Kory's Real Estate Blog

Well, I received the license (in hand) today and went to my first interview at Key Realtors.  I wasn’t surprised to hear that the broker/owner was not enthusiastic to hire students, though she does normally have one on staff.  The last student she hired was apparently a member of at least one social organization in the community (like Knights of Columbus or Kiwanis) and it sounded like he did decently, though he didn’t excel.  So I was being asked who my contacts were, which is apparently (though not surprisingly) very important in real estate.  After explaining to me the MLS/office fees and commissions and asking what I wanted to get out of the job, she asked me to give her time to think about it and give her a call next Friday.

But I’m not just going to sit and relax until then, I’m going to talk to my fraternity’s chapter adviser and another person who frequents the fraternity who works for a family that owns quite a bit of real estate in Macomb (the family’s name was even mentioned in my real estate class just today to my surprise).  Chances are, if I worked for this family, I may be working almost exclusively with them in commercial/rental transactions, and I’d hope that I could get to know what they were looking for in such situations, so I’ll talk to those people and let the broker/owner know what’s going on when I call her next Friday, hope it turns out well, otherwise I wouldn’t expect much.

Other than that, (like I just mentioned) I’m currently taking a course in real estate and am thinking I’ll continue taking the courses in that field, as I’d still ultimately like to open an office when or nearly after getting out of school.

Just checked my bank account, IDFPR just deposited my cheque yesterday, August 25, 2009.  I sent it via Priority Mail on the 15th, they received it on the 17th, and the cheque was deposited yesterday, the 25th, so it took just over a week for them to deposit the cheque.

To my knowledge, I haven’t heard anything from them as of this morning (though I may have gotten a letter from them yesterday, I wouldn’t know if I did or not), either via e-mail or otherwise, but it’s good to know they’re working on it.  I also checked the IDFPR website (license lookup) to see if I’m listed, but still nothing, and I figure this is a long and rather bureaucratic process, so I’m just waiting out it’s completion and will update appropriately.

Since my last update and for quite some time, I have not visited the KGB website.  I did somewhere around three hours’ worth of work and they deposited about $10 into my bank account.  I still would like to pick up some extra cash if I’m not doing anything much more profitable, but I don’t want to get too caught up in it.  At the very least, I’ll try working for twenty hours over the next month and posting how much I earned for that time worked.
As for the real estate license, I filled out and sent all of the forms required to get the license.  I’ve checked my bank account and the check I sent to them (for about $125) to get the license has not yet been withdrawn from my bank account, so I’m guessing it hasn’t been processed yet.  I did send all of these documents via USPS certified mail and confirmed that they did indeed receive the information, so now it’s become a waiting game.  I shipped out the package on the 15th (the day after taking the exam) and they received it the following Monday.  I’m guessing processing is just taking a little while.
Finally, and unrelated (even more so) to the purpose of this blog, school has re-started up again, so perhaps expect updates less frequently (maybe at the rate of one per week, hopefully not fewer).
Anyway, pretty tired now, so going to try to get some sleep.

I passed the state/national exam to become a licensed real estate broker, so now it looks like all that is left is applying for the license, which I plan to do possibly tonight (I’d be licensing myself as a sole proprietorship, I suppose).

The exam was pretty straightforward, the national “simulation” portion included role-playing scenarios in which you had to follow the situation and know what to ask and whom to ask.  The state portion was 45 multiple choice problems that were all very straightforward, all in all, after taking the courses, I’d say the exams were easy.

Now on to getting the license, there’s quite a few instructions on how to do this, so when I’m more relaxed (and don’t have a headache), I’ll probably begin filling out the forms.  Currently (and rather by the seat of my pants), I’m considering filling out the forms in such a way that it looks like I’d create a sole proprietorship, which seems like a good way to begin, as I could always be hired by another broker (I assume).

Well, tomorrow’s the big day when I take the exam to obtain an Illinois real estate broker’s license.  What I’m going to do tonight is review the national simulation (which is online and my teacher gave me copies of some problems that weren’t online), possibly review some of the quizzes I’ve taken and just hope for the best.  I’m feeling pretty confident, but someone who had just passed the test happened to be in the office when I was picking up the transcripts and he suggested I review the simulation portions before testing.  Other than that, I’m feeling good about it and prepared, the exam is at 1:30 PM tomorrow on Washington Street in Chicago.

Other than that, on Saturday I’ll be going on vacation again and then somewhere around the 20th, I’ll be at school, so I’ll update about whether I passed or failed the exam and try to give another KGB-related update before going on vacation, then (depending on how things go) I may update more regularly while in school.

Wish me luck!

And so I passed the broker administration exam, all that’s left is to review a bit and take the national/state exam on August 15th, so now it’s sort of down to the wire.  I started the simulation, and didn’t do too well (was extremely nervous is my excuse, and my teacher reads pretty quickly and jumps ahead of me), I’m going to review a great deal of material given to me by the teacher and the online simulation as well as some of the stuff given to me for the classes in case I need to review.

Hopefully, the fun part is coming up where I have a license in my hand, and I can finally take a breath of relief that the course is over, I’ve passed and all I’ll have to do is keep up with the continuing education (which I very well plan to do), if I choose to use the license, it’d be completely up to me and I could prove myself in the field rather than just a classroom.

I’m feeling good about the broker administration exam tomorrow, the last in the six-part series of pre-licensing exams I’ve had to take at the office.

As mentioned before, I’ve recently grown to enjoy real estate and the idea of aiding people in making what will probably be their largest single investment, I’ve asked the teacher about working at a Century 21 in Macomb and she hasn’t gotten back to me (to be fair, I think she was on a bit of a hiatus over the weekend).  In any case, I’d honestly like to be trained and use the license on a part-time basis over the next few years and will begin actively looking for offers of employment after earning my license.  More on all of this as I learn more, but there’s been absolutely no major road blocks since beginning the course back in March, and now I’m finishing up the course, so kind of getting excited.  Wish me luck and I’ll keep you updated!

Well, my teacher had time for me to take the broker administration exam this morning, it was pretty law-intensive, and I’d suggest future test-takers know the things about independent contractors and employment as well as laws that pertain to escrow accounts.  Also, one fact that caused me to get two questions wrong was that a broker can manage multiple branch offices, I thought there could be one owning broker who could own multiple branch offices, but there had to be a managing broker at each office, this is not true.

The next exam, advanced principles, is scheduled for Wednesday of next week, it is the other important portion that I’m going to absolutely need to know for the state/national exam, but the teacher said that broker administration and advanced principles have quite a bit of overlap, so after studying, hopefully I’ll be able to replicate another 85% or greater score.

After taking the advanced principles exam, the teacher and I are going to review my previous work/tests, and I’ll be introduced to the simulator.  After working with the simulator and (I assume) taking a practice exam, I’ll take the real thing and, upon passing, I’ll have one year to obtain my broker’s license, and I plan to obtain it as quickly as I possibly can because I’m rather excited to complete a milestone and continue to maintain it (with continuing education) after obtaining it, and perhaps even using it.

I finished studying for the broker administration portion today and have asked my teacher if it’d be possible to take the exam tomorrow, she hasn’t gotten back to me, but, considering I e-mailed her at 9 PM, not getting a response is pretty understandable, still would like to take it tomorrow if she gets back to me early enough, though.

The broker administration portion had two major subjects: various equal rights acts (these include protected classes, exceptions and to whom exactly the law applies) and the management of escrow accounts (accounting, record-keeping and when to deposit/withdraw, for example).  Minor subjects covered were the handling of employment and advertising laws (which tied closely with the equal rights acts).

After finishing this portion, I certainly don’t feel confident enough to go out and open my very own real estate brokerage, but I do feel confident in my ability to do so in the future, after gaining some experience in the field.  I may even say I’m confident enough to work as a sponsoring broker under a managing broker, which may be my idea job, at least as I understand the industry so far.

After finishing this portion of the exam, I’ll have one more portion to go (advanced principles) then, after completing that, I’ll take a simulation test, which my teacher tells me will tie everything together, and I assume after taking the simulation I’ll go on to take the “real” state and national exams, after that, I’m kind of unsure about the process, but I believe I’d apply for a license after passing the state and national exams, then I’d be a licensed real estate broker and I really couldn’t tell you where I’d go with it.

Well, wish me luck for tomorrow, I really hope my teacher has time for me to take the exam.

I passed the office’s financing portion of the exam today with an 82% and am feeling pretty good.  In fact, I’m feeling so good, I’m going to start studying now in order to hopefully take either the broker administration or the advanced principles portion of the exam tomorrow (these are the two most important portions of the state/national exam according to my teacher, so this is the stuff I should know inside and out to be effective in passing those exams.

The financing portion was pretty much want I’d expected it to be, different types of mortgages were discussed, the responsibilities of the various regulator agencies was also covered (like the Fed and Treasury, for example) and there was some proration math, so know the terms and and know who gets what when filling out a closing statement.

Well, that’s pretty much it, like I said, I’d like to take either the advanced principles portion or the brokerage administration portion tomorrow, so I’m going to get to studying to see if that’s a possibility, if not, the next exam is scheduled for Wednesday of next week, followed by the second one on Thursday, but time’s getting tight now and I’d like to have license in hand by the time I go back to school (that’s my ideal situation, at least), so to the books, I suppose.