How To Get Into Real Estate
Whether you’re looking for a career change, to establish a form of passive income, or to transition your current skill set into a new industry, real estate is a great choice! You may be asking yourself, “How do I get into real estate?” or wondering whether you need a real estate license to work in the industry. I’m here to answer some of these questions.
I recently transitioned to becoming a real estate agent in the Bay Area after over a decade of experience in the wine industry. My wine career moved me all over California – from Paso Robles to Napa to Santa Barbara. It was an amazing experience, it taught me how to appreciate the intricacies of my surroundings, and it showed me just how much of a role real estate plays in everyones’ lives. Real estate directly affected vineyard owners’ abilities to create a profit, how people discovered them, tourism, and me, hopping from city to city.
When I was ready to move to San Francisco, I knew that becoming a real estate agent was a natural transition. Just as I was doing in the wine industry, real estate allows me to meet new people, help people make important investment decisions, and get to fall in love with a new location.
The cool thing about real estate is that it is part of our lives every day, no matter what, and there are so many ways to get into the real estate industry before, during, after, or apart from getting your real estate license. Let’s look at a few ideas together!
How To Learn About The Real Estate Industry
If you want to test the waters in real estate before you get your real estate license, you can look for ways to use your current skill set to help brokers and brokerage firms near you. If you’re a talented web developer, you can help real estate agents create websites to showcase their listings. If you’re a marketing professional, you can help real estate agents by managing their social media accounts or designing their advertisements. If you are a certified drone pilot, you can create real estate promo videos for a local brokerage firm.
After applying your current skills, if you still love real estate, you can pursue your license or continue offering these white label services to brokers instead.
How to Get Your Real Estate License
The easiest way to get your real estate license is by taking classes online. The requirements to get your real estate license in California are:
Complete 135 hours of Pre-Licensing education
Pass the course final exam
Pass the California salesperson licensing exam
Choose your employing broker
Complete your Salesperson License Application (RE 202)
Getting your real estate license requires a lot of studying, but once you have it, there are tons of career opportunities you can explore.
Career Opportunities For Real Estate Licensees
While having your real estate license most directly correlates to selling residential real estate, there are a handful of other jobs that your license affords. Some of these jobs require a little bit of further education, but many only require a real estate license. Check out this list:
Commercial Real Estate Agent
Real Estate Investor
House Flipper
Residential Real Estate Appraiser
Commercial Real Estate Appraiser
Property Manager
Leasing Consultant
Commercial Leasing Manager
Foreclosure Specialist
Real Estate Investing
Whether you have a real estate license or not, investing in real estate is a fruitful and rewarding way to get involved in the real estate industry, especially becoming a real estate investor in a busy city like San Francisco.
You can either be an active real estate investor or a passive real estate investor. An active real estate investor purchases a property to flip and sell or rent to tenants. They are very involved in the day-to-day management of the property. A passive real estate investor puts money into a real estate project but doesn’t get involved in the day-to-day. Passive investing also includes crowdfunded real estate investing.
More Questions About Getting Into Real Estate?
You might see houses going on the market every day and think you have to get involved, but remember, real estate is not an easy career. There’s a lot of competition, you have to be a people person, and you have to understand marketing to put yourself and your listings on the top of people’s minds.
If you have more questions about my journey or how to get into real estate, I’ll be doing a series on my TikTok all about getting into real estate, so follow me and ask your questions in the comments!
