How to get your Real Estate license and become a Real Estate Agent

What's up you guys? It's Graham here. So if you didn't already know, how I make most of my money is by working as a real estate agent, and I do that full-time. I've been doing this since 2008, and one of the most common questions I get is, "Graham, how do I become a real estate agent? What's involved with getting licensed? How do I go about doing that?"

So I'm going to be addressing all of that in this video. If you're totally new to real estate, a real estate agent is someone who's licensed to represent buyers and sellers when it comes to buying or selling a property. This means that I can list a home for sale, or I can represent a buyer in negotiating the transaction, drawing up all the paperwork, and essentially helping someone sell their home from start to finish.

Now I'm not paid a salary, and I'm not paid hourly. I'm paid 100% on commission. To be honest, this has been one of the most fun careers I've ever had in my entire life, and I can't imagine doing anything else other than working as a real estate agent and buying homes on the side, because it's something I love so much, and I'm so into it.

Like, you know how some people really dread going into the office on Monday? Well, I feel the exact opposite of that. I actually really look forward to going in the office and having it be a Monday because it means I get to do more real estate. I get to see everybody in the office, and it's something I just look forward to doing every single day.

So these are a few of the things I like the most about being a real estate agent. The first is that you don't need a college degree, and this is big for me because I never went to college. Whatever job I wanted to pursue, I needed something that didn't require a degree to get into it.

The next one that I really like is that you get to make your own hours and work when you want and for how long you want. Generally, you end up working a ton of hours, but these are hours on your own schedule. So it's not like you have to work from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. If you want to, you can work from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. If you want to work from like 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., I mean, you really get to plan your own schedule for the most part.

All of your success is really 100% on you, and it's up to you to dictate what you want to do with your time. I also really like that you don't have to be in an office all day. I think I would just go crazy if I were forced to sit at a desk from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Just for me, I don't like that.

I like the fact that most of the day I'm out seeing really cool houses. I'm meeting with clients, I'm negotiating deals. There's a lot of different things going on, and every single day is different. There's not one day that's been the same in real estate.

Now, I also really like that there isn't a dress code. You can pretty much dress how you want, and for the most part, I go for a mix between like somewhat business casual and casual. But it totally depends on your market. Some markets, everyone's wearing suits. I'm not that type of person; I prefer not wearing a suit. I like wearing something like this. But every market is different, and there is no strict dress code. You don't have to wear slacks; you don't have to wear a button-down shirt.

Now another big one is that you directly control your income. This means that there is no limit to how much money you can make. It's not like you're on a salary, and you bust your ass and you work really hard, and at the end of the day, you take home the same paycheck. In real estate, it's all about how hard you work and how smart you work. There is no one telling you how much money you can make. You can make as much money as you want, or you can make as little money as you want. It's entirely up to you.

Now one of the biggest advantages for me in real estate is that I'm able to meet people I would never ordinarily meet. I've met a-list celebrities, I've met famous musicians, I've met other famous YouTubers, I've met really cool people that I would never ordinarily be able to meet if it weren't for real estate. These are people who have reached out to me that I met at open houses, that I met in real estate somehow, and I've ended up becoming great friends with them. I end up seeing them on a regular basis, and they are people that I really connect well with.

Now this is probably common sense, but you get to see some really, really cool homes. I don't have to tell you some of the homes I see are just mind-blowing. And that's what I do; like that's work!

Which is really weird, and like it doesn't seem like work, but me going to see a $40 million house is considered work. Like that's the job. So for me, it's so much fun.

Now when you start making more money and saving more money, you also get to represent yourself when you buy your own properties, which is what I do. Every property I bought, I represented myself, and that saves a lot of money when it comes to cutting out that commission.

Now one of the other major advantages of being self-employed is that you get so many tax deductions. Everything I do that's related to my business, that I've done for clients, is a total 100% tax write-off. Now I get that this is the same for anybody who's really self-employed or owns a business, but especially in real estate, a lot of things could be written off.

And lastly, I mean real estate for me is just about having that total freedom. It's about not being tied down to a 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. job. It's not about reporting to anybody. You are your own boss for the most part.

Now even though you have clients and people that you have to make happy and people that you have to work for, at the same time, you're the one that gets to control all of that. You're the one that gets to make your own schedule, and you're the one that gets to decide how you want to run your own business. That's what I love about this.

Now obviously, there are major downsides. Now in my opinion, all the pros outweigh the cons, but there are some things that I do want to make very clear. The first is that most people fail. I would say very few people I've seen get into real estate do well. The majority of people do it for 3 to 6 months. They don't really make any money from it; they quit, and they go and do something else.

So there's definitely a very high failure rate. But I think if you're in it for the right reasons, if you really like real estate, if you like working with people, if you're not just doing it to make a quick buck and make a quick profit, I think if you do it for the right reasons, you'll generally find a lot more success than the people that go in just thinking like, "Hey, I'm going to make a quick commission, I'm going to get all this money; that's all I need," and then they fail, then they don't do anything, and they just quit.

So I think if you do it for the right reasons, you'll really like it. Now with that said, I'd say the majority of people that start don't make any money, or they make very little money. From what I've seen, it takes about 6 to 12 months to earn your first commission or to earn enough that I would say would be considered your first commission. It takes time, and you have to have the patience and the savings to cover you until you do your first deal.

So one of the other downsides is that the income is extremely sporadic. There are some months I've made over $100,000 in a month; other months I've earned just like a few grand. So it definitely varies a lot, and the swings are huge.

One of the other downsides is that the hours could be really odd because at the end of the day, you're working for the client, and sometimes people want to see properties really early. They want to see properties very late. They want to see properties on holidays, on Sundays, on Saturday mornings, Saturday nights. You have to revolve your schedule somewhat around the client to make sure they're serviced and make sure they get the homes that they want to see.

So all things considered, I think it's such a fun career, and I would highly recommend it. I can't imagine myself doing anything else other than doing real estate. At least when I started, I didn't have any prior knowledge of real estate. Everything I learned was learned on the job, on the go as I was going about doing it.

You also don't need a lot of money to get licensed; you can get a license for as little as a few hundred online. The big thing I would say is just make sure you have enough savings to cover you until you start earning a consistent income by selling real estate.

It's also a really great career to start while you're young because you don't have any financial obligations. You have all the time in the world to dedicate and hone your skills in real estate. By the time you're older, you would have already established yourself in the industry.

So the first thing to do is get your real estate license, and to do that, you need to enroll in a real estate school. You can do it online, or you can take the classes in person. I believe you have to take about 135 hours of classwork before you're eligible to take the state exam, in which case you just take the state exam, you pass it, and you get your real estate license.

One of the most common questions I get is, should you take your real estate license online or in-person? Now, my recommendation is take it online. I found it to be slightly faster to take it online, and honestly, most of the stuff you learn, you don't really apply day-to-day as a real estate agent. So my recommendation is just get it done as quickly as you can.

So once you finish your classes, either online or in-person, you then study to take a state exam. Now what I did to study for that exam is I got one of these exam cram DVDs that I think was like 12 hours long, and I scheduled my test on a Monday. I spent Saturday watching the DVD and Sunday watching the DVD, and I passed the test no problem on Monday. I suck at taking tests; I suck at anything school-related, and I passed no problem.

So I truly believe if I could do it from an exam cram DVD, you guys can do it as well. There are a ton of programs out there that you can study with. There are a ton of practice tests you can do, and there are other DVDs and books you can get. I recommend just studying that maybe for a week before, maybe a few days before, and you should have no problem passing the test when it comes time.

Now honestly, getting your license and passing the test is easy; it's really easy. The barrier to entry to get your real estate license is very, very low. The hard part isn't so much getting licensed, it's actually making money in real estate because when you start, nobody's there to hand you clients. Nobody's there to give you listings; nobody's really there for the most part to help you out and watch you succeed. All of this is on you.

So once you get your license, the rest is up to you to decide what you want to do and where you want to take your business. You're going to need to figure out what works best with you and how you're going to meet the people you need to meet. For some people, that's door knocking; for other people, it's cold calling; for other people, it's holding open houses. For me, it was posting leases on Craigslist and meeting lease clients and helping them find a rental. You'll need to figure out whatever works best for you.

Now one of the questions I get asked the most often is, do I need connections to get into real estate? My answer is kind of a yes and no. I started off at 18 years old with zero connections. I didn't know anybody in the industry; no one in my family was in real estate, none of my friends. I mean I was like 17, 18 years old at the time; none of my friends were buying real estate. I knew nobody.

But somehow I was able to make the connections I needed to be really successful in real estate. Now part of that was me going to open houses every single Sunday, meeting agents, until randomly I found somebody that took me under his wing and taught me a lot about real estate. But when I started, I didn't know anybody.

These are things that you just need to go and put yourself out there and make the connections you need to make because at the end of the day, yes, connections will really help you. If you know a lot of people, they will refer you other business; they will buy real estate; they will sell real estate. So you need, at some point or another, a lot of connections, but it doesn't mean that you need to start with a lot of connections because you can make this over time.

Now this one's important for everybody watching right now who wants to get into real estate, who wants to get their real estate license, and you get it. This is my biggest recommendation for everybody. My biggest recommendation is to work as an assistant for the first year or so. I cannot stress this enough.

You see this? This is like some little notes I have. I'm throwing that away because this is so important, and I'm just going to rant about this. The best thing you can do when you first get your real estate license is to work as an assistant to another agent. This does a few things. First, you're working with an agent who's busy and successful enough to actually need an assistant, so that's a good thing.

Second, you're going to be able to learn everything you need to know from an already successful agent who already needs an assistant. You're going to be learning everything from the ground up. This is invaluable. You're going to be learning exactly what a real estate agent does every single day to be successful. This is why I recommend working as an assistant.

Not only that, but it also takes the risk out 100% of you not making any money because chances are you're going to be getting paid for working as an assistant. So not only is this the best free training you're ever going to get, but you're also going to be getting paid to learn how to sell real estate. This is why working as an assistant for the first year or so is so important.

Then when you finally feel comfortable enough that you think, "Hey, I got this down; I can do this; I really like it," you can go off on your own and start selling real estate, and then maybe one day you will be busy enough to need your own assistant. That's why this is so important. It's the best training you can get; it's like you're getting paid to learn, essentially.

So please, if you can, work as an assistant for the first year. And not only that, but you can even try interning for free just to get your foot in the door. You can even intern for the first few months for free. It will be the best education you will ever get in selling real estate.

So if you don't do that, you're going to need to join a real estate brokerage. The term is you hang your license with a real estate brokerage, and this basically means you can do all the business under the umbrella of a brokerage that somewhat takes on the liability of you selling real estate.

Then once you join, for the first few deals, they usually have you partner with a more experienced agent who's going to be able to walk you through the transaction, exactly what you need to do, and if you have any questions, you have someone there to make sure you don't screw it up.

When it comes time to finding a brokerage, my recommendation is to find a brokerage in the area you want to work in. This is actually one of the most common questions I get asked: should I start at the very top of the luxury level, or should I start at the bottom and then work my way up from there? My recommendation is to always start at the very top; always start at the luxury level.

Now, from my experience, it's the same amount of work to sell a $3 million house as it is to sell a $300,000 house. Not only that, but from my experience, it's actually easier selling a $3 million house than a $300,000 house. Generally speaking, the buyers that are buying these multi-million dollar properties are already very savvy, they're very smart, they're very well educated, and they know exactly what they want. It's less about trying to sell them on a deal than it is just about bringing them exactly what they want.

Now one of the other things I want to mention about being in a luxury market is that most buyers don't consider themselves being in a luxury market. For the most part, if you're in a high-end area, chances are that's just the average home. It's not like you're selling a $100 million house or a $250 million house. In a lot of these luxury areas, that's the average for that area.

My recommendation is to find a brokerage that is going to be very supportive of you because in the beginning, you will need some training. You will need some help and guidance and support, so it's so important to find a brokerage that gives you all of these things.

There are some big brokerages that offer weekly contract classes, negotiation classes, cold calling, door knocking classes. You really want to make sure you take all of these that you can and take advantage of every single thing your brokerage offers you because in the beginning, training is everything. It will put you ahead if you take the time to train and learn as much as you can.

You can also take the route of working on a team, which is usually supervised by one main agent who has other agents underneath them to work the deals. This could also be a great experience because you're already working under a group of people you can learn from, a whole bunch of different opinions and perspectives, and you're also working in a team that's busy enough to need more people on the team.

Generally, with teams, they want people on them who already have some real estate experience because you're bringing something to the table. But if you can get on a team as a new agent, I would highly recommend it if you decide not to be an assistant because, at the very least, it's going to provide some consistent business for you to learn and grow.

Then again, when you feel comfortable enough, you can go off on your own. One of the best books I recommend for this entire topic is called "The Millionaire Real Estate Agent" by Gary Keller. I got this book even before I got my real estate license, and I read it probably two or three times before I even got my real estate license. It is a very good book; it pretty much covers everything you ever need to know about real estate and what it takes to be successful.

Now I highly recommend you guys get this book and read it if you're thinking about becoming a real estate agent because everything he says in that book is so important to learn. There's also a great real estate channel on YouTube called Mike Ferry. Go and subscribe to Mike Ferry. He's got amazing videos out there; they're very, very good information. I'd highly recommend you watch that as well.

Now one of the other questions I get a lot of are questions like, can I do this part-time, or can I also work a second job while selling real estate? So I'm going to first tackle the part-time bit. I have never seen someone be truly successful in real estate by doing it part-time. The thing is, you're up against and you're competing against people that are doing this full-time.

There are a lot of real estate agents out there that are doing this full-time that are putting in the work, and it's going to be very difficult for you to stand out and beat those people by doing it part-time. I do think, however, it can be a good idea to have a part-time job as long as it doesn't impact your real estate business.

So, for instance, if you're doing Uber at night or you're working at a restaurant at night or you're doing something that doesn't conflict with your real estate schedule, yes, I do think it could be beneficial to have a job on the side to earn some other income. I do agree with that, but if it's anything that's going to be impacting your business in some form or another, I'd say it's going to be very difficult for you to be truly successful in real estate.

The only times I've honestly seen people be successful by doing it part-time are people that already have amazing connections to begin with. They already have friends that are buying really expensive houses; they already have a family that's buying really expensive houses or can give them referrals and give them deals. But everyone else who doesn't have that needs to go out there, and they need to meet the people they need to meet to get the business because otherwise, business doesn't just come to you; you have to go out there, and you have to get it.

So it's a full-time gig. That's what I've seen; it's full-time.

So as always, you guys, thank you so much for watching. I'm going to be making many more real estate videos coming up, so if you haven't already, click subscribe so you don't miss out on those. And also, if you have any topic ideas for the subject of real estate, comment down below, let me know your thoughts, and I'll definitely try to make as many videos about this as I can.

And if you haven't already, by the way, feel free to add me on Instagram, and feel free to add me on Snapchat. I'm posting there pretty much daily, so if you want to be a part of it, feel free to add me there. And thank you again for watching, and until next time.