Getting a Real Estate Agent Licnese

Hello Bigger Pockets alumni,

About three years ago I decided to get a Real Estate Agent License, because I had a lot of extra time on my hands.  I had been passively home shopping and met several agents at open houses and other community meetings, the people I was running into were not helping me achieve my goal of finding a property at a great value!  I was looking at the Zillow, Trulia and Realator websites and kept seeing property exchange hands at great values, sometimes at less than 50% market value.  After talking with several agents I soon realized that either they didn't know or they weren't going to tell how people were getting real estate deal at great values.  Of course many of the agents wanted to sell me a home at market prices and I even made an offer on several homes that I like at low ball prices.  Needless to say I didn't get the homes.

I concluded that the only way I was going to get inside information on how these deals were being made was to become a Real Estate Agent myself.  The first question I asked myself was what educational requirements were necessary to be an Agent? I found out that there was no college degree, on trade certificate program required.  All I had to do was complete three online classes and then take a State exam and I would have my license.

Of the three classes required to be completed two are set required classes and one is an approved elective.  I enrolled in Rockwell Institutes, Online California Real Estate Sales person course.  The cost was just $269 at the time.  I was shopping around for schools where I could sit in a class room and interact with other students and an instructor because this is the way I felt I would learn better.  I was discouraged when I found out that there are few classes offered in a traditional manner.  In retrospect, I am glad I did not find a traditional class to enroll in, I believe I would have wasted my time and energy as the online class covered everything and got me in the test taking mentality.

OK so once the courses were completed I completed a Real Estate Cram course that was included with the package.  I also read a book that was included "Insiders Guide to Passing The California Real Estate Exam."

After applying for the exam and submitting my $60 fee to the sate, I was assigned an exam date in Sacramento.  This is one of many testing sites in California.  I showed up prepared with a confident attitude and took and passed the exam on the first try.  I would not say I felt the exam was easy but because I knew I was well prepared there was little doubt that I scored above the 70% passing score required.

The next step I took was to apply for a license.  At this point they require that you get your fingerprints taken to make sure your not a felon and that your not a bad actor wanted by the police, this cost me $70.  The fee I had to submit with the application was $245.  The Real Estate Sales Person License is good for 4 years.

So now I have a License to represent people in buying or selling real estate in California!  Wow.  To tell you the truth it was really not that difficult to get the license.  I would recommend going to get this for any person who is going to be involved in buying and selling properties on a regular basis.

So the next step I am going to take, when I am ready, is to go out there and find a Broker to work under and possibly get to some of those great deals I see get closed on those popular websites (Zillow, Truila, and Realator.com)

I am sure most of the knowledge needed to become a SUPER Real Estate Agent is not in the process I just went through to get the license.  This knowledge is going to come from the many interesting books I have started reading, on the subject of Real Estate, and the information and tactics I will glean from a good Managing Broker and other associates that I have yet to meet.

Oh, and thanks to Bigger Pockets for the motivation to take action towards accomplishing my goals and begin becoming a more productive member of the community.

Best to all you you.

Charles David

Landlord turned Investor / Agent.

Based Fairfield, California