Anyone here wonder how some folks on here got on their path toward becoming brokers. On the surface it seems like a rewarding and potentially lucrative career or at least hobby.
Delving deeper I noticed some brokers also often transfer their own personal deals. How much of a hit does ones credit take doing 3, 4+ leases and transfers per year or more?
After closing a fairly good deal and then a solid unicorn all within 10 days of each other, I find the hunt to be entertaining, and the close to be nothing short of addicting.
I get my fix by helping family and friends with their deals. Outside of that, I just keep the peace here . I prefer helping others learn rather than selling them cars. Teach a man to fish, as they say. I also just put my time into other things like my business and travel hacking, which is more lucrative for me.
We’ve had users-turned-brokers on this site who aren’t great, but others who are actually quite good. I gauge the greatness of a broker based on whether or not they’re able to find as good of, if not better, deals than me. There are a few (and they know who they are) .
Having 3 or 4 credit checks a year isn’t going to do much to your score.
I love it too. Mostly because it’s like cracking some hidden code, since most people are completely confused by leasing and think it’s either a) a savior to a lower monthly payment vs owning (thus letting the dealers completely railroad them into shitty deals) or b) a complete scam (thus losing out on the pleasure of driving a brand new car every few years, one that they could probably not afford to buy and saving money at the same time)
I’ve been helping out a few coworkers, explaining to them how leasing works and how it can be hacked. Now two of them want to get BMWs instead of a chevy cruze and jeep cherokee respectively
I’m really not a “people person” so talking to them all day and dealing with personalities and demands would probably drive me nuts though. I just like observing the hacks and getting the facts! I assume any broker that is getting serious deals is capable of nurturing long term relationships and bringing in a LOT of business. But that said, just having someone else handle all the admin side of things is nice too
Travel hacking was and still is one of my original passions. Still is as I travel for work (did more in previous years but still do enough to keep top tier status with a couple different programs)
There are some brokers who play the numbers game that is quite similar to what the dealers do. I like those who post the calculator link for the deals. All deals posted by brokers shld have a calculator link (pick a scenario, pick a state). It is more transparent that way. My two cents worth.
Any broker I’ve spoken before I found LH has offered incredibly basic, essentially crappy deals to me. But I was speaking more towards the kind of personality one needs to have to do the job well.
Travel hacking has also gotten exponentially harder with many of the major banks imposing harsh restriction on collecting Sign Up bonuses, which is/was the usual fast track to having enough points or miles to enable aspirational travel.
Of course, one can also stalk low fares but like with award travel you must be VERY flexible on your travel dates and everything has to line up just right, from good fares or awards being available, hotels being reasonably priced or awards also being available and car hires being well priced.
Big fan of travel hacking. IHG status from the credit card has gotten me Wyndham Diamond, Caesars Rewards Diamond, MLife Gold, Hyatt Explorist, Hard Rock Rock Royalty (Atlantic City) and tons of value. Caesars Diamond saves me $27 whenever I have a comp room in Atlantic City. The savings add up. Airline credit cards have saved at least $5000 in the past 3 years. This would be a good topic for off-ramp if the two of us wanted to share our experiences with it
Right. But luckily for me since banks started tightening their rules we started having kids:)
My ability to travel decreased in step with their increase in rules.
So I don’t travel as often and I used to but now cover lager group:)
But 3 day trips to Europe were addicting when all you have to pay is for parking car car at airport and food in Europe:)
. I prefer helping others learn rather than selling them cars. Teach a man to fish, as they say. I also just put my time into other things like my business and travel hacking, which is more lucrative for me.
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