Ask any expert in finance or real estate and they’ll tell you again and again that you make more when you hire a realtor than selling on your own. That’s why it’s a smart decision to get a realtor license in the first place. However, without continuing education for real estate agents, they risk losing their footing as they climb up their career ladder.
If you’re a newly licensed agent, get on top of continuing education and best practices to ensure that you build a lasting career.
1. Most States Require Continuing Education
While there’s no standard for continuing education, don’t expect to hang up your reading glasses after you get your license. Most states have requirements for all real estate agents and any brokers who hope to maintain their license.
There are lots of online courses if you find that your workload doesn’t leave time for you to go to a classroom. Taking night classes or online courses helps to work around the tight schedule that agents and brokers have in those first crucial years.
Check out the National Association of Realtors website for a list of continuing education courses offered in each state. These courses get offered in a variety of ways and ensure that you’re on top of your requirements as you grow your business.
Online standalone courses can be as cheap as $15 apiece. While one course won’t give you everything you need to become the perfect agent, you’ll be alerted to best practices and updates relevant to your work.
2. Courses For New Designations
A real estate agent is just one of many possible roles in the world of real estate. Beyond being an agent, there are further designations that qualify you as a broker or give you a license to do other work.
Online courses for becoming a broker have become more common in recent years, offering more agents a broader set of tools to work with.
The courses for becoming a licensed broker are relatively cheap and pay you back tenfold with just one sale.
These courses offer more than just the ability to read the material and learn new tactics. When taking classroom courses, students of real estate get the ability to interact with others, learn new styles, and talk directly to instructors. As you take these courses, don’t pass up opportunities to network
Further designations qualify students to meet higher career goals. By earning your certification online, you’ll become a certified property manager, land consultant, or property specialist. These designations offer new ways to sell and manage properties.
3. Make a Clear Intention
If you want to succeed in real estate, you need to start your firm with an intent that drives you from day to day. Every decision you make needs to align with where you want to be.
Set a few standards of what you want in every sale. If you aim to work in a certain neighborhood, at a certain price point, or in a certain sector, make every sale fit into those criteria. If they don’t, discard that sale as outside of your intentions.
Remain focused on your intention as you build your career in real estate. Check the internal barometer before and after every sale. It ensures that each move you make in your career aligns with your goals.
Work hard to deliver great customer service to everyone who you deal with. Treat everyone well and you’ll end up building good karma as a real estate agent. Honest and trustworthy people aren’t a dime a dozen, so wear your honesty with pride as you deal with each new client.
4. Focus on the Long Term
While you might have some appealing deals in front of you that lead to short-term success, stay focused on your long-term goals. That gives you a competitive advantage over most of the people in the world of real estate. Many people get into the field for just a couple of years and get burned out fast.
By fixing your focus on what it takes to be an entrepreneur, you’ll find each decision that you need to make will build your endurance. Short-term sales lead to short-term results.
Long-term investment means getting to know the neighborhoods you’re dealing in. You’ll learn about the industries that are important in those regions and what the people moving to that region want. As you learn about the local economy and what people want in the region, you’ll become a trusted voice, valued for your knowledge.
As you build your confidence, you’ll build respect from the community. This will help you to get inside info that can lead to better deals and the first crack at great properties.
5. Manage Your Finances
As you build your business, you can easily end up working hand to mouth. A big deal that brings in a $10,000 commission could be followed by a long quiet period with nothing going on.
If you don’t manage how much you’re spending on marketing, research, and staffing, you put your business’s future at risk.
Get an accountant before you start making any major deals. Have someone else handle writing checks to staff. Get someone else to balance your checkbook.
An accountant isn’t as expensive as you think. You don’t need to hire one full-time. You can have someone working for you part-time to ensure you don’t end up in financial trouble. Rather than trying to manage your taxes on your own, hire someone else to do your dirty work.
It’ll save you big in the end.
Continuing Education For Real Estate Agents is a Must
If you want to ensure that you get the most out of your career, take continuing education for real estate agents seriously. Continuing education is the cornerstone of a strong career in the world of real estate. To be the best in your field, stay curious.
If you’re looking to build a business with more agents, check out our guide to finding them.