Occasionally I receive messages from agents requesting advice for a roadmap of education for new agents to help them in their business. Being a new agent is the perfect time to learn and implement better business skills into their business right from the beginning. You can spend tons of money on leads or lead programs or coaching but if you do not possess a deep practical understanding of the business you can end up wasting money, time, and much more from trying to help your clients before you have empowered yourself. I have broken this down into several steps to make it easy.
Of the seven classes listed below, they don’t have to be accomplished in that exact order; although it might be helpful. New agents have a desire and, in many cases a dire need to get a couple of deals under their belts pretty soon after signing up with a brokerage. The classes listed below will help you get your footing in your newly-chosen career; being a successful REALTOR in your community.
Your prelicensing classes provide you with a lot of great information, however there is much more to be had dealing with the practical application of knowledge of our business and related business practices. The more education you obtain right out the gate, the more productive you will be. And, if you continue to invest back into your career over the life of your career, you will find the educational experiences should help you continue to soar to new levels.
These are the classes I recommend right out of the gate:
After you have started here, I would hope you would consider advancing your education with more and more classes. There are a lot of great continuing education classes, designation and certification courses. One of the great ones is GRI or Graduate, REALTOR Institute.
At present day, GRI has three modules and each occurs over a full 4 days requiring a total investment presently of 12 days. If you have already obtained your ABR & SRS then you can opt out of the Marketing module (which saves you 4 days in GRI) and gets you 3 designations. Although time consuming, GRI is a great program. Many agents have a hard time in the beginning being out of the office and their business for a total 12 whole days therefore I suggest you take the above classes first and then add GRI later (just not too much later).
I hope this helps answer some questions that you have about being a new agent and how to fast track your career. I am always happy to answer questions based on my experience and years in the industry. Feel free to reach out when the need arises.
Texas Real Estate Education and our instructors work hard to provide broadcast class environments where real state professionals can learn how to better perform in the real estate industry, better represent their clients, and learn material that actually benefits their business and clients. Nobody likes the feeling of “CE Jail” (you know those classes that feel like a waste of time just to get the credit). We recognize that continuing education is not one's favorite way to spend their time. However, we do our best to engage all of the students in each class to participate and hopefully learn something new thing in each class.