Real Estate Course $175
Exam Package $90
State Exam $120
LiveScan $40
MLS signup and Supra key $750
Signup expense with broker $0-$250
E&O insurance $0-$1,500
Business Cards $50
8 Open House signs (cannot wait) $40-$60
6 yard signs (can wait) $180-$300
2 Supra lock boxes (can wait) $100 ea (or rent from Board)
Equipment that you must have to be full time:
Lockbox key (Supra - as above)
Cell Phone (may want to consider Blackberry for instant email)
Computer (laptop preferable)
Printer (Multifunction machine including copy, scan, fax and print)
Thumb Drive (1 gig minimum - aka microdrive, stick, portable memory, flash drive)
A couple reams of paper
A good watch
A car that runs (impressive is not as important as it used to be but clean is good)
Notebook / pad of paper something to write on and take with you
Flashlight
Pens, lots of pens everywhere (what good are you if you don't have something to sign a contract?)
Highlighter
Digital Camera
Mapbook
Financial calculator (HP, Texas Instruments BA1 or BA2)
MS Office - minimum Word, Excel, PowerPoint
Email
Website
Winforms (comes with MLS membership)
TP or tissue
Options that will make your life easier:
MS Publisher
GPS
Aircard (connection to internet)
Adobe Acrobat (read, write and edit PDF - many cheap PDF substitutes online)
Car charger for Supra key
Power convertor for car (12v DC to 110v AC) for computer, etc.
Photo manipulation software
Tools of the trade
If you were a carpenter and a potential client asked you to fix a loose board, how would they feel if you said, "I'm sorry. I don't have a hammer. I have to go borrow one from my brother." Do you think you would get the job?
Yet, that is what many agents do. They share an MLS key or. worse yet. don't sign up with a local board so they have MLS access. How can you do a good job without the tools? The answer is that you cannot. Before jumping into real estate understand that you need to have money set aside for your tools. If you don't you cannot be successful.
Your clients are not required to understand that you are struggling, have a full time job, have kids or that you are new to the business. Your family and friends may care, which is why your first few transactions should be with people willing to cut you some slack, but no one else will. You are selling a service that will cost the client pretty much the same regardless of who they use. If you don't have the tools or time or knowledge it takes to serve them well, they will find someone who will.
Loyalty is not assured, it must be earned.
How do I pay for the tools I need?
As a recommendation, if you are transitioning into real estate, don't quit the day job until you've paid for all of the above. Until you have your marketing plan in place and all your tools paid for, stay where you are if you can. Unless you have friends or relatives that are dying for you to sell or buy a house right now, it will take up to six months to get your first deal. Even if you had a client today, it will take at least 30 days to find or sell a property and another 30-45 days after that to close. You can see the timeline issue. You can makes lots of money in real estate . . . eventually.
How do I get my license?
You can take the DRE required college prep courses at college, where you will pay 100 times more for them and take two years to get through them or you can sign up with a real estate vocational school.
We recommend vocational school. Sign up with a real estate licensing school (look to the left for a couple of possible links). The cost will vary, but not by much. You will be required to take and pass three classes. If they have a crash course, sign up for that as well. The crash courses go over what you can expect to see on the State exam and will give you the opportunity to take practice exams, which are remarkably similar to the State exam.
If you can, pick a school that offers open book, online exams. After you pass the exams, immediately disregard anything you have learned. Don't get me wrong. Everything you studied is good information, but what you think you know may only confuse you when you take the State exam.
Did I forget to tell you that there is a State of California exam administered by the Department of Real Estate (DRE)? Click on the CA.gov icon to the left and it will explain all about how to sign up, what the requirements are, etc.
