Learn from my exeriences

I know I said that the next blog would be "Congratulations on passing your exam! Now its time to interview with brokers!" But I learned something that I would like to share. 

Before or after you take your exam, you need to get your fingerprints done. You can do it at any Pearson View location, and they will send it directly to TREC. It usually takes about 7-10 days for the back ground check to go though. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. It depends on TREC and how backed up they are.

So this is where I want you to learn from my experiences. After I found out that I passed my exam, I called Keller Williams and told them that I was a new agent and that I wanted to interview with them. They scheduled an interview for a week out. This is not a normal time frame. The person that I was going to interview with, was out of town for a convention.

When I got there, they told me all about Keller Williams and gave me all the payments that I will need to make. They logged on to the TREC website so that they could download my license, but they couldn't find my license information. They then asked me if I did my fingerprinting. I completely forgot that's what you have to do to get your license. So, I was able to start training, but I wasn't able to do any of the homework until I got my license. You are not allowed to practice Real Estate until you have an active license.

After I submitted my fingerprints, I didn't get my letter from TREC until about 10 days from the time I submitted them. So because I forgot that I needed my fingerprinting done, It took me close to a month to get my license after I passed my exam. I passed my exam on the 6th, had my interview on the 17th, started training on the 18th, did my fingerprints on the 19th, and got my license on the 24th. 

So you should try to schedule you fingerprints on the same day that you take your exam. It will save you a lot of time, energy, and driving in the long run. 

When you do finally get your license, you should go interview with a couple Real Estate firms to see which would be right for you. I strongly recommend Keller Williams. They now have the best training program in the nation over all industries, not just Real Estate. They have a sincere open door policy, and they work with a great amount of vendors to help you out. 

But please keep in mind if you go with Keller Williams, that you will be paying a good amount of money upfront for it. You pay for the training, but that includes business cards, a photo shoot, name badge, key deposit and 4 weeks of training.

Hope this post helped! Now stay tuned for the next blog: Congratulations on passing your exam! Now its time to interview with brokers!

So you've finished your classes. Now what?

After you have finished all 6 of your courses, you are now ready to apply for your inactive Real Estate sales persons license and sign up for your exam. Before you will be able to sign up for you exam, you will need approval from TREC.

To get your inactive Real Estate sales persons license, you will need to gather all of your certificates from your classes, and either fax or email them to TREC. To do this, first you will need to create your username and password on the TREC website at www.trec.texas.gov. You will need to sign up as a registered user and fill out the application. There will be a $205 application fee. Once you get all of that situated, you can email your certificates to education@trec.texas.gov or Fax them to 512-936-3863.

Once you have finished the application and sent in your certificates, it should only take about a week to receive your email with your code to sign up for your exam. Once you have your code, you are can either go to the Pearson View website and sign up for your exam, or you can call. The Pearson View website is  pearsonvue.com/tx/realestate, and the phone number is 800-997-1248. I feel like it is easier to sign up on line, just because it shows you a calendar of what days are available. When you call, you have to give them a date to start with, then they can tell you what days are available. If you need to reschedule, you can easily do that on the phone with no charge. You will have to pay $54 each time you take your exam. Hopefully you will pass on the first try. However, the statistics are 50% of students do not pass on their first try. So if you don't pass, don't feel too bad, I passed on my second try. 

While you are waiting to take your exam, you can study the Pearson View study guide that I acquired from a woman that I took one of my classes with. It will tell you what to expect when you take the exam, and it has 5 practice exams. Click the link below to get this study guide for yourself.

Pearson View Study Guide

The study guide will tell you this, but when you go to the testing center, you will need your drivers license and your Social Security card. They will do a couple of things to make sure you are not trying to cheat. They are very secure when it comes to taking this exam. You should also arrive about 15 minutes before your exam time, because they will give you a piece of paper to read with all the rules and guidelines when taking this test.

The test is administered on the computer at the testing center with an easy to use program. It is all multiple choice, but don't let that fool you. The questions are a little tricky. I would recommend that you read the questions a couple times before you answer them. 

Once you have finished the exam, you will receive two pieces of paper from the front desk attendant before you leave the center. One is for the State exam, and the other is for the National exam. It will either say "Congratulation..." without a score, which means that you have passed the exams. Or they will have a couple of scores, one for the passing score, and the other for your score, this means that you did not pass the exam. If you did not pass, your print out will also have the categories that the test covered, how many questions were in that category, and how many you answered correctly. This will help you study for next time. 

Below are some examples of what you will receive when you finish the exams.

Whether you don't pass either exam or pass one of them, you will still need to pay the full $54 the next time you register.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this entry, and I hope it helps.

Stay tuned for the next blog labeled: Congratulations on passing your exam! Now its time to interview with brokers!