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First to obtain your Real Estate license you will need to do a 63 hours pre licensing course. Many online educational sites offer this and can be done in the comfort of your home. If you are more of an In class person, your local community college might offer the course. When taken in actual class, the course may take 4 to 6 weeks due to their scheduling. Online classes you can do at your own pace. So if you want, you may do the entire course in one week.
Below are some requirements for the state of Florida to obtain your Real Estate License
General Requirements:
Must be 18 Years of age, have a high school diploma or GED to get your Real Estate License.
Educational Requirements:
Complete the 63 Hour pre licensing course and pass.
Exam and Application Requirements:
· Submit a completed real estate license application, submit your finger prints and pay any fees associated.
· 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 DBPR proper forms or may be activated online by your broker.
These are the basic steps needed to obtain your Real Estate license in Florida. How to get your Real Estate license sounds easy and to some extent, it is. However, the exam and amount of studying shall not be taken lightly. I would recommend searching online a bit more before you decide on a Real Estate license. If you want to make a career change, this is definitely a great one.
So How Do You Actually Start In Real Estate and What Does It Offer?
Firstly of course once you have obtained your License, activate it with a broker. This is where you have to decide what path you want in Real Estate. Different companies offer different options, splits, fees, training and so on. Let take for example:
Property Management: It is best to search for local property management companies. There are also national property management companies which you can join. Once you join them, through out your time in this field, you'll gain knowledge and experience on all legal aspects of property management. There are a lot of them, from how to evict a tenant to how to post the notices on their door and within what time frames. Property management involves a lot of work and at the same time is rewarding. Many agents lean towards this field due to the steady stream of monthly income. Others don't want to deal with the tenant headaches. Example, if you manage 150 units and average a 10% call rate, that would be 15 different issues to deal with during that month. These may be from A/C units not working, to plumbing issues; tenants locked out of their homes and need access, to tenants disturbing other neighbors. One the bright side that means 135 units won't cause any issues. On average, the management companies charge around 10% of the monthly rent to owners (all Companies and State are different), in return, you as on agent might get a percentage of that. Since all companies offer different payments, let's just average a monthly income for the company. Let's say 150 Units rented for $1000 each monthly that would be 10% of $1000 which is $100 X 150 units 'equals' $15K monthly income. Now you see the steady income I mentioned above.
Luxury Real Estate: This also a very nice niche once you obtain your license. There are pros and cons as there is with Property Management. When speaking about Luxury Real Estate we are speaking about homes from 1M and up. The obvious benefit to this is the amount of money you earn on each transaction. Example, 1M sale at 3% commission gets you 30K income, now subtract your splits with your broker, let says 80/20 split, agent would receive $24k commission, do that 4 times a year and you are at 96K. Not bad at all for going to a pre licensing 65 hour course. Let's point out the cons. It's not as easy as it sounds or as seen on TV. This market is more of a referral based market. You can definitely do it without referral, but at some point, you need to have those buyers or sellers in your sphere. The cost to reach this price range is very costly upfront. 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 might receive a few calls from sellers or buyers. There is a lot more to it than just mailing, it needs to be done the proper way. Thus a large investment is needed to start right of the bat in that price range.
Real Estate Agent: The two previous paths don't appear to everyone, I would say 90% of agents go with the traditional Real Estate Agent path. This path in a sense leads to the two previous ones as well. As you are in the field, you'll be learning from other agents, property managers and so on. Why so many agents go with the traditional Real Estate Agent is due to its training and perhaps quicker income earning. If you put in the work, you can earning income in as little as 30 days, while property management and Luxury Real Estate does take its time for the business to start coming in. The cons of this path is the amount of training, start up and hard work you will need to put upfront due to inexperience and mistakes you will make before have a steady and stable income (whatever stable means to you). Agents usually earn 3% of whatever the sale amount of the home is. Example, 200K home, commission would be 6K, let's take the same split as before 80/20, agent receives $4,800 X 1 a month X 12, agent would earn $57,600 yearly. Not bad at all. Do keep in mind that some, the majority or most Real Estate companies do charge a transaction fee, desk if, yearly fee and so on.
All In all, the path when you obtain your Real Estate Licenses totally depends on you. Do note that whichever you decide on will require hard work, countless hours of training and possibly working Saturdays and Sundays. All of these have their pros and cons. There is a lot more to each of these then I described and you should research more shall you want a Real Estate Career.
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