Online Education Programs and Degrees is partnering with Career WebSchool to offer online real estate courses
Is taking a distance education real estate course better than a live school?
That depends on a few factors as well as how you view success. Online schools will save you driving time and the hassle of listening to lectures on your course. Also you can do all quizzes and tests online which will save you time compared to a live school. First find out if the entire course you are going to study is online or if only part of it is. Having the book is common even if you are taking an online course and is a great reference. Typically once you’re done you are sent your certificate from the school that you need to supply the state so you can take your state exam.
Some disadvantages of an online school are you don’t get the one-on-one guidance from a trained professional. Perhaps you are the type of person that learns better when someone is actually walking you through the course. I think both options are good and it really depends on how comfortable you are with either method.
Is accreditation or approval Important when it comes to choosing a school?
The most important thing when looking at accreditation is to know what accreditation means. Accreditation mean that they school typically has to live to up higher standards than what is required to do business in their state. Accreditation is not given to a school by the state; typically it is given to them by a governed body from the Department of Education in Washington. Approvals are given to a school by the state. For real estate you need to make sure the school is approved by the state. In California it is the DRE www.dre.gov. In Texas it is TREC. It is not necessary for a school to be accredited but it is necessary that they are approved in their state.
Typically accredited schools do perform at a higher level than non accredited schools. Colleges are all accredited and need to be held at higher standards than any other form or learning. We get this question asked a lot to us and I always tell views of our website that first they need to make sure the school is approved and has a good BBB rating. Then check for the different types of accreditation and exactly what it means to be accredited. The final step is to check out how many satisfied students that school has helped. Are they are a new or established school in their state?
How do I promote my new real estate business?
If your at this point it means you passed your real estate license so congratulations. Having a good solid foundation and plan before you start is extremely important to the success of your career. It all starts with a good solid marketing plan. Marketing yourself and your business is they key to a successful career. You need to remember that you are in fact selling yourself in real estate, not just a client’s house. Being professional and marketing aggressively will be a must in your new career so lets get started with what you need.
The first part of promotion is to figure out who you are going to focus on? That is who is your market and how are you going to sell to them? Are you going to focus on selling single family homes, condos or larger complexes? Are you going to focus your selling efforts in one area of town or in a particular association? A good starting point is to start small so you can really work an area. Be sure to create some door tags that you can go around your neighborhood and start to brand your new business. The biggest thing in real estate is you need to stand out from your competition. I know in my area of town I get tons of flyers, door tags, etc. What I would look for is how can you be different?
One area that is commonly missed is your local home owners association. Every association has a President as well as a board or committee. It would be beneficial to be associated with them so you now everything that is new and exciting that is going on in your area. You can also get involved in the local community paper. Perhaps you can be a guest writer about real estate or just as an advertiser. Rates are typically cheap and this allows you to get noticed in your area.
A new practice that I’m seeing more and more, and it seems like a great idea is to sponsor garage sales. This sounds weird at first, but what you do is advertise that you will set up all the signs and place an ad for the client in the local paper about their garage sale. Advertise that this is a 100% free service. After the sale you can follow up with the homeowner and this gives you a great opportunity to introduce yourself and chat about the homeowners needs, perhaps even give them a gift. This is just the start to a successful real estate relationship. Anytime in the future when it comes time to sell your home you’ll remember the realtor that helped you out.
For the advanced real estate marketer
This section is for the advanced marketer and should be researched before implementing. Everyone has heard of search engine marketing. This is when you use the power of the search engines like Google and Yahoo to promote and advertise your business. Both engines offer advertising options and the most common type of advertising is what they call keyword advertising. With keyword advertising you as a real estate agent would bid on real estate related keywords such as: real estate agents, homes for sale in New York, ect. Any type of keyword you feel that is relevant to your business. When the searcher conducts a search for these key terms your ad shows up and it takes them back to your website where you can collect their personal information and give them a call.
Oh I did not mention that you should also have a website? I know it is hard to believe people would actually try to conduct business in today’s world and not have a website. Creating a website these days is pretty easy. Now one thing to remember about paid advertising on search engines is that is can become very expensive. Be sure you have a budget in mind before you start. When looking for a website you can go on the web and conduct a search for website templates. What you’ll find is places that will even host your website as well as give you a template you can modify for your new site. It is important that you have a website and if used properly you can make it work for you.
Is this a good time to become a real estate agent?
We hear it time and time again “The real estate bubble is going to happen”. Is this a good or bad thing? Well if you’re a home owner your value of your home will be decreased. If you are a buyer this is great news as you can now purchase a home at a lower price. So as a real estate agent what does it mean to you? For starters you need to focus on selling homes, not about what the market is doing. If real estate is booming people are buying and selling homes and if real estate hits a low people are now losing their homes and other are capitalizing on the recent drop. Either way you are in a great position as transactions are taking place. Of course things are easier when the market is up and everyone is buying homes but you need to be able to play both sides.
If a home costs $250,000 and because of a recent drop can only sell for $200,000 your only out $1500 of commission. Is that enough to put you out of business? Also you can’t decide to sell real estate only when the market is good because by the time you leave real estate and want to get back in you have already been replaced by another agent working your territory. You need to focus on a long term solution, remember this is your career; this isn’t a one time only 1 year job. Stay with it, go to seminars, get additional training and work hard.
Do I need to renew my license every year?
All states have different requirements but they do involve you renewing your license. This is done so you stay on top of any changes your state has in rules and regulations. The cost of the renewals are inexpensive and won’t take you long to complete. When you enroll in a school you should ask them what long term renewals you’ll need to complete and how much they are. Most renewals can be done online in short amount of time. Also be sure that your license is up-to-date and doesn’t expire. Remember you investing a good amount of time to get your real estate license and you don’t want to lose it.
