safest way to invest in real estate. They’re ideal for beginners.

REITs work a bit like mutual funds. They allow you to buy a small ownership stake of multiple real estate ventures. So you can be a real estate investor without putting up a large amount of money or taking on debt.

REITs are required by law to maintain dividend payout ratios of at least 90%. This guaranteed dividend payout makes REITs ideal for investors looking for cash flow.

And many REITs offer the option to reinvest those dividends so they compound over time.

Long-term Rental Properties: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Long-term rentals are my personal favorite investment. Why? Because they’re relatively passive and because you make money in four different ways!

Appreciation
Renters are paying down your debt
Renters are also putting money in your pocket
Tax breaks

With only two properties in my current rental portfolio, I’m still pocketing nearly $1,000/month. But the real win has been in terms of growing my net worth.

The two properties have increased in value by a total of $431,000 in just a few years!

There are hundreds of resources for investing in real estate, but my favorite is The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller. This is the book that got me started in real estate investing.

It’s simple enough for anyone to pick up, but thorough enough to guide investors to netting millions.

Sidenote: If you haven’t already read The Millionaire Real Estate Agent (also by Gary Keller), I highly recommend that as well.

It provides step-by-step instructions to take your real estate business from a single-person enterprise to a team-based empire.

Vacation Rentals: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Vacation rentals demand much higher rates than long-term rentals, but there are trade-offs:

You’ll need to fully furnish the property (even down to dishes and linens)
The property is exposed to greater wear-and-tear with vacationers being notoriously messy and careless with the furnishings
It requires more active involvement because of frequent turnover. You’ll need to have a reliable cleaning/laundering service
Utility costs are the owner’s responsibility and your vacationers will likely not use water and electricity sparingly
You will have greater periods of vacancy, during which you won’t be earning any income

Despite all those negatives, vacation rentals can be highly lucrative, especially if your rental is well-located in a tourist destination. Ideally, you’ll be able to rent the property for a week at a time with minimal off-season.

Flipping

In the right market conditions, flipping houses is an investor’s dream. In the wrong conditions, it’s a nightmare.

You know the drill: buy low, renovate, sell high. Flipping is a highly active investment, taking substantial time to locate the right property, close the purchase, renovate, find a buyer, and close the sale.

I’ll confess, I’ve never done it. I don’t think I have the temperament to weather the stress. For those who do, and who are willing to take the risk, the payoff can be great.

Update: More Investment Income Streams

Since publishing this post, we’ve gotten an education in the many, varied ways to make money through real estate investments!

Get a Small Win: Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

Great victories are made possible by small wins. Before you move on with the rest of your day, get a small win!

Your Small Win Challenge is to choose one (just one!) income stream to seriously research. Then commit to actually doing it.

Show your commitment by leaving a comment to let me know which income stream you chose. Your feedback will also help me tailor future posts to topics that most interest you.

You can get an additional small win today by joining the Real Estate Side Hustles Community!

We publish great new content every week to help real estate professionals like you create and manage multiple income streams. Modern Ways To Make Money As Real Estate Agent

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