Take the next step

Thinking about earning your broker’s license? Learn how it can set you up for professional independence and success.

by Ward Lowe   It doesn’t matter if you’re a 20-year-old agent or a 50-something salesperson who’s been selling real estate since 1973. The Texas Real Estate Commission requirements for applying for a real estate broker’s license are the same for everyone: two years’ experience and 900 hours of education.

Some real estate professionals see the time as an agent as nothing more than a step toward becoming a broker. As soon as the ink on their salesperson’s license dries, they start amassing education credits, intending to hit the 900-hour mark right at their second anniversary. Other agents decide over the course of several years to become a broker. They often accumulate the bulk of the necessary education hours in large chunks using correspondence courses or weekend "retreats."

If you’ve ever considered getting your broker’s license, you probably know all about the education hours and other requirements mandated by TREC. But you may not know how preparing for the challenges of the licensing process and following through on your goal of earning that license can be an experience that teaches you more about the business of real estate and contributes to your future success.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Alex Payne with Scott Brown Properties in Denton sums up in one word why many agents decide to get their broker’s license: respect. A commercial salesperson, he just completed the final course he needs before submitting his application to TREC.

"I’m a fairly young guy," says Payne, who’s been in real estate for five years. "I have to often overcome my age when dealing with people in the field. I want them to say, ‘He looks like a kid, but he already has his broker’s license. He must actually know what he’s doing.’ The more education I have and the more credibility I have helps me make sure I’m doing the right things."

Cami Kish of The Realty Team in Denton echoes Payne’s desire for more respect from clients. Kish, who’s in the process of taking her final classes, sees the broker’s license as an integral part of earning that respect and of being a successful real estate practitioner.

She says, "I am running a branch office. … Sometimes I feel like I’m not looked up to because I am so young."

Mike Minns, broker/owner of Atlas Realty in Austin, also sees the increased respect afforded brokers. Minns, who this year earned his broker’s license, says the perception of career accomplishment contributes to the high opinion people have for brokers. "It’s not just a level of independence, but it’s also a level of success."

Leave me alone

Minns and other newly minted brokers who go into business for themselves don’t do it just because starting your own brokerage seems like the next step. As agents, some of them had an incident or difference of opinion with their broker that pushed them to get their broker’s license. Others were working so independently already that they felt they could handle the additional responsibility.

Broker/owner Gwen Zoucha of Real Estate Today in Tyler worked for almost 16 years as an agent before a disagreement with her broker pushed her to get her broker’s license in March 2002. She invested many days accruing hours for her license application and during that time experienced a sort of epiphany. Zoucha suddenly understood the reasons behind many TREC rules and procedures.

"It’s like grasping pieces of a jigsaw puzzle," she explains. "All of a sudden it all begins to fall together. The picture becomes much more clear to you, and it gives you a feeling of accomplishment and more confidence because you understand more about the entire process of real estate licensing and the benefits to you and the public."

Jim Owen decided to pursue his broker’s license to break away from a large franchise and gain more control over his business. "I basically had my own business. I paid them their fees, had a branch office under an existing franchise, and my team were the only ones working in it." After the firm began to discourage Owen’s interest in real estate auctions, he earned his broker’s license in July 2003 and is now broker/owner of Jim Owen, REALTORS® and Auctioneers in Gunter.

Cat Anderson, broker/owner of Cat Anderson Properties in Houston, wanted to break away from her sponsor. She got her broker’s license in June 2002 after working as a salesperson since 1995. "At a certain point, 90% of my clients were referrals," says Anderson. "I didn’t need a big company name or somebody to give me leads. I was doing it all myself."

"It’s a personality thing"

A funny thing happened when Anderson put up a sign with her name on it. She became more motivated. "When you’re a salesperson, you’re running your own business," she asserts, "but it doesn’t feel the same as when you have a company that’s yours. Technically, you could be doing the same thing … but you push a little harder because it’s your company."

Owen agrees wholeheartedly with Anderson. Before he came to Texas and obtained his salesperson’s license in 1986, he possessed his broker’s license in nine other states and had owned two real estate companies.

"My productivity, personally, is always much higher when I’m my own broker running my own show," Owen says. "It gives me more drive and ambition." And he’s seen the phenomenon repeat itself since he’s put up his independent sign again.

Like Zoucha and Anderson, Owen’s business has not suffered one bit since leaving the big franchise. He explains, "It’s a people business. People don’t list their property with a big firm because it’s the largest in town. It’s a personality thing. People get to know someone, maybe based on referral. I firmly believe that my switch from a big company to my own shop hasn’t had a negative effect on business. It may be my own mentality that I like running my own show without anyone to answer to but me–and TREC."

Protect yourself

Of course, earning your broker’s license doesn’t mean you must leave your sponsoring broker. Payne says he has no plans to strike out on his own, but a new role in his current brokerage helped convince him to become a broker. "I’ve been asked to supervise and grow the commercial real estate department at the firm I work for. I’m responsible for hiring and training."

Even if you’re content with your current situation as a salesperson, Owen advises agents to start working toward a broker’s license. "We’re seeing layoffs in companies and big corporations, and the same thing can happen in real estate. … The profit margins are getting squeezed tighter and tighter with real estate companies, and I would think any practitioners who’re really serious about their industry would want to be able to control their own destiny."

Zoucha concurs, and emphasizes that the key is controlling your own future. "You can stay where you are. You can choose to leave a brokerage and let someone else sponsor you. But you can also work under your own broker’s license, either in the interim or on a permanent basis. It’s such a freeing experience. It’s wonderful."

Minns sees his broker’s license as insurance against being taken advantage of by a broker. "There are a lot of good brokers out there and a lot of good, honest people that will treat you right and fairly, but there’s always a chance you’ll get involved with someone who’ll take advantage of you and put you in a bad situation. Being a broker kind of prevents that because you can go off on your own."

Learning is good for you

Although finding time to complete his education hours has been the most difficult part of the license-application process, Payne’s conversations with brokers who earned their licenses years ago encouraged him to keep working at it. They told him how much harder it is today to secure a broker’s license than when they got theirs. The brokers also advised him to take some prep courses before taking the test, which he hopes will pay off come exam time.

"I don’t want to mess around and take my time, and when I get one course away, they add another four courses or something," Payne says. "And then I’m knocked back a few years."

Zoucha also advises salespersons to get their broker’s licenses sooner rather than later, but she encourages a calculated, gradual approach. She counsels that you should continue to work where you are, do as much business as possible, and take the courses that are required in a way that suits your schedule. It’s not the speed with which you take the classes, but the choice of classes that matters most to Zoucha.

"You have to know which areas you are weak in," she says. "Think about what you think you’re highly knowledgeable in already … and if you don’t need a course in that particular aspect of real estate, then don’t take a course in that. Choose something else."

It may seem harder than breezing through a course that you’re familiar with, but concentrating on your weaker areas will help you in the long run–when you may not have another broker to fall back on. Zoucha suggests some areas that she feels are important to everyone: "Take law, take marketing to buyers and sellers, agency–I don’t care how many MCE courses you have in those areas, do it again."

Owen also advises agents to treat the education hours as more than a requirement. "Learn all you can about the business," he says. "Learn all you can about marketing. Take it slow and easy–don’t make it a major push to complete your 900 hours–but get it as soon as you reasonably can."

If you’re thinking of opening your own business with the broker’s license, Owen says, "Understand that just because you’re a great technician in real estate–you’re doing well with a high sales volume–that is not the requirement for opening your own business. Before you put out that shingle for your brokerage, you really need to study business and understand all that’s involved in operating a business before making that jump."

Invest in futures

Getting a broker’s license doesn’t guarantee success any more than getting your salesperson’s license made you instantly wealthy. But whether you’re a rookie agent or a grizzled veteran, becoming a broker provides more options for your career.

You can start your own office and dictate your policies or stay with your current brokerage content with the knowledge that you can leave when and if it suits you. Either way, the process of acquiring a broker’s license teaches you more about the business of real estate and can contribute to your future success.

"I encourage every licensee I speak with to study and get a broker’s license now," says Zoucha. "You’ll never
regret it."

Photo © Comstock.

home   current issue    top 10    resources 

discussions   contact us   search

Buyers & sellers, visit www.texasrealestate.com.
REALTORS®, visit www.texasrealtors.com.