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Real estate can be an extremely rewarding career. You have the opportunity to help others find the home of their dreams, sell their current home as they look to move on to the next chapter in their lives, or assist them in achieving their financial or professional goals by building an investment portfolio. You’ll undoubtedly meet many interesting people while helping them along their journey, and these connections can become both meaningful and long-lasting, especially if you build a strong base of repeat clients.
In addition, real estate offers you the potential for a very lucrative income while providing flexibility that very few other industries possess:
- You can work from any location that is most conducive to maximizing your productivity
- You can set your own schedule and work during the hours of the day that fit your lifestyle
- You can work as a solo agent or be part of a real estate team
- You get to choose the clients you work with
- You have the opportunity to specialize in a wide range of niches, ensuring that you can find the aspect of the real estate industry that most aligns with your interests, skills and strengths
It’s also important to understand that as a real estate agent, you’re building your own business. This is one of the reasons why you have so much flexibility, and it’s also one of the primary reasons why you have the potential to unlock a very lucrative income once you become established and have developed a solid client base. But patience is required as you build your new business. Success rarely comes overnight.
Whether you’re an independent real estate agent or you work as part of a real estate team, it can take time to grow a successful real estate business. You’ll need to pay your dues and work hard as you’re starting out, but this is also true of any new business in any field. If you build your business properly, your efforts will be well worth the effort. Once you’ve become more established, the hours you work will typically reduce and you’ll find that you can earn a good living that affords you the lifestyle you desire.
When you’re considering a career in real estate, it’s important to have a clear and realistic idea of how long it will take to build a successful business. While there are a variety of factors that will impact how quickly you become successful, there is a fairly standard timeline that you can expect as you go from closing your first deal to having a thriving real estate career.
Timeline for Getting Your Real Estate License
Before you can launch your new real estate business, you must first get your Colorado real estate license. This process typically takes between two to four months and involves the following steps:
- Complete all education requirements
- Pass the Colorado real estate exam
- Complete a background check
- Join a real estate brokerage
- Purchase errors and omissions insurance
- Apply for your Colorado real estate license
The primary factors dictating how quickly you can move through this process are the length of time it takes to complete your coursework and whether you are able to pass the real estate exam on the first try. If you take in-person real estate courses, the timeline for completing your education requirements will largely be dictated by the pacing of your classes. One benefit of choosing online real estate classes is that you can work through the course materials at your own pace. If you are extremely motivated and have a significant amount of time to devote to your coursework, you can complete your online real estate classes rather quickly, allowing you to expedite the licensure process.
The good news is there is no limit to the number of times you can take the Colorado real estate exam. If you fail the exam on your first try, you can keep taking it until you pass.
At Colorado Real Estate School, most of our students pass on their first attempt, and over 95% of our students who must retake the exam also pass. Our TrueSupport Pass Guarantee™, which provides additional support services and extended access to course materials for any student that doesn’t pass on the first try, significantly improves your chances of a successful outcome the second time around.
Once you’ve completed the steps listed above and received your real estate license. You can begin your new career.
The First Six Months as a New Real Estate Agent
Keep in mind that this phenomenon isn’t unique to the real estate industry. Any business owner in any industry will find the first 6-12 months to be the most challenging, as it typically takes time to establish your business and build a client base.
The first six months of your new real estate career can typically be viewed as the learning stage. You’ll need to invest time learning a variety of important aspects of the industry, including:
- How to effectively market your real estate business
- Home selling tactics that will help you achieve the best results for your clients
- Current real estate market trends in your local area
- The nuances and specialized knowledge associated with any real estate niche you choose to focus on
- How to effectively run your own business
As with any new business, the learning curve and the tasks necessary to get established will require a lot of work. In addition, it’s important not to put too much pressure on yourself to achieve lofty earning goals right away. Your focus during these initial six months should be setting your new real estate business up for success and learning as much about the industry as possible so that you can become good at your job.
The good news is that once you begin closing deals, this hard work will pay off in a potentially lucrative income. However, as we mentioned earlier, patience will be necessary at the beginning. Getting clients can take time, and very few deals are closed during this initial stage of your career. But the work you put into marketing your business during these initial six months will start to pay dividends once you have a few clients to work with.
Next Six Months as a New Real Estate Agent
During this time, you should start to see a return on your efforts building your new real estate business. Most real estate agents have generated a few clients by the end of their first six months, and these clients should make it easier for you to start closing deals during the next six months.
While you will start to generate income during this time, it may still be somewhat modest since you’re still building a client base. Most real estate agents find that closing these first few deals is very motivating and helps them see the fruits of their labor start to translate into some initial success. However, it’s important to keep this initial success in perspective – you should view these deals as a stepping stone to becoming truly successful as your business continues to grow. In addition, you can expect your income to continue growing over the next few years as you have more clients to work with and become a more skilled and experienced real estate agent.
Second Year as a New Real Estate Agent
By now, you should have your marketing efforts refined to the point where it helps you generate clients. In addition, as you start closing deals, you may start receiving referral clients. As a result, it’s common to see earnings start increasing in your second year. In general, new real estate agents experience a 10-15% increase in revenue on average each year starting in year two.
Years 3-5 as a Real Estate Agent
Years three to five are typically where most real estate agents start achieving greater levels of success and earning a more lucrative income. By this time, you should have gained the expertise necessary to deliver excellent results for your clients, and you should be able to start establishing yourself as a top real estate agent in your area.
In addition, your referral network should be substantially developed by this point in your career. This will allow you to generate enough repeat and referral clients to maintain a thriving business. As a result, you can start focusing more of your time on increasing the success and profits of your real estate business.
By year four or five, you can realistically expect to have 80-100% of your business coming from referral and repeat clients. This significantly reduces the amount of time and money you spend marketing your business. By cultivating a strong referral network that helps you generate clients, it will unlock the flexibility and income potential that make real estate such an attractive career path for so many individuals.
Years 5-10 – Achieve Your Desired Business Growth Goals
Are you happy with your lifestyle and income? If so, you can continue along the same path. Many people choose a career in real estate due to the flexibility it affords you. If you’re enjoying the work-life balance you’ve created and are making enough money to address your financial needs, then there’s no reason to make any changes.
However, if you have more aggressive career growth goals, this may be the time to start pursuing them. Some real estate agents decide they want to grow their business by starting their own real estate brokerage. This would involve a significant amount of work, as you’d need to scale up by hiring staff and opening an office. Running a brokerage isn’t for everyone, but if you’re looking to unlock even greater earning potential and you’re willing to put in the work (and take on the responsibility) associated with running a brokerage, this may be an excellent path to pursue.
Colorado Real Estate School Can Set You Up for Success
If you’re interested in pursuing a career in real estate, Colorado Real Estate school can set you up for success. Our online real estate courses cover all the essential information necessary to pass your real estate exam and build the foundation for a thriving career.
You’ll benefit from comprehensive content developed and taught by local, licensed real estate professionals. This ensures all our online real estate courses contain the most up-to-date information about the latest trends impacting real estate agents in Colorado. Our online format also makes it easy to work through the course materials at your own pace – complete the courses quickly if you have a lot of time to devote to your learning, or move through them more slowly if you’re trying to balance your studying with the demands of a full-time job or family responsibilities.
In addition, your learning experience will be enhanced by our VideoConnect Success Learning System™ containing the largest library of video content available. Enjoy highly engaging video lessons that provide an authentic classroom experience in the comfort of your own home.
At Colorado Real Estate School, our team is committed to your success, and we go the extra mile to nurture your new real estate career. You can take advantage of the following offerings to elevate your success:
- Our industry leading real estate exam prep courses provide supplemental coaching and provide you with important tips to help you pass the Colorado real estate exam.
- Our TruSupport Pass Guarantee™ comes with all our online real estate courses and provides you with additional support if you don’t pass your exam on the first try. You’ll receive extended access to all course materials and a customized study plan created by one of our coaches to help you master the concepts you find the most challenging, increasing your chances of success the next time you take the exam.
- Our continuing education courses are the most authoritative and comprehensive in the state, ensuring you have access to all the knowledge you need to succeed as you grow your new career.
Contact us today to learn more about our online real estate courses.
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