Real Estate sales license, worth getting?

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

I'm thinking about doing a Real Estate sales licensing course. How useful do you think it is? Not sure what I'd do with it, not ready to jump in as a junior sales associate full time, and I hear it's a cutthroat business, but it seems like something worth having and I am looking to broaden my horizons...
Thoughts?

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

My personal opinion is, if I wanted to sell, or buy, I wouldn't be looking at someone who had just gotten their license. I'd be looking for someone who had been in the business, with a good track record, for a long time.

A better bet may be a broker's license. I think with that you can do loans. But don't take my word for that.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

My personal opinion is, if I wanted to sell, or buy, I wouldn't be looking at someone who had just gotten their license. I'd be looking for someone who had been in the business, with a good track record, for a long time.

A better bet may be a broker's license. I think with that you can do loans. But don't take my word for that.

Can't get a broker's license without getting the sales license first

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

Baby steps then.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

It is a cut throat business where you are located. And agree with Luanne about experience, especially if one is not a twenty/thirty something.
Unless you can use it to enhance your current profession, I don't see how it would benefit you.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

It is a cut throat business where you are located. And agree with Luanne about experience, especially if one is not a twenty/thirty something.
Unless you can use it to enhance your current profession, I don't see how it would benefit you.

Yeah, I hear you. And it wouldn't. But I am not enamored with my current profession and there's a Groupon!

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Yeah, I hear you. And it wouldn't. But I am not enamored with my current profession and there's a Groupon!

Lol, I saw that one, too.

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

If you truly want to go into real estate I think the hours suck. Every successful agent I've dealt with seems to be working all the time. Nights, weekends, whenever their clients need them. Which is great, if you're the client.

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

It's a very tough business! I worked in real estate, and even owned a real estate office, at one point. George was the listed broker. You can make decent money if you're willing to put in a lot of time. It takes really long time to see, and to keep on top of all the listings. Oh, and btw, theres very little loyalty by clients, so you really need to be aggresive, or some other sales person will snatch them from you. Its hard work, but theres money to be made, if you're willing to put in what it takes.

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

My impression is that it's kind of like timeshare sales, in the sense that in any office the top 10% of producers do about 80% of the volume. Those individuals do quite well. The rest of the office is scrapping to do the rest of the business, with long hours, not much pay, a lot of stress, and high turnover. When we bought our house about 20 years I chatted with our agent about the business a bit as were going around. She was doing all right, but wasn't one of the elite producers.

According to her it took her about ten years to get to where she was then, and it was very lean for the first five or six years (they survived on her husband's salary). She said the key was getting listings - representing sellers - not working with buyers. And the way you get listings is by referrals. And building up that network is what takes time. We were working with her, for example, because she was referred to us. Later I referred a couple of people to her, because I thought she did a good job working with us, identifying what we were looking for, and getting us through the deal. And that's why she was working with us as buyers, because that was how she was trying to build her referrals for sales listings.

*****

About ten years ago some close friends of mine sold their house. They listed with the same outfit as my broker had been with, but they were working with that outfit's top producer; an agent was closing about $10 million in sales per month. At any given moment she generally had about 20 active listings.

It was an interesting process, hearing my friends talk about it. She spent almost no time at all talking to them about the property. Pretty much all she wanted to do was verify that they were committed to selling the house and weren't going to suddenly back up, and to get their agreement to let her do all of the work and make whatever changes in the house and furnishings she and her sales team asked for.

The next visit she arrived with her interior decorator, her photographer, and her landscape consultant. They looked around and gave my friends a punchlist of changes to be done - some landscaping modifications, some walls to be repainted, and changes in the interior furnishings. The furniture that they had in the living room needed to go the basement family room. The family room furniture needed to go to storage. 90% of the stuff in bookcases needed to go; she gave them a specific list of what items could stay and exactly where those items should be located. She would provide loaner furniture and furnishings to replace what was going into storage. They had 45 days to get it done; that was when the listing was going to go active. She expected that a sale would be done within 10 days, and the deal would close within 60 days.

Everything happened like clockwork. My friends got almost everything done within the 45 days. After the loaner furnishings came in they hardly recognized the house; essentially everything that was their personal "mark" on the house was gone. They had a firm offer on the house 5 days after it was listed. It sold at her estimated sales price, which was also the highest of the three estimates they received.

.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

I'm thinking about doing a Real Estate sales licensing course. How useful do you think it is? Not sure what I'd do with it, not ready to jump in as a junior sales associate full time, and I hear it's a cutthroat business, but it seems like something worth having and I am looking to broaden my horizons...
Thoughts?

There are lots of options for having a real estate license.
I've had mine for 18 years now.
I haven't been doing anything for the last 4 years because the market has been so bad.
Just doing my own deals and rentals for past customers.

Now I am just getting back in and it's such a different market with the frustrations of the short sales,
dealing with banks, loans are like pulling teeth and rentals go in a heart beat.
Add to that the squatters or strategic foreclosures stalling and pretending to sell and it's chaos on the streets.

But, there are lots of other things you can do with that license if you decide to make a career change.

In Florida you can sell timeshares, Marriott is hiring.
Or set up your own resale business and dominate the DVC resale world.

Do a brisk rental business in the high rent districts.
In Miami a $2K rental grosses a $2400 commission before splits.
That's not bad for getting a nice property rented.
Of course if you rent something more expensive it's even better.
Many offices are 100% commission and you just pay a monthly desk fee.
In our office I pay $60 a month and it includes marketing materials and a website.

You can do property management for a company or for private clients.
Along with the fees you make on property management you make the
commissions for renting and selling those same properties because
you already have a relationship with those seller/landlords and tenants.

You can sell for a developer and dress up pretty and sit in a high end
office waiting for other brokers to bring in their customers while overlooking the bay.

You can enter a niche like vacation properties or commercial real estate.
There are other lesser known niches like moving the shadow inventory thru
real estate investor clubs where you add your commission to a wholesale deal.
Some of these agents are making 10-20K on a 50K deal.
I'm sure there is a real estate investor club where you live.
The one in Miami is very active right now.
Standing room only every meeting.

You can teach real estate classes or CEU's for extra money.

You can be an assistant to a top producing big wig agent.

I'm sure there are things I've missed but there is alot you can do with that license.

[mpizza Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mpizza]

I have a RE license, and I say go fo it! Chris is right, there are so many variations on the RE field. Yes, its true that it's 24/7 (what job isn't these days?), but the benefit is you can make a living anywhere anytime. Alot of agents come and go and there are alot of disgruntled agents who are no longer making what they did pre-2008, but RE is and always will be a major driver of the economy. Businesses will always need a facility to operate out of, people will always need a place to live, and the science of how cities grow and evolve is fascinating.

My "real" job is commercial RE related, but I like being able to help family and friends on their local residential needs so I "hang" my license in Bergen County. My broker is great and I don't have to bring in a certain amount of revenue to keep my license in house as long as I don't need a desk. I love being creative and keeping difficult deals alive. Just yesterday I got a note from a friend thanking me for working with him thru the long hall (since February) to close his deal.

Part of my 4-5 year transition plan is to become a broker in a vacation area where there are alot of seasonal rentals and turnover activity. I have a friend who does the same in the Hamptons (talk about big $$$$).

And there are always those "miracle" stories - one of the newer agents was covering the phones in my Bergen County office. Clients walked in off the street to see a pricey house one afternoon, they loved it and like magic a $70,000 commission.

And just like the requirement for CLEs - you do have to keep-up with continuing education credits.

Call me if you have any questions.

Maria

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

I am licensed in Florida and was astounded by the numerous options available to make money with that license in that state. Who knew? Chris listed them out beautifully.

As a few people have mentioned already, getting the listing is probably the most valuable. Not only are you making the money if you sell it but you also get commission $ if anyone else does.

Like most pure commission based jobs it takes time to know the ropes and cultivate clients. What you put in to it is what you will get out of it.

You have a huge network already in place and a high energy, positive personality that will assist you.

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Interesting perspective from Chris, Maria (is there anything u don't do!) and Lawren.
Okay Glitter, buy the Groupon