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Have you always liked the sound of working for yourself? Knowing you'll have to put in the long hours, but being able to reap all the rewards? How about venturing out into the hustle and bustle of the real estate industry?

Thusjanthan Kubendranathan from RealtyForSale.ca has done just that! Following is an interview where I asked Thusjanthan questions about the real estate industry Get ready for an inside look as to what it takes to run your own business and the question we all have on our minds…how much money can you really make??

 1. State your names and job titles:

Sayenden Supramaniyam – Co-Founder & CEO

Thusjanthan Kubendranathan M.Sc – Co-Founder & CTO

 2. Tell us a little bit about your company and what you do.

RealtyForSale.ca empowers home buyers to make the most informed decision when buying a home by providing insights on schools, demographics, and crime rate in the neighborhood. RealtyForSale.ca also offers a rebate program giving up to 1% cash back to customers purchasing a home through the site. Users can sign up for a free account and take advantage of the RFS dashboard to browse through homes, add them to your favorites, receive updates about new listings, compare homes with similar prices/features and sign up for email alerts. 

3. What was your very first job?

On my 16^th birthday, I asked my father for a job at his place. I started as a dishwasher at Pizza Hut that very day.

4. What is the one thing that surprised you about starting your own business?

The amount of times you feel like quitting and still having some energy to keep going. An entrepreneur must be able to stomach the most difficult times. I guarantee you there will be such times. What separates success from failure is to keep grinding. 

5. What obstacles did you face when first starting out in real estate that others may not think about?

The amount of red tape and processes to hurdle over when trying to access real estate data! There are quite a bit of rules and regulations around what and how the data can be represented. We were audited a number of times and had to fix things on a 24 hour turn around.

6. What are the top three personality traits you think a future real estate professional should possess?

Communication – I’ve seen quite a few agents that cannot communicate their ideas/pricings. If you are targeting a particular ethnic community, that is fine. However, to be successful, you need to be able to communicate with both buyers and sellers.

Marketing – The ability to sell yourself to others.

Selfless – To put it simply: “Don’t be greedy!” One of the perks for RealtyForSale.ca is that we want to give back. Do not expect something in return, but on the plus side, when people are happy about the services you’ve provided to them, they will refer you to others and hopefully you’ll get many more clients.

7. No one likes to talk about salaries, but we are all curious. Would you recommend a job in the real estate industry as a viable way to make a living?

I would recommend a job in real estate. On average, an agent can look at making $80K to 100K a year. A recent article on the globe and mail suggested that agents are making $1000/hr. This is not the rule, this is the exception. If you work hard and grind, you can probably do really well in real estate. I myself know of a few agents that grind day after day and are making in the upwards of $500K/year.

8. What’s the title of the last book you read?

I read quite a few technical books. However, the last relevant book I read was ‘The Cashflow Quadrant’ by Robert Kiyosaki.

9. I have to ask…what’s your favourite thing about the library?

In my undergrad & post grad, my favorite thing to do was to go to the library, grab a cubicle and do some work!

If you loved this interview and want to hear more from Thusjanthan, you can check him out on Wednesday, May 20 at North York Central Library.