What does it take to become a real estate agent?
Real estate is an exciting career opportunity, where you can work your own hours, see direct rewards for your work, and find satisfaction working with people to find homes that will serve them for years.
In order to get your real estate license, you need to complete these requirements:
- Be an upstanding citizen
- Have a high school or equivalent education
- Complete the 120 hour Sales Agent Pre-License course
- Pass the License exam
The Division will *likely not license anyone that has any felony in the last 5 years, or a misdemeanor involving any kind of dishonesty, misrepresentation, theft or fraud in the last 3 years.
*New rules allow the Real Estate Commission to consider each application on a case-by-case basis.
Applicants must also be 18 years old, and have a high school education, or equivalent.
Next is the Sales Agent Pre-License course. The full course is 120 hours. If you take classes full time, you can complete the course in as little at 3 weeks, but most students take 2-3 months as they work around their schedule. Even that can be a struggle if you are working full time, or you are raising a family. Most schools give you up to a year to complete the course. Taking that much time can be a struggle when it comes time to take the exam, though, since the earlier chapters of the course may be difficult to remember, so get the course done in a reasonable amount of time.
Pass the State License Exam
Finally, you need to pass the state license exam. The exam is 130 questions, all multiple choice, and you need to score 70% to pass. If you have prepared well in the pre-license course, then you should do fine on the exam. But if you don’t pass it on your first try, you have up to a year to pass the exam from the time you finished your pre-license course.
Once you have completed these steps, then you are ready to apply for your license, and begin working with a broker.