A Little Bit of Good News (for the old-timers here)

15 years ago

I know I haven't been active on the board for quite a while because I've been jammed finishing up my RE Sales Associate Course on CD (took several months off in the middle while getting my mom settled into our home - an unexpected burden, but that's for the "caregiver" forum).

((To be completely honest, Facebook has also consumed my online time - I'm totally hooked on catching up with old friends.))

Some of you old-timers may remember that I'm retired-Navy relocated to Florida to have a better home for our sailboat.

I took a review course a couple of weekends ago, have been studying, cramming, trying to figure out why anybody cares about a loan constant (?), sleepless nights, reviewing, caffeine, practicing RE math, stressing, working 1000's of practice questions, and....

I PASSED the state exam today!!!!

Isn't this a GREAT time to become a Real Estate Agent? I'm so excited!!! :)

Lisa A.

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Comments (6)

dave_donhoff
15 years ago
Lisa,
CONGRATS!!!

Truthfully, if you like the investor-side of real estate, and are excited about acting as a DOWNWARD pressure-negotiator (representing buyer's interests, especially for buyer's business reasons, not emotional "nesting" reasons,) then now is an AMAZING time to be an agent!

Good luck! Florida is a humongously juicy, ripe, target-rich environment!

Cheers,
Dave Donhoff
Leverage Planner
xamsx
15 years ago
Congratulations!
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ncrealestateguy
15 years ago
Before you can represent anyone, you have to find buyers and sellers. The easy and fun part is finding properties for, and representing clients.
You do not sell homes, you have to sell yourself. The homes will sell themselves.
One should have about 2 years worth of savings to get you started. The avg. salary for first year agents is about $7000. 80% drop out after 3 years.
On a positive note, there is nothing more fulfilling, for me, to know that I am in charge of my future, my work schedule, and do not have a boss to let me know how much I am worth.
Lisa, good luck to you. Go find some buyers and sellers and don't get bogged down about the little details of the business.
joyce_6333
15 years ago
Lisa - what an inspiration you are!! My DH is a retired Army pilot (retired in 1985). We settled in the midwest for family reasons -- Florida surely sounds great, tho!

I retired last fall for the second time. Have filed for social security, and recently took a part time job in a real estate office. I'm thinking of taking the RE course. I think it would be helpful in my work, and who knows, I might eventually even make some $$. I'm limited to how much I can make, so big $$ aren't important to me. What was the cost of your course?
blueheron
15 years ago
Way to go, Lisa! Congratulations.
c9pilot
Original Author
15 years ago
Due to my schedule, I bought the CD-ROM course for somewhere around $250-295 (can't remember, it was too long ago!). I also bought the identical course book so that I could read it whenever convenient, underline, and take notes in the margins.
I also took a $75 weekend classroom review course, and I think that really, really helped reinforce the preparation that I needed to pass both the end-of-course exam and the state exam.
There's also an application fee, fingerprint fee, and testing fee that were all maybe $50-ish each.
That said, I think it was all worth the $$$ whether or not I ever practice real estate (which I plan to do). Firstly, I learned in the review course that I had one week left to file for the homestead tax exemption, which I had learned was NOT automatic when we bought the house, like we thought. So, I probably saved the entire cost of all the courses and books just in property taxes alone for 2009. (But sadly learned that we overpaid in 2008).
Also, I learned a lot about a lot. It's not just about sales contracts and disclosures. There's a lot about zoning and law and mortgages and roofs and businesses and appraisals and all kinds of good random stuff. And now (once my license is activated) I can accept a referral fee, gifts, or lunch for say, helping out with an open house, or directing a customer someone's way.
So I would definitely recommend taking the course if you're working in an office!

A Little Bit of Good News (for the old-timers here)

Comments (6)

dave_donhoff

xamsx

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A Little Bit of Good News (for the old-timers here)

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dave_donhoff

xamsx

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