2 part Question answer both or just oneCould you be both a Architect and have a side job of also being a real estate agent.(would it also be possable to get into real estate at 20 and still in school to become an architect)
You could theoretically be an architect and a realtor but your architect schedule needs to be pretty flexible to allow you to service your real estate customers. People want to buy houses on every day of the week so you may need to leave the architect office for a short while to put a bid in on a house, or take the afternoon off to go to a closing with your customer. Your architect boss needs to be pretty understanding of your side-job, especially since closings run behind schedule a lot of the time. If you work for yourself it's a lot easier. It would probably be pretty hard to sell real estate while you're still in school, though, because you have to be available whenever your customers call if you want to make money selling real estate, but your teachers might flunk you if you miss too much class.
I worked in architecture and engineering as a graphics specialist and project manager for almost 10 years before switching full time to being a Realtor. We also have to engineers in our office that work part time as real estate agents. One of them, a structural engineer, quit his job this year as he made over 100k as a real estate agent. Considering this was one of the worst years in 10 in the Denver market. That's pretty good. If you want to be an Architect, I assume it's not about the money. It will be a long hard haul until your making good money as an architect. I would highly recommend taking an online course to get your real estate licence. I completed all the required course work online in about 5 days. The costs for the class, my license, insurance and my Realtor dues amounted to about $1500 for my first year. There are lots of small brokers/companies that would be more than happy to have you and there is potential for a lot of money even without going full time. Look for one with a niche that will make it easier for you to compete as a young broker. You would most likely be on a commission split between 50% and 70% on each deal depending on how you get your leads. You should look for a place that doesn't charge any desk fees. My last year part time with my architecture job I made almost 35k spending less than an hour a day following up with clients and leads as a Realtor. Bottom line, I highly recommend it. The return on your investment into being a Realtor will make you a better architect by having a better understanding of the value that your buildings will bring to your clients. And of course, you can make a lot more money than as an architect if you apply yourself. You can also be both without any real problems but you will have to learn to manage your time well as you will be getting calls on a regular basis. Good luck
