If you work in real estate in California, you can do so as an agent. As an agent, you can work for a realty company. You earn a commission when you sell a property, and the agency also earns a commission.
You can also become a broker. You’ll do similar work, but as a broker, you can make more money. That’s because you can open your own realty company if you like. You can hire other agents and have them work for you. You can make money whenever they sell a property.
Whether you open your own agency or not, as a realtor in California, you must renew your license every year. In the following article, we’ll break down the process when you renew your real estate license. You should know all about this since you’ll go through it yearly.
The Second Renewal or Later
If you renewed your license the year after you got it, you’re good till the following year. At that point, you might find a company that can help you renew the license again. You can find several entities online that help you renew your California real estate broker license.
First, you should shop around. You can find multiple sites with these license renewal courses, but you should check out their reviews. If you can find one that has many positive reviews, you should feel okay giving them your money.
Look at their website. Does it have excellent UX? Can you find your way around it easily? You can also read about the review course they offer. Does it seem intuitive? Does it meet all your requirements?
If it does, then you can move forward. Let’s discuss what you’ll find with the better online brokerage license renewal courses.
Easy-to-Read PDFs and Open-Book Online Testing
If you look at a few of the websites and review courses that exist, you’ll find ones that have certain features and others that don’t bother with them. You might wonder about fluff or filler content. What exactly should each course include?
At a minimum, you’ll want a course that offers study materials that you can easily read and with which you can interact. That usually means PDFs.
If you find an online course with some easy-to-read PDFs, that’s a great start. You want a course where you can pull up and read those PDFs on a laptop, desktop, or tablet. Whatever option you have at home and that you prefer, you want complete course interactivity.
You also want an open-book online testing option when you’ve finished reviewing the study material. California has a setup where you can take these renewal tests at home. In other words, you needn’t attend a physical, brick-and-mortar location outside your home to get the license renewal process going each year.
Chapter Quizzes
Each year, you must review the material that indicates what you should know as a licensed and certified California real estate broker. That material might change a bit year by year.
For the most part, though, you’re reviewing what you already know. You’ll recognize some material, and you might have a little new information you should absorb as well.
When you look at the PDFs, you can peruse them, and then, when you finish a chapter, you should find a little quiz that makes sure you picked up the most crucial info. You should take those quizzes and make sure you’re passing them. If you pass the chapter quizzes, it indicates you’ll likely pass the final exam when you get there.
Implicit Bias Training
These courses also include required implicit bias training. Implicit bias means you might feel certain ways about individuals you’ll encounter in the world, and you may not even realize it. It’s not necessarily your fault, but if you know about implicit bias, you can avoid it.
By doing so, you’re fairer when you assess whether someone can buy a property or not. The implicit bias training makes up one particular study section. Make sure the review materials have that since the test should include it as well.
What Else Should You See?
You may also wonder what else you should see when you take on one of these review courses. You should see no course timers. In other words, you should proceed at your own pace.
That becomes important if you lead a very busy life. Most people do. You should have a bookmark option where you can step aside and take a break. Maybe you must do some housework or spend some family time. You can easily pick back up where you left off the following day.
You should see a way you can take the final exam online. Every course should have that, so if the one you chose neglects that option for some reason, go with a different one.
You should finish the course within a week or less, assuming you’re not super busy during that time. When you start, if you can progress through a couple of chapters each day, you should take the test within the week and pass it, if you feel ready. There’s substantial study material, but not so much that you’ll wait months before taking the test.
You should see a glossary that comes with the course. The real estate industry has many terms you might use throughout your day. You might only use these terms with your colleagues, but they might leak into client conversations as well.
You might occasionally find a term that you don’t know in the course materials, though. That’s fine. You can learn the new term when you look it up. The glossary should come with the course, and you can use it as necessary.
The right course should have all these things. You should also not pay too much for it. If you find a great course and get your license renewal through it with no issues, you might use that same course and website the following year.
