I've heard a couple of prestigious real estate agents in my state ask people via online for unpaid interns. What are the chances they'll hire me if I have alot of experience and a wealthy family?Do prestigious real estate agents like having unpaid interns (teens with RE licenses)?
Teens can't have real estate licenses because you have to be of legal age to be an agent. Also, it really depends on the agent and whether or not the intern or assistant has a license. If you don't have a license, you're essentially only good for receptionist/admin work. You can't show properties (you can open doors but you can't answer ANY questions), you can't answer inquiries, you can't do a lot of stuff. Also, some agents (prestigious or otherwise) are cheapos! They love free labor and will try to bend the rules to get the intern to do anything. That's fine because the intern won't be the one held liable, but trust me, they will milk you to the last drop. Even with paid licensed assistants, they're all mostly overworked and underpaid. I've seen agents guaranteed $50K/yr for 9am-5pm work and some weekends only to walk away very bitter and nowhere near that amount. Also, a lot of agents don't want to mentor because they might consider you as eventual competition in the business. I am in an office of over 500 agents and I know that 80% of the experienced agents who have been in the business for decades REFUSE to mentor or even help you in any way. They will use you for open houses but they sure as hell won't teach you anything and they often try to back out of an agreement if it means they make more money. So if you are going to be an unlicensed, unpaid assistant or whatever, I suggest you not be so naive or think that it'll be a great learning experience.
