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).

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!

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 just began studying the financing portion of the exam and am considering making a at least a part-time college job out of being a sales associate.

The financing portion is going like the other two brokers portions went so far: I’m able to quickly hammer through the problems while occasionally (about 1/5 problems) making a mistake.  Unfortunately, these first three portions were the “easy”/non-state portions, and the next two are the “harder” portions that include most of the information that is going to be on the state/national exam, so I’m still not quite sure what to expect.

Ultimately, though, with the results from my studying so far, I’m considering the possibility of making the license into a part-time job while at school and I’m going to talk to my teacher about the possibility of being employed while in school (at the Century 21 office in Macomb) and over the summer (either at the Century 21 office in Oak Lawn or Macomb).  I also plan to talk to the local office in Macomb, Key Realtors (I’d actually prefer to work for a more local office, but, because of where I got my training, I think the chances of being hired by an affiliated office would be better than a local office), especially if the teacher would be unable to secure anything for me at Century 21 (the school I’m taking these classes at is affiliated with Century 21).  I’d like to get some experience in the field with the prospect of picking up some extra cash on the side, through I’d be willing to perform menial tasks for relatively cheap.

I’m thinking if I can begin working now and gain some experience while in school and during some time after school and perhaps go on to open my own office in the future, but that’s too far in the future to speculate with any precision, anyway, I don’t even have a license yet, and first thing’s first!

Yea, I know this is going to sound like an advertisement or something, but I’ve actually been (practicing) day trading in the forex market.  So far, 75% of my trades have been successful and, starting with $25, in one day I’ve kicked that number up to $34, so not bad I’d say.  Most of my trades stay open for less than an hour, and I have one trade that is currently long term (days, weeks, possibly months, whenever it’s stop is hit is when the trade will be closed).

That’s pretty much the reason why I haven’t updated my status on the appraisal portion of the broker exam that’s coming up, it has quite a few pages of material and I should definitely give it some thought, but have been wasting time with the above nonsense.  The teacher said she’s going to give me a quick review before taking this portion of the exam, so hopefully that’ll help, as the quizzes don’t appear to be overly difficult (at least one is exactly what I’ve taken before, for the salesperson portion).  As usual, I’m expecting to be prepared to take this exam (hopefully more so than the previous one) and I’ll again pass it.  I have, unfortunately, been contemplating delaying the acquisition of my broker’s license until winter break (December-January), but I’d still like to be at a milestone (like having completed all of the office’s tests, for example) before school begins on August 20th.

Wow, I just did something I almost certainly shouldn’t have done: began search the Internet for people who have failed the real estate broker’s exam.  It seems there are quite a few people out there who fail this exam, it sounds very difficult; however, the material I’ve gotten from my school does not make it appear to be very difficult at all.  I’d like to know what the rate of failure in Illinois is exactly, but imagine it would be difficult to collect data from the various schools.

The material I received from my school includes much of the Real Estate Act of 2000 and some sample quizzes, which are not very difficult, and I’ve already began and am about half way done with the first package.  I believe myself to be well-versed in contract law and general business law (as I took a college course in this subject), and have noticed that much of the material covered on the quizzes includes such material.

Given the fact that I’m going to take the national and state exams for both salesperson and broker at the same time, I hope I’m able to remember the important legal information as well as be able to do the math necessary (which includes both financial and property calculations).

On seeing all this information about people failing, I’m going to try to ignore it as best I can and continue on with my course of study, I’m confident in my ability and believe that when, not if I pass the exam, the difficulty of the exam will work to my advantage, as it has the ability to ultimately limit my competition (if real estate becomes my profession) and boost my resume should I pass.  I can say that I’ve read the book and the material, reviewed the book and material and have done everything I believe necessary to pass the coming exams, and if I fail, the margin will be thin and recovery will be possible.

Well, I’ve run into something that may be somewhat interesting: I am preparing to take my salesperson license exam with my school (like I said, first I take it at school, then I take the state’s test).  Here’s the story.

I’ve read the book and am about to complete all of the quizzes given to me by my school for obtaining a salesperson license (essentially, I have completed all of the necessary steps to become a salesperson thus far), so now it seems I’m faced with a few options: I may take the salesperson exam now and obtain a salesperson license, then continue on with my coursework, take the broker exams and become a broker.  Using this method, I could take the exams on two separate days (one day to obtain a salesperson license, then a month or so later, another day to obtain a broker’s license).

The alternative method (and the method which I’m likely to use) is taking all four exams on one day.  The exams do have similar material on them, and it is likely that it would be advantageous to take the exams as a cluster, as it also promises to be the smoothest way to get things done.  Will update when my teacher gets back to me with my available options.

I’m referencing this to determine what my options are, and my interpretation may be incorrect, which is why I asked the teacher.