Chicago Real Estate Agent Licensing Programs/Schools

[Tyler Shields]

Hello! 

My partner, Amy, and I are taking our first steps into the the world of real estate investing! Accompanied by all the nerves and excitement you could imagine. We've decided our best course of action is for one of us to become a licensed agent. My questions are:

What schools/programs do you recommend the most? (Looking for the best "budget to quality of education" ratio)

                  - If you have a ranked list, that's great! If they're really all the same then what's the most affordable option?

What is the estimated overall cost of earning a license?

What are the requirements of working under a sponsoring brokerage? Is it possible to meet the demands of a sponsoring brokerage while working a full-time job? (ex. I work Mon - Thurs with no possibility of taking extra work on those days. Weekends are technically open.)

Thanks! 

Tyler 
 

[Sarita Scherpereel]

Hi @Tyler Shields. Great questions! There are so many paths you can take on this. Everyone has their own path to success and keep in mind things change year to year. I'll speak to what I did but I've been licensed for almost 7 years now. 

I can send you the name of where I got my license in a DM. Two people that are on my team also went there. I did in person, I had been out of school for 15 years when I got my license, had no back ground in real estate and really thought in person would help keep me on track. It did. I passed my licensing test the first try! When you're looking at RE schools make sure you look at the pass rate for classes. Many people fail their test the first time. The cost of getting your license is pretty standard but hanging your license at a sponsoring brokerage with the various commission splits, office fees or flat fee structure is different from location to location. You first need to decide what you want to get out of the license that is the most important. What kind of business do you want to run?

Since I didn't have a background in real estate I knew training, mentoring and joining a team were going to be the most important things for me to last as a realtor. I was lucky I found a team that would allow me to work part time before going full time into real estate. Most teams I interviewed with didn't like this. They said that often agents never commit to going full time or have a hard time juggling. Again, I got lucky. I found a team that would pay for showings and give me buyer leads so I could really learn the industry. It helped with making more money while I was first getting started. Many sponsoring brokerages will allow you to be part time or just hang your license until you’re ready. It really depends, I can only speak to my experience and would be happy to be more specific online. Saying positive or negative things on a blog about brokerages is never a good idea. It's a small world. Also, there's pros and cons to every brokerage in Chicago. 

I always tell agents when they first start that learning the business is the most important. I know we all want clients and marketing is really stressed in many RE books. But if you don't know what you're doing...it shows. You will lose clients. I know this because I pick up a lot of clients this way.  It's best to learn and build your reputation under some guidance before going out on your own.