Paying for mentor in your company?

Question

I just passed my real estate exam here in beautiful Portland, Oregon, and I'm looking for a company to hang my license with. So far I've interviewed with KW and John L. Scott, and I was a little surprised that they charge you for a mentor - 15-25% of your commission.

I suppose I was assuming mentorship was a more organic kind of thing. Is it not in real estate? Has anyone here paid for a mentor within their company when they were a newbie, and if so, did it help you? Were they helpful and available?

Brian Gibbons · Answer

@Tara BallengerI train licensed agents in Lease Options, Lease Purchase, Sub2 with and without a note, Installment Sales Contracts, Getting Private Lenders and JV Cash Partners, How to not get ripped off with HM Lenders, Negotiating Terms deals, etc.I got trained by one of REI's best negotiators, 40 yrs experience, 1 on 1, for 2.5 years. I saw 4 sellers face to face, 6 days a week, for over 30 months, making $500 a week. No commissions. My boss made 10s of thousands.Then I went out on my own. Started a LLC, already had great legal and tax advice, and a great broker.I make a little over $100K my first year. Averaged about $5K a deal.No deal splits. Netted 100% of my deals.But I had to pay for an incubator office, and a part time secretary.Good luck to all getting great REI training!

Tara Ballenger · Answer

Thanks to all the people who weighed in about the mentoring. Very helpful!

Tara Ballenger · Answer

Hi Maureen, I went with OnlineEd.com, because it was affordable and internet-based. It took me about a month to get through the course, working full time (but no youngsters at home!). I took the test a few weeks later. I found the test to be very easy, but I've taken TONS of standardized tests in my life, and I have a knack for it. I've heard from some people that it was easy, others that it was hard. If you're taking the course with OnlineEd (or any other online-based course), PM me. I can tell you some study tricks I used to get through the course much faster. Hang in there, and keep in mind, if you fail the test, it's only another $75 and a two-day wait before you can re-take it. So don't sweat it too much. You will get it eventually.

Maureen Healy · Answer

Tara-I am in the process of studying for my broker's license right now through Proschools online. I'm curious which education company did you go with, was it all online? How did you like it? And how did you find the exam? I am struggling to get through the content because I currently work full-time and have a toddler and an eight-year-old at home as well. I try to study at night or weekends but I'm usually so tired I don't retain much. Just curious about other people's experiences with it. How long did it take you to complete your study course? And was the exam as easy or difficult as you expected it to be?

Maggie L. · Answer

I went with the mentorship (called "coaching" but only 5%) when I started at my office, but do not plan to continue (I was told that it was required for the first year and at the time I thought it was worth a try so I did not try to negotiate that out). I think for some people it would be beneficial, but for me personally it wasn't. I'm pretty self motivated and the mentor for the office didn't really know investing or my geographic area, so the topics and trainings weren't useful 80% of the time. The monthly group coaching sessions kept changing time (eventually to a time I could not do, so I stopped attending) and I found when I would email or contact her for a question outside of a session the coach was always directing me to the broker because the questions I had were too technical or outside of her experience. It can be worth the cost, but I'd definitely ask a lot of questions before committing. If you want to discuss specifics I'd be happy to pm.

JOAN DICKIE · Answer

Free mentorship is great and you can find that in many brokerages. Just realize what free might mean. It might mean help when ever the mentor has time. It may not be a consistent thing. I'm going to use KW in my example as I have always been a KW associate and I don't know other franchise's systems. I don't push KW because it isn't for everyone.KW has a lot of training via their website. You could learn a lot from the free training there. Looking back, I wish I could have had some consistent mentorship. You learn a lot in school, but you usually don't learn the little tricks of contract construction to protect your clients. You learn scripts on the internet to do a listing presentation, but it is wonderful to be able to sit and listen to an expert in action to handle objections. Our newbies here have a hard time because of lack of consistent volunteer mentorship.What I'm trying to say, is if you can afford it, don't discount the paid mentorship. It sounds like bargain at only 10-15% (I've heard much higher!!) The mentors have reason to help you succeed. Just make sure at the start you agree to the obligations you both have for time spent in training.Good Luck!

Corey Westermann · Answer

Hi Tara, I was in your exact shoes last Fall, and I found a great brokerage with amazing (and free) education. Even better, there's a team of agents within it that focus primarily on investing. I'll send you a message with details, but just know that there are a lot of options for investor agents around Portland that aren't going to cost you another quarter of your commissions.