Question about licensing process in IL

[Juan Mendoza]

Hello everyone, First I would like to give some background information on myself. I'm 19 years old I live in a suburb near Chicago IL around the Naperville-Joliet area. I would like to become a licensed real estate agent in Illinois however I need to be 21 years of age in order to legally be one. I really love real estate single family and multifamily. My question is what should I do Should I try to find work as an assistant for a real estate agent until I turn 21? Is this even possible? Can I start on attending classes now at the age of 19? Or do you guys recommend that I move to a different state where I can get Licensed at my age? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.Thank You to anyone who took the time to read my question. 

[Brie Schmidt]

@Juan Mendoza - I was in your shoes too.  As an unlicensed assistant you are limited on what you could actually do, so if real estate is the path you really want to take I would get licensed as a leasing agent at a brokerage that does sales and leasing.  That way you can do leasing and work as an unlicensed assistant for the same company.  

I would not take classes until you are just about to get licensed.  I took my classes at 20 and had a full time job so my classes were two nights a week for a few hours over a few months.  By the time I finished, I had forgotten the stuff I learned earlier in the course.  I was working as an unlicensed assistant for about 2 years at that point so I thought I knew the material, and I did not.  The classes and actually doing the job are two different things so take this time learning both.