Top 10 Reasons to Get a Real Estate License

If you're considering a career in real estate, you might be picturing the enormous wages and spectacular mansions that TV shows frequently highlight. While such elements may be true for some agents, here are ten real-world benefits of getting your real estate license.

Simple to Begin

If you're unhappy with your current employment, you can easily become a real estate salesperson. Many of our students finish the licensing procedure in less than 100 days and discover that beginning a real estate firm involves far less financial commitment than vocational school or college courses.

Diverse Career Options  

Earning your real estate license opens up a variety of career options. If you prefer handling behind-the-scenes elements of a transaction—like paperwork, scheduling, and finances—you could become a real estate assistant or transaction coordinator. Or, as alternative to helping clients buy and sell homes, you could become a property manager, appraiser, or inspector.  

Flexible Work Schedule  

Many real estate agents cite the ability to work from home and create a flexible schedule as top reasons they entered the profession. Although market demands and client needs do influence your day, plenty of agents creatively balance their work with time-consuming commitments like raising children or caring for elderly relatives.  

Work From Anywhere  

Savvy real estate agents leverage resources to grow their business. By hiring a showing agent to handle in-person meetings with clients, you can be sitting comfy in your office—or on the beach—while taking care of location-independent elements of the transaction, like phone calls and paperwork. You might also partner with other agents in your county, state, or region to divvy up transaction responsibilities and commissions while expanding your areas of practice.    

Several Ways to Earn

Facilitating clients’ home sale or purchase is one obvious method to earn money as a real estate agent, but it’s not the only method. If you’re well-networked, you could earn referral fees by interviewing prospective clients and matching them with the perfect real estate agent—even across state lines. Agents with an eye for design could offer their services to For Sale By Owner (FSBO) properties as a listing or staging consultant, especially if you have a place to store extra furniture and décor items.  

You’re the Boss

Real estate agents are self-employed professionals, even though they are required to affiliate with a broker. In other words, you’re an independent business owner with the freedom to determine your own business goals, priorities, and systems. If you’ve ever dreamed of being an entrepreneur, earning your real estate license might be a low-risk way to try it.  

Start a Side Hustle  

Although some agents earn their license to make a complete career change, others approach real estate as a side hustle or retirement income. As long as you complete your continuing education (CE) requirements and renew your license, you’ll be able to practice real estate—however many hours you choose to put in.  

Choose Your Future  

When it comes to your career, the sky’s the limit. You could practice as a solo agent with a high-touch approach, working directly with clients one-on-one. If you prefer the behind-the-scenes aspects of real estate, you could build a real estate team. Once you have a few years’ experience under your belt, you might earn a broker’s license and become a broker-owner of your own real estate firm.  

Become an Investor  

If you’re interested in real estate investments, like owning rental properties or flipping homes, earning a real estate license can make the process easier. Access to local multiple listing service (MLS) resources, real estate boards, and other agents gives you the inside scoop on what’s happening in your real estate market—and saves you the commission of hiring an agent for your own transactions.  

Make Dreams Happen  

Some real estate agents genuinely enjoy helping others achieve their goal of home ownership, and earn their license to make a difference in their communities. You could create an impact by specializing in a certain clientele, like low-income buyers, first-time buyers, or buyers looking for their dream home, to name a few examples.  

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