Are Real Estate Agents Employees?

Being a real estate agent is a different type of employment from most 9-5 jobs. A key difference is that real estate agents are not employees, but independent contractors who “hang their license” or are affiliated with one brokerage firm (company). As independent contractors, agents receive 1099’s from the brokerage firm at tax time instead of W-2’s. 

Because of this, realtors are not tied to set office hours, but are able to create their own schedules, which allows for a lot of flexibility.

But flexible doesn’t mean easy. The amount of hours you’ll put in as a new agent will probably be more than a standard 40 hour work week, but it is an investment in your future 

Project-Oriented vs. Time-Oriented

At a typical 9-5, you are an employee and you work until it is time to go home. As a realtor, you are a business owner. And owners work until the job is done.

It’s like this in other trades too. Take artisans, for example.

• The carpenter building a table works until the table is done. Of course he takes breaks and the project may take a few weeks, but he has the owner’s mindset of working until the job is done.
• An artist paints until the piece is complete. She works hard for many hours, but, as an independent contractor, she can work when she likes. If she is a morning person, she paints in the morning and if she has an errand to run, she’ll take a break, but she doesn’t get paid until she hands over a product to the client.

The work schedule for artisans, business owners, and independent contractors is project-oriented, not time oriented. You don’t work until the clock says, you work until the job is done.