The Actual Process it takes to become a Real Estate Agent that people don’t tell you about (with prices of everything).
(3 page read)
I’m going to go through step by step all of the niddy griddy details of what it took for ME to become a real estate agent and share this since this something I was really looking for when I started but couldn’t get a straight answer out of anyone. This doesn’t mean everyone is going to go through the same process. I also had to do things the hard way since I had no one in real estate to guide me through anything.
Table of Contents:
1- 75-Hr Course Exam
2- State Exam
3- Joining a Broker
4- Getting started at your broker/Joining a team
5- Productivity Coaching Program
6- Leaving Real Estate
7- Timeline and Prices of everything I paid for
[75-Hr Course Exam]
First and foremost, you have to choose a 75-hour course to take your exam. Theres many different options out there. I went with Real Estate U since it was cheap, $113 on Groupon. I found it to be a very straight forward, easy to follow along course. Every chapter comes with a new instructor and you watch videos of them lecturing. They did a fantastic job teaching and I wish I could have each video saved onto my desktop. Because even though you pay for the course, after a year you no longer have access to it. The course took me the entire month of May 2021 to complete. I flew by it fast but took handwritten notes of everything. I was doing it every single day for hours. At the end of each chapter (about 20 total), there is a quiz. Some Chapters were broken down into sub chapters of 3-4 each. Each quiz ranged from typically 20-50 questions. All answers were on Quizlet (which is why I was able to fly by so fast). I made 2 2-inch binders and printed out all quizzes, pdfs and documents from the course which this specific course comes with a LOT of. I wanted to be as prepared as possible.
At the end, there is a final test that you take online, (which is also on quizlet). Then theres a final course exam that you have to take in person. Its once you pass THIS exam (in person) that you’ve now completed the 75-hr course and receive your certificate and may apply for the STATE exam. The price for the course exam was $30 for me however prices varied from being free to around $100 depending on the location you chose. This exam was pretty much an accumulation of questions chosen from all of the chapter quizzes. Which is why it was extremely helpful to print them out and study each question one by one until I memorized them all.
So after completing the course at the end of June, I didn’t take the in person final course exam until beginning of August, an additional 2 months after completing the course. It was the summer, I was going on vacation and didn’t realize it would take me about a month of studying before I was ready. You receive your results right then and there and then you can register for your State exam. You can technically register for your State exam anytime you want, however you don’t know if you’re going to pass the course exam so it wouldn’t make sense because then if you fail you have to reschedule an appt for the course exam before moving on to the state exam. I scored a 90% (68/75 questions), went home and scheduled my State exam.
[State Exam]
I didn’t realize the wait time for a seat was so long. I had to wait 3 weeks out to take my State exam, which I was really upset about but quickly realized it was for the best. I paid $15 for it. Studying for this exam: finding practice state exams online was impossible. Theres websites with a few quizzes and questions but nothing like a solid practice exam that I was looking for. I realized my only chance was to have to buy a practice book on Amazon. I paid $20 and trust me, you’re going to NEED it. Every question in there was something I’ve never seen before. The state exam is a completely different animal than the course exam. If it wasn’t for that book I would have failed. It comes with 3-4 practice exams of 75 questions each. I don’t know exactly what I got on the exam since they only tell you Pass/Fail. However I just know that I passed by the skin of my teeth. I was one of the last ones to complete the exam and was very unsure if I passed or not. But I passed on the first try! So I took the exam end of August and got my results 2 weeks later, in mid September.
[Joining a Broker]
I ended up joining a broker 2.5 months later due to other things I had going on in my life. However lets go through the process. I started looking for a broker mid November, 2 months after receiving my license (really wish I didn’t procrastinate so much). I had no idea where to go, no guidance from anyone. I looked up brokers near me and started calling. They took down my name and information and said they would have the broker owner call me back. I never heard from any of them again. I gave it 2 weeks. At that point I started to lose a little hope thinking, is it this hard? Am I going to have to beg someone to join their broker? After that I did some more searching and found a very reputable broker near my house called Keller Williams. I inquired online and got a call the very next day about coming in to meet. We met a few days later and the office, the people, the structure, was everything I was possibly looking for. I was very nervous for the interview thinking I had to put on my best face and show, but it was very casual and laidback. The lady I had talking to me (they never used the word ‘interview’ once), was my mothers age and made me feel extremely comfortable. The only thing she asked me was “Why Real Estate and why now?” and the rest of it was her talking. After some thinking about it, I officially joined them about 3 weeks later. One of the biggest things that attracted me to them was their training programs and how much help they seemed to give their agents starting out. So right when I joined they sent me 2 invoices, one for about $600 for all of the onboarding fees and the other for about $300 (MLS fees), which you have 30 days to pay. Its $110 annually but an additional $200 for the first time you join.
[Getting started at your broker/Joining a team]
When I joined they gave me an entire checklist to do which consisted of making accounts for literally about 10 websites, (not joking), adding people to your database, writing up your biography and taking headshots for your business cards also with other misc things. The accounts are mandatory to do but the other things listed are just to put you on the right path. All of that took about 2 weeks to actually complete.
Besides that checklist, after I joined I was honestly so lost. The exam prepares you for almost nothing in real estate when it comes to real life. KW has trainings everyday which are about 1 hour and they consist of different people talking about different topics. I attended a few of them after I officially joining and quickly realized that these ‘trainings’ weren’t going to help me so much. I needed someone like actually holding my hand. So I joined their Instagram page and started privately messaging the top producing agents saying “Hey, I just joined KW, and was wondering if you had any advice for a brand new agent starting out”. They answered some questions I had and started explaining things to me. One guy told me about this “team” he had and gave me his number to give him a call. I had no clue what a team was. I looked up a few youtube videos and quickly understood that a team is basically a broker inside of a broker. Theres many different teams which consist of the team leader and several agents underneath them. After everything I gathered, I realized joining a team was going to be my best bet, because without one, I’d be a lost puppy. Literally if someone came to me tomorrow and said I want to sell my house, I’d have no idea where to go or what to do. Keep in mind, you have the option to go solo as well. So in the beginning I said screw the extra commission split, I know nothing right now so what do I have to lose. I talked to him on a Sunday and the next day I was officially a part of his team. There is no separate cost to join a team.
Plot twist. After a few days of being on his team, his communication drastically changed from being responsive, excited and welcoming to barely responding, super distant and made me think like what the hell is up with him. So the cherry on top was when one weekend we were supposed to do open houses. He was going to let me know the details as he stated 3 different times in text. After that I stopped asking because I didn’t want to be a nuisance. The day came and I didn’t hear a word from him. It came closer and closer to around the time I had an idea the showings were going to happen and still nothing. I got all dressed up, did my hair and makeup and cleared my whole day just to wait and wait on him to send me the details. They never came. At night he messaged me about something else to complete some misc. work the next day and completely ignored the elephant in the room. To which I called him out on it and he gave several excuses before actually apologizing to me. It was right there that I knew I didn’t want to be on his team. I had a little sliver of a thought of maybe starting over and forgetting about it if he just came and apologized to me with a good excuse, but the fact that he tried to hide it and it felt like such a forced and meaningless apology just sealed the deal. So I left his team and decided to hold off looking for trying to be on another team all together and decided to go the coaching route.
[Productivity Coaching Program]
So this is something that was barely explained to me and had it was, I never would have tried to even join a team to begin with. I didn’t know I had this as an option at all and learned about it through the grapevine- honestly shame on Keller Williams for that. So to give a quick explanation, by joining a team, you’re under your team leader and they give you leads, however you have to split the commission with them, usually something like a 60(you)/40(them) split right off the bat and THEN the brokerage split. With the coaching program, which is completely free by the way, the coach, takes 10% only out of the first 3 deals and then after that its your decision if you want to stay in the program or not. If you do, he continues to take out 10% of each deal. If you don’t, then you’re on your own and no more split besides the one with the broker.
Naturally I’m an extremely independent person who enjoys being alone and doing things on my own without anyones help. So when I heard about the PC program, I was sold, and just mad that I wasted what was just a week (thankfully) with that douchebag of a team leader.
So I’m not sure how other KW offices do it, but for the PC Program here, theres zoom meetings about 3 times a week for an hour and there are only about 5 people give or take and the coach. Its very intimate and you basically ask any questions you want and do a lot of role playing with scripts. He’ll even give you phone numbers in your area and you’ll call people live in the call to practice.
[Leaving Real Estate]
I did find the PC program helpful. However, all the work in real estate comes down to YOU. They can give you all the tools but finding your own clients, if you’re solo, comes down to you and only you. The only way you’re given clients is if you join a team, but expect to have 50% of your profits taken away from every deal, and that’s not even including the split the brokerage takes.
I joined KW about 2 months ago from this day and already realized that real estate is not for me. I’ve taken on another project of starting my own business. Will be leaving KW after this current deal I have goes into contract. It’s an apartment deal which after I get paid, will cover all of the fees I paid to join KW, putting me at a break even with this whole entire thing. Which I’m content with.
In conclusion, real estate in my opinion is one of the toughest careers out there. You can pass the exam very easily and fast and start. However when you do, you know absolutely nothing. The exam teaches you ZILCH about writing contracts, filling out paperwork and documents, negotiating, what to say on the phone, how to cold call, how to do showings, etc. You will find yourself with a brand new list of 20 questions every single day for a little while because you’re a lost puppy that was thrown into the fire. I’ve tried out many different routes in my life, however this is one of the only careers I could say that passing the course taught me and prepared me little to none for real life application.
Another thing that REALLY ticked me off about my broker was that, in the beginning, everyone was extremely kind and friendly to me. I thought I hit the jackpot in brokers honestly. That quickly quickly changed after I gave them all the money they wanted. I would email, call, text the managers and staff for questions about whatever, and I’d get no responses from anyone. I could tell they didn’t even care about me anymore after I got settled.
The last thing I didn’t like immediately about this job is how they teach everyone who first joins to contact anyone and everyone you know. I had a slightly different approach and used my 1000 social media friends for this. I contacted them all (the same message) informing everyone I know that I’m a real estate agent and if they know anyone looking to buy or sell to contact me. Actual message was a tiny paragraph. Mind you, I haven’t contacted any of these people in either several years, or actually at all. I felt slimy doing so and felt like an MLM person trying to get people to buy things. However 95% of people replied very happy for me and told me they would keep me in mind. This is actually how I got my one (and only) deal. But it took about 300 messages for me just to get one yes. And that’s for a roughly $1,000 commission check. Now just imagine making this your life time career and having to hustle and grind like a vulture every day looking for your next prey just so you can bring home an income and put food on the table. Sounds like fun right?
I would say if you’re going to join real estate, try to have at least a part time job for the first year because you will be making nothing. And you will find out rather quickly if you like it or not. People reading this might very easily say that I didn't give Real estate a chance or even enough time at all. I agree with you on this. However I saw much more opportunity in my other business and decided to put al of my eggs in that basket. Along with everyday slowly being pushed away further and further from the real estate world after learning the ropes more and more, the decision for wanting to leave was easy to make.
Timeline and Prices of everything I paid for:
Fees before joining the broker: $178
- 75-Hr Course: Started May, completed beginning of June; $113
- Final Course Exam: Took beginning of August; $30
- NYS Licensing Exam: Took end of August; $15 and $20 for Practice Exam Book
(Received Results 2 weeks later )
Fees after joining the broker: $1127
- Real Estate Salesperson License: $55 ($65 as of 1/21/22)
- My brokerage onboarding (one-time) fee: $125
- LIBOR Dues (annual fees): $557
- MLS Dues; $310 ($110 one time fee: 200 annual fee)
- E&O Insurance and Tech Fees: $55 per month
- Annual Associate Renewal Fee: $25
I paid $1305 up to this point. Other mandatory expenses that I didn’t pay for are Headshots ($100-200), Business Cards (~50-100+). It was this point that I slowly started reconsidering staying an agent so held off on these things.
Each year after the above fees, I will be paying $1442 every.single.year. to stay a member. Mandatory Annual Fees:
- LIBOR Dues: $557
- MLS Dues: $200
- E&O and Tech Fees: $660 ($55 x 12 months)
- Annual Associate Renewal Fee: $25
As well as the $65 renewal fee every 2 years for your license.