I agree with your advice to the young bloke. My only addition is to encourage him to start off in the property management side of the game (leasing, body corporates). In my day that's where we all started out. You learnt a lot more about the industry in that capacity and had lots of interaction with the sales staff, given your rental owners often wish to sell and buy, and the property management staff are the conduit. Also, selling is cyclical. When the market tanks sales staff are the first to go, and those who remain are lucky to scratch out a living. Good property management staff are always in high demand. Once he has mastered the RE art he can alternate between the two (sales and property management), thereby capitalizing on the market/economic fluctuations, giving him some guarantee of job security.
By going in this bilateral direction it will also set him up to one day own his own agency, and presumably become an efficient and profitable property investor in his own right.
