Jobs requiring a real estate license

An appraiser will look at a home's features, location, land and similar properties close by to come to a true home value for the property. Even with a real estate license, an appraiser must have a specialized license for this job, which usually requires 75 education hours and a passing score on a final exam.

Primary duties: An escrow officer is responsible for holding onto the escrow money that a homebuyer gives as part of the purchase of their new home.

They are a third-party that is a neutral part of the home buying and selling process. An escrow officer must be familiar and comfortable with handling large amounts of money, as the escrow amounts for homes can be considerable. They must also complete training in escrow and work as an apprentice. Primary duties: A commercial property manager is responsible for overseeing operations for commercial buildings.

This may include reviewing contracts, collecting rent payments, making sure a crew maintains and cleans the property and negotiating leases. Primary duties: A broker in real estate is responsible for the same things that a real estate agent is, except they go on to earn their broker license, which means they can work for themselves or have other agents work for them. Primary duties: A real estate agent is responsible for showing homes to buyers and assisting these clients throughout the home buying process.

They may also represent those who are selling their home. A real estate agent maintains home listings, shows available homes to potential buyers, works with others in the process to help the transaction go through smoothly and negotiates the price of the property on behalf of their client.

Primary duties: A property developer is responsible for managing the construction of a property, which may include condos, single-family residences or commercial buildings. They secure the land and materials, find a contractor and hire other workers like engineers and architects and secure an attorney who can review contracts.

Property developers must be able to project manage on a large scale. Primary duties: A commercial real estate agent is responsible for having the same responsibilities as a residential real estate agent, except for commercial properties like office buildings and complexes. Their clients include other businesses that want to secure property for their company operations. Primary duties: A real estate attorney is responsible for working with clients during the real estate process.

They may review contracts, work with the title examiner to correct titles, mediate issues between two parties in the home buying process and more. A real estate attorney's goal is to ensure that the transaction is legal and free of any problems for any involved party. While a real estate license isn't required, it can help an attorney with their job by providing them with a greater understanding of the field.

With the average home sale price in the U. Real estate agents, mortgage brokers and property appraisers all need to be licensed, but there are other careers in the real estate industry that do not have licensing requirements.

Among them are property management, real estate development and real estate scouting. Career opportunities in property management are forecast to increase 8 percent in the decade ending in , according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Property managers generally oversee maintenance, administration and showing and leasing property. Many property managers work for companies that manage a portfolio of smaller properties single-family homes, duplexes and complexes with fewer than 25 units , while others live on-site at larger complexes.

Other managers are employed directly by property owners. Skills helpful in property management: business administration and operations knowledge, familiarity with real estate and rent control laws and household maintenance. Good communication and people skills are a plus as well. The cost of purchasing buyer leads from companies like Zillow is extremely high, often in the hundreds or thousands of dollars per deal, with no guarantees whatsoever.

Referrals are great, but generally the people getting referrals are the people that are already doing a lot of business. Sellers have gotten more savvy in realizing that most real estate marketing is a waste and that being on the MLS is pretty much all they care about. More and more, they look at listing presentations as B.

There are a variety of other things you can do with a real estate license. Referrals — you can hang your license with a brokerage that is not a member of the MLS to avoid having to pay MLS, Realtor Association, and lockbox fees.

Then if you do have someone who is ready to buy or sell anywhere in the U. Buy or Sell Homes Yourself — even if you never represent any other buyer or seller, you can keep avoid paying a listing agent when you sell a home , and keep the buyer agent commission when you buy a home. If buying or selling a home is a rare event for you, you need to run the numbers to make sure that continuing to pay licensing and other fees makes sense if you will need to pay these fees for years between sales.

Licensees can build a consistent income stream by preparing several BPOs a day , without ever having to list or sell a home. Be a Managing Broker or an Branch Office Manager — getting your brokers license usually requires first working as an agent for 2 to 3 years. Once you obtain your brokers license, you can manage other agents. For smaller companies, the managing broker often lists and sells properties in addition to managing the other agents. They teach courses full-time to students that are obtaining their sales or broker license for the first time, and licensed agents that need continuing education each renewal cycle or are seeking to earn a designation like GRI, CRS, or CCIM.

There are also some opportunities for licensees to teach as an adjunct professor at a community college or four year college. Work for an Apartment Complex — some states and some apartment owners require the leasing agents in the office have a real estate license. Oftentimes the larger complexes are owned by large investment funds and real estate investment trusts and offer good benefits packages and a path up the management ladder.

These jobs generally have normal daytime office hours, although may also require work on the weekends.