Real Estate License Question

[Tiffany Smith]

I have been considering getting my real estate license just to sell my home and buy my new home. Even with the time i invested and the fees it would still save me thousands of dollars. Can an agent get a commission on the purchase of their own home? 

[Alan Walker]

Hi Tiffany, one thing to keep in mind is the brokerage split when calculating if it's worth doing. The online class is about 600, 120 hours of education. Then passing the test is another (and I'm estimating based on when I took it) 300. Then you have to pay the state to get your license, another 300. Then learning the MLS and how to actually run a transaction will take 40-60 hours. You have to join the board of realtors and sign up for the MLS, another 2k. If you are only doing these two transactions, I would recommend finding a realtor mentor that can walk you through them. There are A LOT of ways a transaction can go wrong. I would recommend finding a realtor and paying them a referral fee (usually 25% of the commission) to walk you through the process, help you understand how to do open houses, etc... You really do need this help, I've seen a lot of agents make big mistakes that cost them money because they weren't clear on the paperwork and process.

So if we add up the numbers (again, just estimates):

Gross Commission on both transactions: 16500

Realtor Referral Fee: 4125

Education and Licensing: 2900 + at least a month of online education

Per transaction fee at a brokerage like Equity, 900 (450 per transaction)

Net after all expenses: $8575 and 2-3 months of your time.

In the end, I think the question is, does it make sense to make $15-20 per hour (if you are working this as a full time job) for these two transactions. And really, only you can answer that question.