I think if it were a bit tougher.. we wouldn't have such an inundated market now.. that's for sure.   There are MANY weeding 1 by 1.....

Hi  Kaushik!

Thanks for sharing this info with us. Keep posting !

Nalliah Thayabharan

Commercial and Residential Building Inspector

Expert Building Inspections Ltd

My sister-in-law is a loan officer. She needed to get a criminal background check/fingerprinted to get her license. I think this makes sense for realtors as well. Do you want a criminal assisting you with the purchase/sale of your home

Depending on your State- in Florida for example, we have finger printing and background checks. It is one measure to protect the general public. There are also post licensing requirements. There are laws and ethics as well.

As for the number of licensees...yes too many!

It should be harder and more oriented to practical real estate matters. Too much time is spent (at least in California) on things real estate agents have not had to do for decades... like reading plot maps for instance. 

Hi, Kaushik!  I wish the test were more closely related to what we actually DO in our jobs.  Instead, the test is just something you have to pass in order to GET the job, and it seems that most of what you learned for the test is useless.  We learn as we work, in most cases.  I also wish licensing classes would give more info about what it takes to succeed in real estate.  The failure rate is just too high, too many newbies have dollar signs in their eyes and don't realize that they are starting their own business and they will have to invest in it to get it to work.  Very nice post!

I can only speak for Pennsylvania.  Our requirements should be much tougher to get a license.  I think this would discourage many of the "get rich quick" mindsets who flood to the usiness when times are good.

Kaushik, I have never taken the test so I can not speak about it, but what I will say is even if the test is weak at least Realtors have to take a test to be licensed, as opposed to the Mortgage Industry were no test or license is required in many states.  There should be tough tests for both Realtors and Loan Officers, and maybe we would not have some of the problems that exist in both fields.

Katrina - agreed!

Nalliah - My pleasure!

Kristine - Agreed!  Actually, I think licensing for lenders is not compulsory in all states...

Allison - Protecting the public is definitely a big part of it.

Robert - I doubt there are too many who would disagree with you there..

Sarah - Couldn't agree more!

Steven - I think many of the get rich quick folks 'flunk' out quickly....

George - Agreed.  I think we've spoken about this b4 with regards to licensing of mortgage professionals...

I would just like it if they taught you to be a real estate agent in the classes instead of spending 35 minutes discussing riparian rights...when I was getting my license in Oklahoma.  Like Oklahoma has tons of navigable water ways.  Jeez.   Can't remember the last time I used a R-T-S in a legal description. 

How about breaking licensing own to a practical class targeted towards the kind of real estate the candidate is thinking about taking.  Commercial is a great example. 

Chris - Oooh, there is something new.  Nobody had yet commented about separate licensing for commercial versus residential but i think its an excellent point!

Kaushik --- I agree. I have been in Real Estate 12 years now. It seems as time goes on we get more, lets say...less intelligent agents that get a license. I agree, if you can remember something, you can get a license. This needs to change.

Everyone jumps on the band wagon and they think it is easy to get into real estate and be successful. Look how many have failed. The ones that have failed should have never been given a license to begin with.

Along with licensing classes, I believe potential agents should have a four year degree in some type of business background. This is a PROFESSION, I do not think my doctor or lawyer just took classes and passed a test.

Also they need take classes on....BEING POLITE, HOW TO DRESS PROFESSIONALLY, HOW TO COMMUNICATE, HOW TO BE HONEST, WRITING SKILLS, MATH SKILLS, SPEECH SKILLS, and HOW NOT TO BE LAZY.

I think the requirements should be harder and I like the idea of an apprenticeship(not sure how it would work).  I luckily have a great manager and I could call her at anytime when I was new and it was like have a personal mentor.  I give credit to my manager all the time for helping me be so sucessful so quickly. 

Chuck, Just as an aside, I've heard that Lawyers may indeed "just pass the test" without benefit of college if they have the where with all to do so. I don't know of any who have.

Kaushik, I had no idea that you and other agents thought of the test as easy. I've always thought it would be a bear to pass. See what I know? At any rate I glomed (is that a word?) yes, I glomed on to this statistic, 90% of licensees do not renew their licenses. There have been times when I'm sitting in my car and hardly moving along I-17 when I've only wished the same statistic held true for the holders of driver's licenses. Now, that is one heck of an easy test to pass which does nothing to assure anyone the holder of the license has a clue about anything concerned with automobiles or the use of them.  

I like the idea of an apprenticeship because it would protect the public from new agents who have NO CLUE what they're doing and it would cause real estate agencies to take more responsibility for their new hires.  However, I disagree that all or even most failures in real estate are due to easy testing.  The majority of new businesses that fail do so in the first 3-5 years.  It is no different in the real estate industry.  It's not easy money like some think - it's hard work owning your own business.

Chuck - I think you hit many of the high points, ie what agents need to focus on!

Linda - A great manager can certainly help!

Yvonne - Well, let me rephrase a little bit.  There is some wrote memorization involved.  But easy or not, it is definitely not relevant to what we do on a day-to-day basis!

Robin - 100% agreed!

I agree with many of these posts ... the licensing requirements need to be tougher.  I think this recent market is weeding out a lot of fly-by-night agents and the good agents hanging in there. 

I don't think agents need to have a college degree, but they should be required to take continuing ed classes (Virginia requires this) and they need a good broker who will teach what new agents need to know.

I've found most brokers are more interested in the bottom line dollar - rather than making sure the agents know what they're doing.

Great post, and my answer is a resounding "Yes."  All you have to do is think back to your licensing courses.  Remember some of the people sitting in the classroom? I remeber my initial thought was I'm going to make kiliing if this is my competition!  As your career progresses and you start concerning yourself with the betterment of the industry as much as yourself, it's not so appealing to swim in a sea of undereducated and ill prepared agents (none on this board, of course!).  It leaves a stain on the profession and is harmful to the public.  I have posted on other forums that I would like to see minimum transaction quotas in addition to more practical education and higher licensing fees.  Some might accuse me of simply wanting to minimize competition by driving agents out of the industry.  Nonsense.  I am not losing any business to these "agents."  A little quality control would be beneficial for everyone.

On a tangent subject, I'm not thrilled with the new 4 year licensing cycle either.  At least the nonperforming agents scrubbed out in 2 years previously.  Now they hang on for 4.  Yikes.  Sure there is a lot of weeding out right now, but if you go down to any Real Estate school, they are still churning out brand new licensees in record numbers (what the heck are these people thinking jumping in right now?)

Along the same lines, I think there should be some kind of competency testing to renew. If not every time, then at least every so many years. I'm in a del right now with another agent who has been in the business long enough to know better, but who IS NOT doing his job, It's very frustrating.