Interested in getting Real Estate License

[Christopher M Miller]

Hi, I'm Chris and live in the San Antonio area.  

I currently work full time in IT, however I was thinking about starting a side-hustle and that was purchasing real estate for passive income.  I will admit, I don't know much about doing this.  I've started to read blogs on this website along with Brandon Turner's book. 

I was thinking about making up for this lack of knowledge was to get a real estate license, to help me have a better understanding.  Just wondering how long it typically takes to get something like this and to maintain it?  Also would it be transferable if I were to move out of state, say to California?

thanks

[Kevin Castaneda]

Hi Chris,

I'm not a real estate agent, but I also looked into these requirements.

Getting your real estate license and can be both time consuming and pricey. I decided to wait until I'm start doing more deals first before I get it. 

 Here's the info you're looking for. Real estate agent licensing is managed through the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC).  I beleive it's 180 hours of education courses before you take the test.

https://www.trec.texas.gov/become-licensed/sales-a...

https://www.trec.texas.gov/renew-license/real-esta...

Once you get your license, you'll also need to do 90 hours of Sales Apprentice Education (SAE) courses during your first two years. Those requirements only give you an inactive license though. In order to actually buy/sell real estate or get access to the MLS, you'll need to sign-up under a broker as one of their agents.

Brokers have varying fee schedules either based on a portion of your sales commissions (80/20 split), a flat fee ($500), or  a monthly fee ($300-ish)... or some combination of any of those features.

You might also need to join a Realtors association depending on which Multiple Listing Service (MLS) you're desiring access to. Here in San Antonio the big association is San Antonio Board of Realtors (SABOR) and I believe they use ConnectMLS. Association affiliation has it's own costs such as monthly dues to the association as well as fees to have access to the MLS.

http://realestate.sabor.com/pages/apply-for-member...

Here's what the cost breakdown looks like, based on my research:

Requirement	Cost	Frequency
180 Hours of pre-license courses	$ 550.00	One time
Application for Inactive Sales Agent License	$ 205.00	One time
Pearson VUE - Examination Fee	$ 54.00	One Time
Fingerprint/Background Check Fee	$ 39.75	One Time
90 Hours of SAE Courses	$ 279.00	One Time
MLS Access	$ 708.00	Per Year
Sabor, Nar, Tar Association Dues	$ 300.00	Per Month (ish)
Broker Fees	?

Based on my research, it would probably cost about $5,000 a year to maintain a license and MLS access... not including the time it takes to get the license. Hope that helps!

Maybe some registered agents can comment and give us both some feedback on what it's like from their perspective?