"Realtors' jobs do impact their families. It is a great career for someone who understands that they will be working nights and weekends, especially for the first few years," said Chris Morris, a broker associate with Alain Pinel Realtors, who has been in the business for the past 24 years.

"If you work hard you can build a career in real estate and have some flexibility in your schedule. The tradeoff is that you have to work about six days a week for the first couple of years to get started and build up a client base. After that it is easier to maintain a career in real estate and flexibility in your hours," Morris said.

For anyone thinking of getting started in real estate, Morris recommends looking for a company with a formal training program for new agents. He also advises having at least three months' income in reserve to get started and allow time to succeed in the business. He believes that people who are not trained and not ready to make the commitment necessary to succeed are a big part of the high turnover rate in the industry.

"Real estate schools tell clients how much money they can potentially earn, without telling them how hard they have to work to make that kind of money. Their goal is to get you to spend your money on their licensing course. Real estate brokers are left with the job of explaining the reality of the business to new licensees and training them to do business," Morris said.

David Tonna, vice president branch manager at Windermere Silicon Valley Properties in Los Gatos, thinks real estate is a great career for those who are disciplined and focused on both building a business and time management.

"When you first start out, you focus only on business building. Managing your time and making appointments with yourself and family is imperative to the success of a real estate agent. We seem to not want to schedule our appointments around family commitments for fear of losing the client; however, if you have a solid working relationship with that client, they will respect and understand family commitments," said Tonna, who has been in real estate for 16 years.

From the perspective of someone who is new to the industry, Frank Quinn of Alain Pinel explains the adjustment he made after spending more than 15 years in high-tech startups.

"It took the better part of two years for both my family and I to make the adjustment to this life as a Realtor. It is really best described as a lifestyle that your family takes part in," Quinn said. "It always surprises me when people say how lucky we Realtors are to have flexibility in our time, but what people do not realize is that our life and that of our family are constantly on call."

Quinn believes that finding the happy medium between family life and business is critical but finding the balance can be challenging. "When business is booming, you are dreaming of a lull to take a breather. When the lull finally does come, many of us feel like we need to keep working to make sure our pipeline is full," he said.

When starting out in the business, Quinn also recommends having enough cash reserves on hand to break into the business.

"Not having the financial stress to think about during the first 18 months is so important. Building a career in real estate is very much like an annuity in the insurance business. If you and your family can survive and adjust to the startup phase, there can be no better business," Quinn said.

The lure of making big commissions by selling homes and the perception of flexible hours often attracts people to the real estate industry, especially if they are discouraged by their former jobs, says Realtor John Leslie of Alain Pinel Realtors in Los Gatos.

"The perception is one thing and the reality of being a Realtor is very different. Many find, instead, endless hours and big commissions are ever fleeting and difficult to make. The new agents find they need lots of sales training and time-consuming housing knowledge," Leslie said.

Leslie said he sees himself in all the new agents as they struggle to establish themselves. "The strong survive and the rest fade away or work part time indefinitely. The dedicated agents survive and thrive, working full time on weekends and weekdays. They learn to balance their personal lives with real estate and are successful," he said.

Dennis Byron of Byron and Associates and the chairman of the Los Gatos Saratoga District of Silicon Valley Association of Realtors has been a Realtor for more than 32 years and loves the freedom that real estate provides.

"My uncle was a real estate attorney and I always admired his lifestyle," said Byron, who went to college to study law and received a minor in real estate. "You have no one to blame if you have a bad year and only one person to praise when it is going well."

Byron admits the job impacts his family perhaps more than he often realizes.

"This job doesn't have set hours, so you might say you are always on call. As for someone getting in the business now, why not? You have to remember you are a business of one, and you are the only who can succeed or fail. Jump in and give it your all—whether or not you succeed, at least you will have tried," Byron said.