I went along to an information night put on by the Professionals about becoming a Real Estate Agent. I'm contemplating it as a potential career change but wondered if there might be other benefits to doing the study and becoming registered even if I didn't pursue a career as a REA.
The course costs $4,000 (Cert IV in Property) and takes six weeks full time so the total outlay would be $4,000 plus wages lost over six weeks.
However, the benefits I can see are:
1. Qualifications to sell your own home and save on REA fees (could make back the cost of the course after selling one home).
2. Knowledge to do accurate evaluations on houses before/after renovations (better knowledge to tell whether a house is a bargain or not).
3. Learning about how a REA thinks/works to help on negotiating purchases of my own.Has anyone completed REA training for their personal investment purposes? Is it worth it?
Hi Sparkys
I completed my RE certification about 6 months before entering the industry. (Five day course, bout $600)
At the time i found it extremely informative and did think that having a basic understanding of the legislation surrounding Real Estate would benefit any investor who was serious about running a professional portfolio.
Having said that, i don't know i would recommend doing the full licensing course. There is a heap of subjects on things like OH&S and Trust Accounting that would be of no real benefit to an investor.
What i would recommend is either just picking a few of the subjects, or attending a few CPD courses, specifically those around the new 2010 Residential Tenancies Act.
I often find myself talking to investors who want to buy / sell an investment property, but who have no real understanding on the legislation surrounding the sales process when there is a tenant involved. Even from just an ongoing property management perspective, there is a bunch of stuff that investors need to know, but don't…
G'day Sparkys.
At $4000 and 6 weeks for a Cert IV in Property (Real Estate) sounds like you want to do it in SA. I have completed the Cert IV for the knowledge and can tell you categorically that the ONLY true way to learn the tricks and ropes of a REA is to be one. I did for a few months, listed and sold a few houses, and I learnt more in 1 week in the field than my nearly 7 weeks to complete my Cert IV.
Honestly, you would be far better off looking for a traineeship with a REA and get the Principal of the Agency to pay for the course and then teach you everything they know.
The other significant problem you will face will be Licensing – particularly with anal OCBA if it's in SA. New legislative reform in the Real Estate Agents Reform Act 2008 has completely changed the complexities of who can be a REA and the requirements to do so. Issues such as RLA No.'s to be displayed on all advertising, photgraphic ID and NPC's (National Police Check). In my humble opinion, save your time and money and look for the knowledge from forums sach as thisand the marvels of the World Wide Web!
CHEERS!
TCTC62 wrote:I have completed the Cert IV for the knowledge and can tell you categorically that the ONLY true way to learn the tricks and ropes of a REA is to be one.I agree and I think this holds true for a lot of real estate type professions. It’s on the job where you learn the ropes.
Cheers
Jamie
Jamie Moore | Pass Go Home Loans Pty Ltd
http://www.passgo.com.au
Email Me | Phone MeMortgage Broker assisting clients Australia wide Email: [email protected]
I went the other way.
Plenty of experience with property and then got my sales ticket.
While it (the ticket) has filled in a couple of blanks I can't say the 'ticket' has added to my expertise as an investor.
Hello Sparkys,
a couple of quick points for consideration.. generally speaking I think there may be a few additional cost (looked into something similar myself)
1) I dont think many agents sell their own homes. Not because they cant, but because it becomes hard to be objective and thus a good negotiator for the deal. I think in some states there are some beneficial interest issues to consider also.
2) If you want to be licensed to sell, ontop of the licence course fees you have the licence registration fees (not sure in your state, not cheap in mine)
3) alot of the information RE use to assist in property values is available to the public in the same way it is available to those licenced… for a priceTC62 has some good points about the tenacy laws this would be very beneficial. I think you can download the act for free off the net.
Perhaps you can get hold of an RE's notes from the licence course and read the sections that will help skipping the cost and time on those that are not beneficial..
Thanks for the input everyone.
It's given me a few different things to follow up, which I will now.
Cheers
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