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I’m a realtor with a company I truely love but I believe the internet is the wave of the future for real estate. Does anyone work for Realestate.com as a Realtor and how do you like it? Realestate.com used to just sell leads, it seems now they’re trying this where they are actually a broker. It’s a good idea but I’d be interested to talk to someone actually taking advantage of their opportunity.

Ed,
I think you are wise to check out a new company based on agent experience rather than company promises. It’s just the sensible thing to do. Having said that, it seems to me that their web site would feature the names of their licensees. Why not just contact the individual agents, either in your area or, to factor out the possible competitive bias, in another area of your state but outside of your marketing area? Broadcasting a questions like this has a major flaw: no agent is going to bad mouth the company s/he works for and any good Realtor is going to be cautious of the ethical implications of disparaging another agent or company. Then there are the issues of anti-trust violations and civil actions for libel and anti-competitive behavior.

Good luck. I hope it works for you. I am still with the traditional model because I think it suits my professional background and style, but I am always open to new ideas . . . like appearing on Yahoo! ANSWERS

I would like to know what a person has to do (tests, certifications, etc…) to become a realestate agent… and is that the same as being a broker?

Am in the Houston area if that makes any difference

Real Estate Agents much go to school to learn the laws concerning the sale and purchasing of land within your state.

You will have to pass a state exam. Being a Broker is different. That is someone with experience as a real estate agent and who has additional schooling and eventually is qualified to own their own agency.

Lets say im the investor. Who plays the most important position on my team in the business? Is it the Realestate lawyer, the broker or the accountant or the bank? Im tryng to get and understanding of the priorty rolls of this positions in the order of whose most important in the relationship with me the investor and maybe some insight on cost difference between them.

Let me tell you about the people I consider important on my team I have 3 businesses by the way a tax deed and lien investing business a rehab business and a rental business.
Here are a list of people on my team
Lawyer
CPA
Managers
Foreman= runs my rehabs
title company
appraisers
inspectors if you use them
government people can be important too like the building inspector,zoning board people,gov officials in charge of you getting the ok to do project, political people become small % partners can help slam through the most difficult projects
bookkeeper.
general labor: works to do unskilled labor like clean up and painting and makes simple service calls, may also be called maintenance
realtor if you use them
broker or banker if you need them
private money lender or hard money lender if you needed one
advertising firms: to move your reale state and get it sold
Marketing person in your business if you have one hired on.

Sub contractors to include the following below
a) heating, cooling guy
b)electrician
c) plumber
d) concrete,excavation guy, also does landscaping
e)rooto rooter= they unplug the plumbing lines when they freeze or clog up different then plumber
f) some might use roofers and siding people I keep that in house but ill just say rough framers and finished carpenters just to be on the safe side
g)Distributors of building materials and other important suppliers
h) such specialty shops like window repair,or hardware store or other places that fix equipment you need.

In my business I needed a good lawyer, foreman ,managers,CPA, book keeper because the rest of my parts where interchangeable. A good group of these people can really make life a lot easier. The larger your business grows the more parts to your team that need to work well.
A general labor guy that screws up a small drywall project probably wont hurt you as much as a lawyer can on a realestate case. So you see what I am talking about.
I hope this helps you out also for ever person or persons and skill i have listed i might have 3 backups on the list.
If the plumber screws up or doesn’t show up you got to have a back up plan! You are the ceo and when your business grows large enough you may consider people on your team like an operations manager or a marketing manager that manages teams of other professionals.
The key to the team is to let them run the business so you can stay creative and keep building your business. The team must bring in there part of the profits to make it all make sense. Watch the team close and as it grows your leadership skills must grow too. The complete role of your team is important just like in football if a lonely corner back takes a play off the touchdown the other teams receiver can mean a loss for your team. This is the Ceo’s job to make sure his team is effectively moving forward towards the objectives of the business in there goals to serve or and make profits while doing so and also make the right adjustments along the way when needed. CEO must understand everyones job , while you don’t know necessarily how to do those jobs you do need to understand when that part of the team has produced or not produced results. Also to understand what impact moving forward your changes will make in your business. I hope this helped.

i know to you that it may sound like a stupid question but i just realized that i wanna be a real estate agent . im trying to learn every thing i can about realestate while im still in my teenage years thanx

Not a stupid question at all. Yes, in many states the broker can act as a buyer or seller’s agent. In fact, think of a broker as being qualified by the state to represent clients on the purchase and the sale of property along with the ability to also manage other agents and review contracts.

would a team comprised of an appraiser and a building inspector be more fruitful to potential clients such as mortgage lenders, real estate brokers etc.?

I am a appraiser and a home inspector and neither create work for the other. Mtg lenders dont hire home inspector and real estate agents dont hire appraisers. Home inspectors work for buyers and sometimes agents refer home inspectors. The only ones the hire appraisers is lenders. If your thinking about being a appraiser, you better look into it. It takes no less than 2 years and can take as long a 4 years to become a appraiser and you get paid slave wages for your training time. You have to take 250 hours of classes at 150 per 15 clock hours and you must have no less than 2500 hours in the field and only 1000 hours per year will count and you must work under a Certified Appraiser. If you live in the mid west or on the east coast a appraisal goes for around $200-300 on the west coast we get around $400-$500 per appraisal and as a trainee you would get between 30%-50% of that. Also after 01/01/2008 the laws are going to change and it will be harder to become a appraiser, with some state only allowing Certified appraiser to do appraisals and not allowing licensed appraisers to do appraisals. And to become a Certified appraiser you must have a degree after 01/01/2008. Hope this helps.

i own many web sites ( like MinutesOnly.com , TemplatesPaPa.com .. and 173 more)
i would like to open a company which combine inventory from many realestate brokers ..,) plus i own nice domains whic i have ideas how to build companies on the i have web development skills and business orientation, i’m looking for 20-100k . referral commision is 10 %

Not supposed to do want ads here. You will get kicked out.

are their free resources for Kansas Pre Exam?
Any way to insure my passing the Kansas state exam?
Should i get a broker license instead if i plan to open my own company?
What expenses shall i expect to opena RealEstate business?

Help

Victor

In most states, you can not get a Broker’s license, unless you had your Real Estate license for two years.

YES FOR ONLY $1,500.00 YOU TOO CAN SELL REAL ESTATE! This is the great lie all realtors are told! Yes, for $1,500.00 you can take classes (at least that’s the cost in Birmingham, Alabama) to learn everything you need to get your license, but not much on what it really takes to sell homes.

Most experienced agent do not want to bother with newer agents. When I first started, over a year ago, I was with a different company (Birmingham’s largest real estate company at the time) and I remember asking some of the older agents for help. While a few would help, for the most part, I was told, you just got your license, you should know what you’re doing. Now I’m with Keller Williams Realty, North America’s fastest growing realty company, and since it is the only realty company with profit sharing, every agent in the office has a financial gain in how well that office does, so everyone is more then willing to help out, but more on Keller Williams later.

First we will talk about what it takes to be a realtor, then we will talk cost – for if you do not have what it takes, you will be throwing money away, no matter what the cost is. If you have what it takes, it is well worth the cost!!!

You should be out-going, not afraid to talk with strangers you meet in the mall, stores, etc. You can’t get all bummed out with rejections, trust me, you will get allot of rejections in this line of business. You also need to be a good teacher as well as a good listener. And most of all, if you can remain calm when the world around you is going to pieces, you will make a good realtor.

If you read some of the questions and answers from Yahoo, you will see EVERYTHING is the realtor’s fault, and allot of times, this is true, not because realtors are bad people or trying to pull something (although some do). It is because the realtor did not take the time to explain to the Buyer/Seller how it all works, then if something goes wrong the client has no clue and feel they have been cheated.

Also, before I forget, EVERY realtor, works for a Broker, that is just how it works, but you will learn that in realty school. In Alabama you can not be a Broker until you been an agent for at least two years

COST

My first year I invested a total of $5,000.00 (Spread out over the year) over and above the cost of my classes and I only pulled in $3,000.00. For a total net income of minus $2,000.00 plus or minus a few hundred. This year, so far, I spent $2000.00 and made, to date $30,000.00. Next year I plan on doing even better!

As you can see, it cost money, but the rewards, well, they speak for them self!

Most real estate companies have what is called OT time (Opportunity Time). The way this works is, you are the agent of the day. You sit in the office and answer the phone. You mostly end up setting up showings for other agents listings, but if a call comes in with someone looking to sell or buy a home, you get that lead, remember, it is only a lead, it is up to you to turn in into a sale or listing. This is only an OK way to get clients. The BEST way is through marketing yourself. That is mainly where the bulk of my budget goes, to marketing myself.

If you remember earlier, I said each Keller Williams agent has a stake in how well the office does, I think, most Keller Williams agents are helping other people not just because of the profit sharing, but because this is just the type of people Keller Williams attracts! Keller Williams culture and belief is

WI4C2TS
W – Win-Win – or no deal ( make it a winning deal for everyone)
I – Integrity – Do the right thing
C – Commitment – In all things
C – Communication – Seek first to understand
C – Creativity – Ideas before results
C – Customers – Always come first (This one I truly believe in)
T – Team Work – Together Everyone Achieves More (another one I truly believe in)
T – Trust Starts with Honesty
S – Success – Results through people

Keller Williams has some GREAT in house training on how to get listings and market yourself, just to name two of its many classes. Best of all, if offers passive income through profit sharing!

Real estate is not for everyone, but it is a good business to be in, and yes, it is not a job, nor truly a career, it is a business you need to work and grow. True, you work for a broker, but you work as an independent. Most Brokers could care less if your selling or not, you pay a fee just to be in the office on top of your commission splits, so the brokers are not loosing any money on you. The most common split is 60/40 – you keep 60 and the broker gets 40. Some companies will let you keep 95 to 100%, but the monthly fee is like $1000.00. Each office is different. Keller Williams offers 70/30 splits for new agents, (Monthly fee, called a desk fee is $30.00- once again each office is different) then after you paid a set dollar amount for the year ($19,500.00 for my office) then you get to keep 100% for the rest of your anniversary year. You can, however start off at a 90/10 split, BUT then you must guarantee to pay that set amount. So for me, If I took the 90/10 split and only earned enough to have paid $17,500.00 in commissions to my office, at the end of my anniversary year, I would have to write a check to Keller Williams for $2,000.00. It is for this reason a 90/10 split is not recommended for newer agents, in fact, some Keller Williams brokers will not let new agents get the 90/10 split for that very reason.

Interview with Keller Williams Realty
The only real estate company that offers profit sharing
GREAT company to work for, GREAT training on how to market yourself, in any market.

If you would like more info on a career with Keller Williams Realty, go to my web page http://www.pauld-kw.com and on the top you will see "Sell a Property" Click on that, then click on "A career with Keller Williams" I think you will be very impressed. You can also e-mail or call me and I will be more then happy to talk to you about Keller Williams or send you some more information. pauld-kw@hotmail.com

BEST of luck with your new career!

i am thinking off buying bank owned homes. my realestate broker told me wait. please give me your suggestion

Historically, in the first quarter after an election (no matter who wins) housing prices increase. With interest rates being as low as they are now you would be silly to wait to buy.

I read in a disclaimer for my Online Real Estate Broker courses that you can only complete 2 courses every 5 weeks. (Im signed up with Allied if that matters). You have to complete a total of 8 courses…so is it true that it will take me 15 weeks of complete all of the required courses. Has anyone taken less tme and gotten away with it? Is this an outdated requirment?

The problem is…I am fresh out of College and am a fast learner….so it would really only take me 8 weeks at most to finish them.

2 per every 24 hours. I started out
in CA. Their school policies may limit you but the law does not to that extent.

maximum of eight (8) hours per calendar day –is a standard.

so, that 2 classes is one limit and
in AZ, we have 9 hour limits.

Im graduating hs this year and looking into working as a realestate broker as soon as the economy improves. Which city will be better for this job and for someone just starting their life?

Miami was booming before the economy took a dump. It will boom again after things settle down.