The question I have for you today is: How much continued education do you seek between license renewals? In Washington, real estate licensees are only required to complete 30 hours of CE each licensing (60 to get the license and 60 more for your first renewal) and that renewal is every two years. That's really not much- 15hrs a year; 1:15/mo; 18min, 45sec a week; a little more than 2min, 36sec a day- but it explains a lot of the agents (not you, of course) that we meet in this industry and then never hear about again...
The state only mandates that 3 hours of that be a specific curriculum of current issues in real estate- The remaining 27hrs are electives- Things like Paper-Clip Sorting, How to Arrange Seating in Your SUV for Brokers Open Caravans, and other stuff that, while cheap and satisfies the clock hour requirements, probably won't help you serve your clients any better. I even have mixed feelings on salesmanship classes that qualify for CE credits. The ability to sell an Igloo to an Eskimo may better your bottom line, but it doesn't alert you to contract law changes, new environmental regulations, and other factors that a lack of knowledge of could prove detrimental to your clients. Yes, a certain amount of what we do on a daily basis is coerce our clients into doing something that they will thank us for later, however is that enough to be able to claim "I took the required CE in the spirit the law mandates it for"?
The reason that the law requires CE for real estate licensees is to insure that the public has a reasonable expectation of skill and diligence with the real estate community. Would you want to know that your doctor had opted to take "History of the Hypodermic Needle" instead of "Dangerous Drug Interactions" because they both offered the same clock hours and Hypo History was cheaper?
So I ask, do you seek only to meet the Clock Hour requirements, or do you seek to become better at your profession? This isn't always an easy question to answer, however a little introspection can point you in the right direction. Do you stop going to clock hour classes when you reach your requirements? Do you wait till the last month before renewal to take any classes? Do you shop for courses based on price, or on relevance to your field of expertise or interest?
Your wonderful personality may be what draws clients to you, however it will be the level of expertise that you have above and beyond that of the average licensee that, once shown to your client, will have them sending you referral after referral. Stay trained, stay sharp, and stay in business.
Here's to your continued success!
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