3 ways that prospective agents take way too long getting their real estate license

Day 4 of 30 – Robert Earl’s Prospective Agent Mentorship Guide – Digital Agent Show

In my 20 plus years of mentoring new agents, I have found three key areas where prospective agents take too long to make these decisions.   

They get stuck in a mode I call “Paralysis via Analysis.”

People that fall into these traps lower their overall chance at being a successful agent significantly. 

Because they don’t know what they don’t know, they get stuck.  As I explained in Day 3 of the 30 Day Mentor Guide, they end up setting their GPS for the wrong destination. 

The three areas where they take too long:

• Selecting a real estate course.
• Completing the class.
• Taking and passing the exam.

Let me explain why each one of these is an issue.

Selecting a real estate course

In one of my follow up questions to prospective agents, I always ask, “Have you selected a class yet?”  And the number one answer is, I am still researching and trying to decide. (Even though I have already sent them my recommendations, they are afraid they are going to make the wrong decision regarding the school they pick.)

This decision is made easier when you understand the purpose of real estate schools and classes. 

Schools are accredited and approved by the state that they offer courses in.  If the state has approved them, their curriculum is satisfactory for you to become a licensed agent. 

The real estate pre licensing classes are not going to teach you how to sell real estate.  They leave that for after you get licensed.  The purpose of the course is to present you with the information and ensure that you satisfy the number of hours required by the state.  

You will need to memorize the information that you will need to recall (multiple choice test) to pass the final course exam and state/national exam.

The best decision you can make is to select an online course that includes a exam prep module.

The reason this is the best:

If presents all of the required information in one presentation.  When you read the materials online, you are given credit for the time spent.  (In a classroom setting, you do not get credit for the time that you read the textbook). 

It allows you the flexibility of your time to complete the required hours as soon as possible. 

The Exam prep gives you the sample test questions in the same format as the final exam so that you can best prepare to pass it on the first attempt.

All of these reasons make the online course format, like the ones offered by The CE Shop the best decision you can make.

Completing the class.

Prospective agents take way too long to complete the class.  

The main reasons that we hear why this occurs.

They signed up for a classroom course and they have to wait for the school to start the next course and the school is not going to do so until the class is full.  They also miss a classroom session and have to wait until the next time that the course is offered to attend a make-up session.  (I made a video about this very subject that you can see on YouTube)

The student does not time block for the class and lets life get in the way.  Online courses allow the flexibility of taking the course anytime day or night, but the student has to actually open the computer or phone and take the course. 

Even when taking an online course, the student takes too long to move from chapter to chapter in the materials.  Because of this, they forget what they learned in chapter one by the time they get to chapter ten and have to go back and re-read or review the materials in order to pass the exam.  

These delays are frustrating to the student, and cause a good number of them to never complete the course or worse yet have to pay an extension fee for the course to complete it.  

You have six months to complete the course, but there is no reason to take longer than 15-30 days.  That is the timeframe you should schedule for. 

Taking and passing the exam.

A number of the real estate school provide me with a notification that the student completed the course, but I find out that they never take the state / national exam or they wait so long to take it. 

There are a number of reasons why this occurs that you can avoid.

The students did not take the course focused on the passing of the exam.  Let me explain.  I get messages from students asking me if this or that will be covered on the test or they go down a rabbit hole about a specific fact or term.  I ask them, have you taken any of the exam prep practice exams and the answer is mostly “No.”  After they take a practice test or two, their entire focus changes.  They don’t try to memorize everything in the book, just the portions that could be covered on the exam.

They are afraid of the exam.  When you think of a final exam, you usually think of essay questions and difficult questions.  The real estate exam is multiple choice questions only.  Take a look at this sample question.  

This information is covered in the materials and you will discover it when you do your reading to complete your hour requirements. 

Students don’t block time to study.  They get done with the course and then they don’t follow the same pattern of blocking time to prepare for the exam.    

One last reason that they may take so long is because the real estate course is actually dry and disappointing.   Students are all excited to get into real estate and learn about working with buyers and sellers and then the course ends up talking about subsurface rights.  WTF.  I am constantly advising students to just look at the course and the exam as a necessary evil and part of the process.  It is like eating the vegetables on your plate before you get dessert.  You might as well get it done as quickly as you can and get it out of the way. 

Delays in selecting the course, completing the class and finishing the exam can start the prospective agent out on the wrong path and increase their chances of becoming one of the 87% of new agents that get out of the business in the first 5 years. 

These delays lead to a erosion in the prospective agents:

• Action Oriented Approach
• Confidence
• Money

Real Estate, more than any other industry that I have been involved in requires an action oriented approach.  Being decisive is like a muscle.  It can be built up, but it can also wear down over time.   Getting ready to get ready to get ready has ruined a number of careers before they even had a chance to get started. 

Real Estate also requires an extreme amount of confidence on behalf of the agent, students and prospective agents.  Delays in the schedule with the course and exam can erode away at the confidence of the participant, leading to them second guessing themselves and future decisions.  Another reason that a mentor is so valuable.

You don’t yet know the daily duties of a real estate agent, but you can use this rime period to develop the habits of following a structured schedule.

Time is money.  Any delays in selecting the class or completing the course or exam can postpone getting licensed and your ability to start working with clients and cashing commission checks.  Your savings needs to be reserved for the post licensing phase as you are learning how to sell real estate and not the pre licensing phase that should take no longer than 30 to 45 days in total. 

Bottom line.  Select an online course with an exam prep module.  Set the time aside to complete the course hours and take the sample test modules and then take and pass the exam as soon as possible.  This will avoid unnecessary frustration, erosion in confidence and unwanted expenditure for class extensions or paying for expenses without a stream of income.