Dear Janice,
Thanks for writing. The first thing you need to do is
take Real Estate Principles (at a JC or through an
online school). After that, if you pass the salesperson
exam you have a conditional license good for 1.5
years. During that time you need to take Real Estate
Practice and one of the allowed electives, and the
license becomes good for four years. Or you can take
the three classes before your test to go straight to
the four year license. I would really recommend taking
the class at a JC with a teacher. Having taken an
online course and an in-person course, I can tell you
in-person is the way to go.

You’ll find these useful
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ (career starts and info)
http://dre.ca.gov/ (has all the forms and requirements)

Hope that helps and best of luck,
B

*name changed to protect privacy

Manufactured homes are like cars, except they’re not as mobile as their name implies, but like with new cars, the moment they’re bought, at least the new ones, they depreciate in value.

While many people buy you tickets and trips to listen to their pitches on timeshares, take a moment and think about this. If they’re such a good investment, why do these guys have such trouble selling them? If you can’t sell it, is it really worth the investment? Oh, it’s for a vacation time, sure. Wouldn’t you want the ability to book your vacation when you want to, not at a preset date?

Finally vacant lots. These guy’s aren’t so bad, but they don’t bring in income and do bring many costs. This is really a rich man’s game. If a person can afford to hold through it, it may pay off, but generally the banks won’t finance it, so it’s on you, and unless there are some kind of crops there, it won’t even come close to paying off it’s monthly expenses. Furthermore development takes ages to get agreed upon, and all that time, you’re paying for it.

It’s not my kind of problems. Even if it paid millions, I’m not into that. Look here’s the deal, what’s a poor man’s approach to this? He buys the land himself, builds the house himself, wasting years of his life, and spends another year trying to sell it because he’s too cheap to pay an agent. Now, what’s the next level of evolution? You hire people to do the work. You save time and most likely get better quality. It’s still your job to watch over things and make sure everything goes to plan, make sure you get the right materials, and the right people. It’s a headache and that’s why I’m not into it. True some people can make a good chunk of change doing this, maybe millions, but honestly I’m in a bigger game (he’s not exaggerating). Look what’s the next step in the evolution? If you believe that a certain market will grow or see a company that already does this successfuly, why not just invest? There’s plenty of funds and organizations that do this. It takes some research, but if you’re interested in investing, why deal with the headaches. Buy a share of the company instead of carrying all the bricks on your back. The first way you have money to your work to money. The second way you have money to other’s work to money. The final solution is money to money. This is where you want to be.

On this level there are different levels to this level as well. There are Real Estate mutual funds and there are also these things called “stock cooperatives”: where you own a share of the property, taxed under one common bill. Has anyone had experience with these? I’d like to learn more. How did you start? What’s the experience like? Any tips, rants, things to watch out for, and things to love?

(By the way, I’m still determined to learn, because although I don’t have any issue with his logic, I think it’s super important to build an understanding of property, law, and capital, and whatever field you invest in.)

Here’s the economics course:
This course covers the advantages and disadvantages of various types of Real Estate Investments and the causes and effects of value fluctuation. This course applies toward the educational requirements of the state real estate sales—persons and brokers license exam. It also analyzes various real estate investments.

Here’s the finance course:
This course analyzes various topics about real estate financing, including financing for residential and commercial properties, and development opportunities. This course summarizes information required for the State of California real estate license examinations. This course also applies toward the educational requirements for a California Real Estate Broker’s license, and can also be applied as an elective for the Real Estate Salesperson’s license requirements.

S: It sounds like the finance course offers everything the economics course offers plus it teaches you a bit about the money behind it. I’d say take that one.
B: Thanks.

Front office by community college:

Secretary: Hi, how can I help you?
B: I’d like to talk with the counselor.
S: About what?
B: Advice for classes.
S: I don’t know if she can do that. Are you a registered student?
B: I was a couple years ago.
S: Umm, OK. Do you have an ID?
B: Yeah, here is the paper they gave me.
S: Alright, have a seat in the hall.

In the office:
Counselor: Hi, how may I help you?
B: Basically, here’s the story. I got my degree last summer and started a web dev job. I hated it and quit. Now I’m still in high tech and I need to get out. I’ve been reading some books and getting a lot of advice to go into business and real estate investing. I’d like to get there as soon as possible. What should I do?
C: Well you can get licensed very fast and then start earning your hours. Here are the courses, you can sign up for these two (Fundamentals and Practice) for the Winter Session (only one month). After them, you just need one more course to get your license.
B: Perfect, I’m already waitlisted for this one. Tell me, do you think it’s worthwhile to take the Business Administration course?
C: Well, that’ll get a bit more into investing and such. You know they’re different fields, real estate and investing. It’s worth your time to see if you’d want to pursue a business degree. We have an agreement with the state school for a degree in Business Administration.
B: Hmm. I’ve taken quite a few of these already, but I don’t know if going back for a second bachelor’s is what I really need. Perhaps I should focus on getting a license and getting going first?
C: The choice is in your hands. You can always take it in Spring. Oh, also if you plan to take two courses, since the courses are only one month during winter, just know that this is pretty much going to be your entire life for a month. Do you plan to keep working?
B: At this point, I’m really ready to move on. If that means my job, so be it.
C: Well good luck.
B: Thanks for your help.

Which Real Estate program should I choose? There are plenty of online programs but most community colleges also offer classes. Each has its advantages, and disadvantages. After returning from Thailand, I knew I had to get started. The question was how?

The Options:

Online Courses
My cousin got his license through an online course. He studied a few hours a day for about a month and then passed his exam in New York. California’s laws and exams are a bit stricter, but an online course sounds extremely convenient. You can learn as fast and as much as you like and you can do so at home. At my mom’s company, an appraisal/investment firm, people use this option to get other licenses. So once you’re in, you can learn this to study after work as well.

Seminars
My dad used to take Real Estate seminars every weekend. It was a course that explained the laws and got people prepared for the exam. The advantage to these is that there’s someone there making sure you’re learning at a certain pace. For anyone who needs that set time and support, this is perfect. My dad never took the test nor really looked at real estate as his next career. He wanted the rest of us to get into investing in properties and to offer his help in the background. I have my doubts about mixing business and family, but as far as the industry, I couldn’t agree more.

Taking Action
About a month ago, I sat down with my parents to talk about the future. I wasn’t making anything at the start-up and I hated my work. My actuarial studies were moving along, but all my close friends would ask, “Do you really want to do this? I can’t imagine you at a desk crunching numbers. That sounds almost as bad as programming.” Honestly I didn’t. I wanted to work with people, I wanted to help people find what they were looking for, I wanted to invest, to travel, to show, and to call. I really needed to do something and stop wasting time.

My mom’s company was slowing down a bit. She’s an engineer and a buyer, but after bubble busted she started at her place. Her job is to manage all the appraisers and give each person their assignments. One of the reasons she joined was she also planned to go into the business, but again with worries about mixing family and business. In her spare time she looked at houses for the last ten years, and if you ask her she’ll give you a breakdown of properties and prices anywhere around this area, and closer to our city, she can name all the properties for sale. With things slowing down at the company she finally decided it was time to get started and making the move toward making business rather than watching on the sidelines.

We sat down and followed our cousin’s advice and looked at an online course. The one we chose was from Allied Real Estate Schools. It came with books, cd’s, and online quizzes. It also gauranteed that you pass with a full refund. Not bad. Unfortunately, after the package arrived, we didn’t do anything. It just sat there in the living room. It worked for my cousin, it worked for my mom’s coworkers, but my family didn’t take the initiative… yet.

Upon returning frm Thailand, I knew this couldn’t continue. I wasn’t going to just sit there and waste time. I also knew, from my attempt to prepare for the actuarial exam, that I needed something more structured. So I went and looked at the West Valley College catalogue. They had quite a few courses and every one of them applied toward the exam. If I quit my job, I could finish all the coursework in less than five months, and I could make enough part-time to support myself. This was the ideal option.

Furthermore most of the classes were online or offered at night. It was the best of both worlds. We’ll see how it turns out.

Online Programs like Allied:
Benefits:
Flexible and Fast (study as fast as you like, when you like, and where you like)
Comprehensive (outstanding materials, quizzes, and preparation)
Guaranteed (refund if you don’t pass the test, refund if you want to return it)

Drawbacks:
The flexibility is a two-way sword. If you have initiative, it’s to your benefit. If you don’t, it’s to your loss. With anything in life, you get what you put in, but especially with online programs it’s all in your hands.

Community Colleges:
Benefits:
Structured (a teacher sets the schedule and forces you to keep up)
Associates (your gain a network of peers)
Cost (even with books, it costs very little)
Feedback (you have a teacher you can talk with)

Drawbacks:
The schedule is set and you can’t rush ahead of it. Furthermore in comparing the materials, the materials from Allied seemed far better than those at the college. There’s also no guarantee. You also have to deal with group projects, which force you to deal with other people’s schedules.

Community College Online Classes:
Benefits:
Flexible and Fast (study from anywhere and the classes can be just a month long)
Comprehensive (looking at the syllabus, there are weekly classes covering very many topics)
Structured (the teacher set the schedule, you know what you need to do every day)
Feedback (the teacher gives daily feedback and answers questions)

Drawbacks:
Some classes may have group projects, meaning flexibility goes down a bit.
You have to use the online interface the college chooses, which may or may not be the best. Again, there are no guarantees.

In the end I chose to take two online classes simply because they’re online and because they only take one month to finish. After these I just need one more class to get going. Also, the college offers classes (online too) in business and many other important topics, which I can take during the regular semester.