Just passed your real estate exam? Ready to get your real estate license? Here’s what you do next.

Here are the (usual) steps you take after passing your real estate exam. We’ll go into more detail on each below.

  1. Pick a real estate company for whom you want to work
  2. Get your background check completed
  3. Get all of the needed paperwork from the company you’ve chosen (proof of E and O insurance, Supervisory statement, brokerage information needed for the application…)
  4. Complete an Independent Contractor Agreement with the company of choice
  5. Fill out the applications with the state and submit the needed documents
  6. Look on the licensing website to see if you’re listed as an Associate Broker (NM) and write down your new license number.

Once you’ve got your license number (can happen before you receive your actual license):

  1. Join the local REALTOR® Association for your area
  2. Get your logins for the MLS
  3. Order business cards (if the company you joined pays for the first batch then send them the info needed)
  4. Get signed up for any training classes your association offers or requires (the sooner the better)
  5. Start poking around the MLS and go preview some houses

For this post, we’ll focus on the first item in the do to list above: Figuring out where you’re going to work. But before you do that you may want to consider what you’re hoping to find in a real estate company so you can narrow down the myriad options that will surely be available to you.

Here are some questions to ask yourself before you start your research along with some considerations for each questions: 

  1. Do I want to work from home or have an office I can go into?
    • Think about how you like to work? Are you coming from a 8-5 job where you had to be in the office to focus? Maybe working from home will be a difficult transition and you might need a “Brick and mortar” building to go to to help give you some structure. Maybe you’re already self-employed and have your work space already set up at your house and know you can be self-directed and stay on task at home.
    • Are you comfortable meeting clients at your house or at a coffee shop or do you feel better having an office you can bring them to?
  2. If I do want to have a workplace to go to, do I want to have my own permanent “cubicle” or office or am I happy with a drop-in, co-working kind of space? (Keep in mind, companies with very large offices might need to charge more to help with their overhead).
  3. If I do want have an office I can go into, do I expect it to be a newer office building with state of the art equipment or do I want something more “homey” and a little on the quirky side?
  4. Am I a self-starter and think I’ll be able to launch my own real estate business with minimal training and support? Am I good at seeking out resources to get the education I need to be successful or do I need more of a nurturing and mentoring environment where I have someone to meet with regularly and who has a lot of training resources available to me? Am I willing to pay more in fees to have this kind of guidance or is keeping my fees as low as possible the most important thing even if I have to give up some support?
  5. Do I work well with online resources for training or do I want at least some of my training to be in person?
  6. Do I like a place that has lots of activity and many people around me all of the time (bigger offices with larger buildings)? Or do I prefer a smaller place where there may only be a couple of people at the office at any given time and I might have the building to myself sometimes?
  7. Do I want to build relationships with my colleagues or am I kind of a loner and won’t participate even if there are opportunities? If it’s the later, am I paying for features I won’t use by joining one company over another?
  8. Do I want to work for a locally owned company or a large multi-state (and maybe multi-national) corporation?
    • With a larger company you might have access to more on-line tools, large national conferences to attend, and a company wide culture. A larger national company might offer you the opportunity to get inter-company referrals from out of state and clients might feel (sellers in particular) that a larger company has a better chance of marketing their house inside of the company.
    • With a local individually owned company you might have a more unique and individual company culture with more flexibility in how you run your business including what you charge (many of the bigger companies require you to charge a certain amount and “make them whole” if you decide to charge less than what they dictate), possibly less technology tools, a non-corporate culture, and some clients are focused on keeping their money local and fear that (accurately) with a franchise or chain at least some of the money paid to the company (from your company split) is going to go out of state.
  9. Do I want to be able to set my own rates and charge clients based on my own ideas around compensation? or do I want the company I work for to dictate what to charge?
  10. Do I have any personal values that I want to make sure are honored at the company? Am I going to be comfortable and feel safe in the culture of the places I’m considering based on the above answers?

Once you’ve answered the above questions for yourself you might have a sense of what kind of environment you’re looking for in a real estate company. This will help you narrow down which companies you might want to interview before making your decision. That’s right, you’re interviewing the company as much or even more than they are interviewing you. Companies need new people to grow and you need a company that’s going to be a good fit for your needs and help you build a thriving real estate business of your own. Remember you are not likely going to be an employee. You are going to be an independent contractor building your own real estate business. Picking a company that will help you grow and learn how to do the work for yourself is critical to your success.

Here are some questions you might want to ask a prospective company you are interviewing:

How many brokers do you have at the company?

How many do you hope to have in the future?

What kind of training do you offer to new brokers? (weekly meetings, one-on-one training, group training classes, self-guided materials…)

If there’s a building, what hours do I have access to the building?

Is there a receptionist at the building during business hours?

Do you have any regular meetings or events? Are these mandatory? Are educational events recorded and posted somewhere that I can access them at a later date?

What is the “company split” and how does that work?

Do you offer “Freedom in Compensation” where I can decide what I charge or does the company have a policy of what I have to charge?

Do I have to “make the company whole” if I don’t charge what you prescribe?

Do you have contract templates (with actual content, not just the company name filled in) accessible to brokers?

Do you have any TC (Transaction Coordinator) services available to brokers?

Are brokers allowed to work with a TC from the very beginning of my career? (for the record, I do not recommend you do this. You must first learn how to do the work before you can delegate the work).


Finally, take a look around the site and see if Talia Freedman and Co. might be a good fit for you. Below are some of the reasons Talia Freedman and Co is unique and can support you in achieving your real estate career goals:

Non-corporate culture with an open, affirming and accepting environment

Referrals from Talia Freedman

Cost sharing for printing of “For Sale” signs (when branded to the company)

Free set of 250 business cards upon signing (when branded to the company)

Access to up to 2 company “For Sale” signs making listings more affordable

The safety to be yourself so you can do your best work

Flexibility in setting your own fee structure with clients

Hybrid work environment with a homey office and online resources

Co-working spaces, small conference rooms, and private work spaces

Access to detailed info sheets, to do lists, Talia’s personal templates, and more

Monthly (minimum) company training meetings

Training videos and meetings uploaded to the shared Google Drive

One-on-one training with Talia Freedman herself

Shadowing opportunities with Talia Freedman

Regularly scheduled coaching (mandatory for Training Program and optional for Maintenance program)

Access to listings to do open houses

Quarterly (at minimum) check ins with Talia

Lunch of coffee with Talia individually once per year (at minimum)

Want more info or want to meat with Talia to discuss making a move to the office? Reach out to Talia here and set up an appointment to discuss next steps.

 

(Note – The author of this post is Talia Freedman from Talia Freedman and Co. a residential real estate company in Albuquerque, New Mexico and serving the Greater Albuquerque area from Santa Fe to Belen and as far east as Moriarty. Some of the information below is specific to the area. Other states and areas may have different practices, laws, conventions or methods regarding the real estate profession).