My wife is in her third year as a real estate agent. She made $35k in Montana which was a small fortune in that area in her first year. She spent the bulk of her second year waiting for her license for NV to process and couldn't do anything as a result during that time and still made around $40k. This year she should make more than me. Easily. I make around $90K a year plus bennies.
Real estate has the potential to be quite lucrative. That said not everyone has what it takes to make it in that business. You have to work hard. Anyone who tells you that it's easy money isn't all that good at it, and is about to come on some hard times. The pricing inflation is leveling off, which is good for everyone except the speculators but they deserve to get hosed since they were the ones responsible for the outrageous inflation of the last few years anyway, but people are still buying and selling houses. That won't change. As long as transactions are taking place there will be money to be made as an agent. It doesn't take a degree to do and in most states there is only a week-long course required and a test to get your license. Most big companies will provide you with training on being a good agent. It's in their best interest to do so since they need you to make money for them to make money. The money won't neccessarily come in regular intervals so you have to budget and build up some savings initially unless you have another source of income. Also starting out and getting yourself established (honing your salesmanship) can be difficult and frustrating but once you make it past that point, the only limits are how hard you are willing to work and how much time you are willing to put in.
