• Your one stop for college news and resources!
Beginning a Real Estate Career While in College

Beginning a Real Estate Career While in College

A real estate job is an excellent choice for any college student. If you have a real estate license, you’ll be able to collaborate with experts and begin a career while finishing your course of study.

In this blog, we’ll go over how to use your education to set yourself up for career success. We’ll also show you how to enjoy working as a part-time realtor while you’re still studying.

How to Start a Career as a Realtor as a Student

You need to be at least 18 years old to become a licensed real estate agent. Therefore, you can apply from your first year of college. There are multiple factors to consider before applying, however.

Firstly, you must have a strong work ethic to study and work as a realtor simultaneously. Age might pose an issue in some cases, considering that people can doubt the abilities of realtors in their early twenties. On the other hand, younger generations are well-versed in social media and marketing tools.

Social media management and online presence are key factors in selling properties, as today most people spend hours online and marketing is crucial for any business. Moreover, millennials are at the top of the homebuyer demographic, so students are more likely to understand the buyer’s psychology and needs.

Getting a License

First of all, you must get a real estate education. Secondly, you need a license to start working as a realtor. To get a license, you have to go through a background check, pass a state licensing exam, and sign with a brokerage. There are some additional specific requirements for obtaining a real estate license depending on the state you live in. Therefore, we advise you to get more information about licensing in your area.

The specific requirements vary depending on the state.

  • Age Requirements
  • Residency requirements
  • Educational requirements
  • Background check requirements
  • Real estate education requirements
  • State examination requirements

Maintaining Your License

Professional qualifications need to be renewed frequently, as do real estate licenses. You need to renew your license periodically. States regulate the frequency of necessary licensing renewals. Most states require licenses to be renewed every two years, but some states have different rules.

You must be sure to keep up with the license renewal deadlines, so you can calmly continue your professional life. Some states have shorter renewal times at first, but the time period of renewal becomes longer after a few renewals.

Before you head into the real estate career, ensure that you have researched the license renewal process in your state.

Securing a Broker to Practice With

Several states require a real estate license applicant to show proof of sponsorship from a real estate broker. Real estate brokers can operate on their own, however, real estate agents are not allowed to work solo. Maintaining a partnership with brokers is usually better than being a freelance real estate agent.

If you wish to showcase rental properties, properties on sale, or investment property opportunities, you need to work with a broker.

Therefore, researching partnership opportunities ahead of time is encouraged. Gather information about local brokerages and their reputations. Research their sales, learn about agents associated with these brokerages, and choose a broker that’s the most suitable for you and your work process.

Brokerages offer different deals, payouts, and work hours. Attending real estate agency events and getting more information from professionals is advised. You should secure a deal with brokers that can be advantageous to you. Brokerages even offer mentorships and learning opportunities to young professionals. So, you should choose wisely.

After receiving your license and gaining a partnership with a broker, you will have to get errors and omissions insurance. The insurance is there to protect you from clients who falsely accuse you of negligence. Some states require applicants to have insurance even before taking exams. As such, you should research the requirements for insurance before starting to study for real estate agency exams.

Working as a Part-Time Realtor While Still in School

Realtors have the opportunity to pick their working hours and search listings on their own time. Therefore, you can study and work as much as you would like. However, it’s important to negotiate with the real estate agents that you work with and the brokerage that took you under its wing.

Being a real estate agent is one of the most efficient ways of earning a living while still in school. Moreover, you can create advertisements for social media in your free time. As a young person, it’s likely that you will be familiar with online advertising and social media property marketing. You can create these advertisements in less than an hour most of the time.

According to experienced property managers, property marketing is very simple and it doesn’t cost much nowadays. Therefore, you won’t have to make a lot of expenses from your payouts. You won’t even have to get stressed as navigating and creating websites and sharing listings can be a lot of fun if you enjoy such a business.

As a young part-time realtor still in school, managing your career will not become stressful and exhausting while studying. You can choose your hours, create inexpensive social media advertisements, and work with successful mentors.

SEE ALSO: Gratitude Gets the Job: The Art of Writing a Job Offer Thank-You Letter

Time-Management Tips for College Students

Six Helpful Time-Management Tips for College Students

College students are forever sprinting through their packed schedules, getting assignments done, meeting family and social commitments, working part-time and lots more. While they have the freedom and flexibility of college life by their side, it’s essential for them to be able to manage their time well.

If you’re going to be starting college soon, or are already overwhelmed by the buzz, here are six helpful time-management tips for college students.

  1. Use the Priority Matrix

It’s difficult to accomplish anything when you have too much to do in too little time. The best way out is to think about your priorities, identify the important ones, and approach them one-by-one.

Use Eisenhower’s Urgent/Important Principle. List all to-do activities and categorize them into any one of these four:

  • Important and urgent
  • Important but not urgent
  • Not Important but urgent
  • Not Important and not urgent

Categorizing your tasks this way will help you identify ones you need to focus on and ones you need to ignore.

  1. Avoid procrastination

Procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing tasks, and we’re all guilty of doing this—especially for things we think are going to be unpleasant or difficult. While you’re technically setting yourself up for more stress by putting off a tough chore for later (because you’ll eventually have to get it done and you could be underestimating the time or effort that the task needs) procrastination also makes you unproductive!

Called the Zeigarnik Effect, the tendency to experience intrusive thoughts about something that you pursued and left incomplete can keep you from accomplishing other tasks that you undertake. To avoid this, try this helpful time-management tip: break up your to-do list into smaller actionable items and refrain from jumping to another task until you complete the one you started off with.

  1. Join a study group

Joining a study group in college has numerous advantages and is brilliant in aiding time-management. By learning with other students, you can try out different learning methods and see which suits you best, fill in learning gaps by comparing notes, and break the monotony of studying alone.

Most importantly, joining a study group can help you manage your time effectively by serving as a motivator to stick to your study schedule. Also, since you’ll be committed to spending a certain amount of time studying, you’ll cover your syllabus quickly and efficiently.

  1. Use technology

There are several apps out there that can help you juggle through family and social commitments, work and coursework!

  • To-do list apps like Listastic, 2Do, and EpicWin are digital list trackers with varying features that can help you manage your time effectively.
  • With productivity apps like Evernote, you can keep your notes and ideas in one place; Remember the Milk helps you set up multiple-platform reminders, and 30/30 lets you understand how long you take to do things.
  • RescueTime and AutoSMS can help you reduce on-screen time, while stickK.com can keep you motivated to achieve goals.
  • Online calendars can help you collaborate on projects easily.
  1. Learn to say no

Saying “yes” can be crucial to success—but so is saying “no”. If you’re constantly saying yes to all ideas, opportunities and tasks that come your way, you’re not valuing your time or managing it correctly.

Of course, it can be difficult to tell your best friend that you can’t accompany them to the party they were looking forward to attending, or tell your professor that you can’t review their manuscript as you have to study for an exam. However, being honest about your commitments and schedules will help them understand your situation, and most of all, will help you achieve the more important tasks effectively.

Remember K.I.S.S.—Keep It Simple and Short! Be assertive and communicate your answer clearly, but also be respectful of others.

  1. Get rid of clutter

Clutter in your bag, on your desk, or in your wardrobe can build up stress, cause you to waste time looking for things you need, and make you unorganized. In addition to this, mental clutter can reduce decision-making skills and give way to procrastination.

Use the SPACE approach to help with time-management and do away with clutter:

  • Sort: Group belongings into categories
  • Purge: Do away with broken and useless items in each category
  • Assign: Give sorted items a permanent place to be stationed in
  • Containerize: Storage containers, bins, and shelves can make organizing stuff much easier
  • Equalize: Spend some time once each day or each week to go through your belongings, to purge, and to return items to their dedicated space

You now know what you need to do to stay on top of your assignments, work schedule and other commitments. Get started on implementing these six time-management tips for college students and you’re sure to see a positive change!

Author Bio:

Korie a full-time writer currently working with Only hangers and usually writes about living and lifestyle, she likes getting perspective on various topics of interest, which range from bullet journaling to creating the perfect terrarium!