First, to obtain your Real Estate license, you will need to take a 63-hour pre-license course. Many online educational sites offer this and it can be done in the comfort of your own home. If you are more of a person in class, your local community college might offer the course. When taken in real class, the course can take 4-6 weeks due to scheduling. Online classes that you can do at your own pace. So if you want, you can do the whole course in one week.
Below are some requirements for the state of Florida to obtain your Real Estate License
General requirements:
You must be 18 years of age, have a high school diploma or GED to obtain your Real Estate License.
Educational requirements:
Complete the 63-hour prelicensing course and pass.
Examination and application requirements:
· Submit a completed real estate license application, submit your fingerprints and pay any associated fees.
Pass the Florida Real Estate Sales Associate state exam with at least a score of 75 points out of 100 points or pass the Florida Real Estate Law exam with a score of 30 points out of 40 points.
Activate your license with a real estate broker using the appropriate DBPR forms or your broker can activate online.
These are the basic steps necessary to obtain your Real Estate license in Florida. Getting your Real Estate license sounds easy, and to a certain extent, it is. However, the exam and the amount of study should not be taken lightly. I would recommend doing a little more searching online before deciding on a Real Estate license. If you want to make a career change, this is definitely a great one.
So how do you really get started in real estate and what does it offer?
First of all, once you have obtained your License, activate it with a broker. This is where you have to decide which path you want in Real Estate. Different companies offer different options, divisions, rates, training, etc. Take for example:
Property Management – It is best to look for local property management companies. There are also national property management companies that you can join. Once you join them, throughout your time in this field, you will gain knowledge and experience in all legal aspects of property management. There are many of them, from how to evict a tenant to how to put the notices on your door and in what timeframes. Property management is a lot of work and at the same time rewarding. Many agents gravitate towards this field due to the steady stream of monthly income. Others don’t want to deal with tenant headaches. For example, if you manage 150 units and average a call rate of 10%, that would be 15 different issues to address during that month. These can be anything from non-functioning air conditioning units to plumbing issues; tenants locked out of their homes and need access, tenants who are bothering other neighbors. One, the positive side which means that 135 units will not cause any problems. On average, management companies charge around 10% of the monthly rent to landlords (every company and state is different), in return you as an agent can get a percentage of that. Since all companies offer different payouts, let’s average the company’s monthly revenue. Let’s say 150 Units rented for $1000 each month would be 10% of $1000 which is $100 X 150 units ‘equals’ a monthly income of $15K. Now you see the stable income that I mentioned earlier.
Luxury Real Estate: This is also a very good niche once you get your license. There are pros and cons as there are with property management. When we talk about Luxury Real Estate we are talking about houses from 1M and up. The obvious benefit of this is the amount of money you earn on each transaction. Example, a sale of 1 million at 3% commission earns you 30,000 revenue, now subtract your splits with your broker, say an 80/20 split, the agent would get $24,000 commission, do that 4 times a year and you’ll have 96,000. Not bad for going on a 65-hour pre-licensing course. Let’s point out the cons. It is not as easy as it seems or as seen on television. This market is more of a referral based market. You can definitely do it without reference, but at some point, you need to have those buyers or sellers in your sphere. The cost to reach this price range is very expensive up front. We are talking about a marketing campaign in the range of 4k to 5k a month at least in advertising within those areas. After a few months of the campaign, you may get a few calls from sellers or buyers. There’s a lot more to it than just mailing, it needs to be done the right way. Therefore, a large investment is needed to start immediately in that price range.
Real Estate Agent: The two previous paths do not appear to everyone, I would say that 90% of agents go through the traditional Real Estate Agent path. This path in a sense leads to the previous two as well. As you are in the field, you will learn from other agents, property managers, etc. The reason so many agents go with the traditional real estate agent is because of their training and perhaps quicker turnaround. If you put in the effort, you can earn income in as little as 30 days, while luxury real estate and property management take their time to get the business up and running. The downsides of this path are the amount of training, start-up, and hard work you’ll need to put in due to inexperience and the mistakes you’ll make before you have a steady, steady income (whatever stable means to you). Agents typically earn 3% of the home sale amount. Example, 200K house, the commission would be 6K, let’s take the same split as before 80/20, the agent receives $4,800 X 1 a month X 12, the agent would earn $57,600 a year. Not bad. Please note that some, most, or most real estate companies charge a transaction fee, annual fee, etc.
Ultimately, the path to obtaining your Real Estate Licenses is entirely up to you. Keep in mind that whatever you decide will require hard work, countless hours of training, and possibly working on Saturdays and Sundays. All of these have their pros and cons. There is much more to each of these that I have outlined and you should do more research if you want a career in Real Estate.
