What is Real Estate? 

Real estate is essentially your property, the building, and the land that sits on and below the property. Examples of things that would be apart of the property would be its natural resources such as crops, minerals, and nature.

Understanding Real Estate

People often use the terms land and real estate interchangeably, but there are some distinctions between the two.

  • Land refers to the earth's surface. This includes everything from down to the center of the earth and upward to the space above, including the nature around it.
  • Real estate is the land, plus any permanent man-made additions. An example of such would be houses, sheds, etc...

How to Get Into Real Estate?

The most common misconception that is associated with real estate agents is that they earn a ton of money for doing practically nothing. Being a realtor is great if you like houses and enjoy working with different types of people. This sounds great, but it’s not always the dream job some imagine it to be.

There are many considerations and you should take into account these main things:

  • 1. Your State’s Requirements
  • 2. Take a Pre-Licensing Course
  • 3. Take the Licensing Exam
  • 4. Join a Real Estate Brokerage
  • 5. Grow Your Real Estate Business

Your State’s Requirements

Not every state has the same legal requirements for becoming a real estate agent. Therefore, There’s no such thing as a national real estate license; you must meet your state’s unique licensing requirements. So before you decide what pre-licensing course to take and how to take it, you’ll need to know what the state that you want to work in requires from you.

Take a Pre-Licensing Course

You can take a course either in an in person classroom or online setting. The content of each course varies depending on what state you live in. However, it should be consistent in person or online. You can expect to learn about topics such as finances, roperty appraisal, and the legal aspects of real estate.


Take the Licensing Exam

There a planty of online resources to help you as you prepare for the pre-licensiing exam. As you prepare, you should not have a problem going through the exam as you then know the material. When you are ready to take the exam, finding a test center is the next step. Once you are in contact with them and register for a exam you should be take the exam.

Join a Real Estate Brokerage

As a real estate agent, you will most likely work under a supervisor who is licensed by the state to see that you follow ethical and legal procedures.

Grow Your Real Estate Business

If you decide to go the route of starting your own business, you might want to make sure that you are networking with other agents in your community. Keep up with the latest real estate trends and your real estate career could be the pathway to a fulfilling future.

With this job, the best way to describe it would be that there really is not an average day. You will do some prospecting, do some paperwork, work on client relations, managing transactions, and the amount that you do will depend upon your clients. Maybe one day you will spend an entire day prospecting, maybe you will be handling a last minute problem. Its hard to say that you will ever know. A lot of time will often be spent looking for clients. Everyone normally thinks that its all opening homes and doing tours. That is only a small fraction of the job. Marketing is huge with this job and it takes time to learn how to be successful at it.

One of the most fulfilling parts of the job is meeting some awesome people. Being able to learn about their own fascinating stories and what lead them to the very moment they decided to sign the paper. As much as any kind of milestone, you are proud to be apart of that-- especially towards first time buyers. Overall, it is not for everyone. Real Estate Agents are often required to be creative and yet operationally minded. It’s certainly never boring and you better be patient, flexible and ready to flow with the waves of change in the economy and your clients’ changing directions and minds!