Florida Pre-Licensing Coursework
Hi All,
I have decided to go for real estate license in Florida; I ve done research on it and the great news to me was the fact that you may take pre-license course online. I wanted to ask whoever took online pre-license to recommend the institution/program. There are very many options out there plus I am not a resident in Florida, would be great to hear from someone who took the course. Thanks so much!
Anastasia
Welcome to BP.
I just passed my state exam and became a real estate managing broker in Illinois. I am also interested in obtaining Florida real estate broker license. I believe I have to only take state exam since I am already a broker.
I am curious to see what members say about Florida real estate license.
James
-
Real Estate Agent IL (#471018522)
- Decent Properties, LLC
- 618-406-9775
- http://www.decentproperties.com
I just received my broker license.. I went through bob hogue school in Tampa (http://www.bobhogue-school.com). How does your life schedule look? If you are busy, I highly recommend you take your course in a class room..than schedule your state exam day after course exam.. You will have the highest percentage of success of passing it the first time. use the same strategy to get your brokers.
Congrats on passing exam James!
I believe this should be useful to you:
Anastasia
james- since Illinois does NOT have mutual recognition agreement with Florida, Florida does not recognize Illinois education program. Therefore you may be required to take the brokers course before taking brokers state exam.
Hi Lundy!
I am interested in Online programs since I am not physically in Florida unless there is a class offering in New Jersey that I can take..as far as I know it is not an option. NJ offers classes for NJ License and it is not one of those 8 states that Florida has "agreement".
Congrats on passing exam, yay to that!
Anastasia
Www.myfloridalicense.com
great point on your location issue . did not register that. Haha
I agree with previous post that Bob Hogue is good class. You can take it online and includes book that matches closely to state exam. I also took their weekend exam prep and that was very helpful.
I have completed most of my licensing education at Ron Climers School of Real Estate.
www.climerrealestateschool.com/
@Anastasia G. thank you for posting this. I also have some questions.
I'm considering getting my real estate license as well, as I am a new investor in the Tampa Bay area. I am concerned that once I pass my exam, I will need to work under a broker to have and maintain "active" status. I plan on flipping properties for my own business (not focusing on real estate for the broker), and I am wondering what kind of dues and expectations a broker will have.
Do you all find that the benefits of being licensed and working "under a broker", outweigh the initial time/costs required to obtain and maintain the active license? Any help is much appreciated!
Thanks,
Jon
@John Kent - I will check the school. Thank you
@Jonathan Drago - I think that is the way to activate your license, you have to be associated with broker. Even though you will be flipping houses - you still will need to buy/sell property which will be done through the broker..It appears you bypass the agent and you are your own agent..I might be mistaken, correct me if I am wrong.. :)
@ Nicole H. - Thank you for your input!
Dearborn or ReCampus (same thing) are/were my favorites
I did mine online with Bob Hogue
@Anastasia G., yes.
To have active status as a sales agent (and utilize all the benefits: MLS access and data research, handling utilities for inspections, work with closing attorneys directly, being your own agent on deals, etc.), you need to be executing under a broker after passing your exam, otherwise your status remains inactive. From what I understand, as an agent under a broker, the firm will expect you to work primarily for them, or at least maintain a set of monthly fees + additional fees per transaction.
I am wondering what experiences investors on BP have had with these types of fees/responsibilities from their brokerage firms, and if the benefits outweigh the costs.
I believe they do, but I'd value some feedback from current investors holding an active license. Thanks in advance!
Jon
Lundy Lundmark
Welcome to BP.
Illinois does have reciprocity with Florida now.
I will be taking classes for state now.
James
-
Real Estate Agent IL (#471018522)
- Decent Properties, LLC
- 618-406-9775
- http://www.decentproperties.com
Hello,
I'm an Investor/Agent and I just recently got my Florida Real Estate license. Let me see if I can answer some of the questions posted:
#1. If you are out of state I would recommend purchasing the Book Real Estate Practices and Principles by Linda Crawford. (I would get it used in good condition) most of the topics are on the classroom test and state test. Study the book and answer the questions at the end of the chapters and you will be ready for the online class. You WILL pass with flying colors.
#2. I second to Bob Hogue good program.
#3. Once you are licensed you have to work under a licensed Broker in order to have your license "active" in DBPR. DBPR is a division that keeps track of licenses.
#4. Being active is valuable in order to have MLS access which you would have to join an association. I'm in Pinellas County which I had to pay about $845.00 to join the association.
#5. Find an investor friendly Brokerage there are quite a few of them but you get what you pay for. For example most Keller Williams organizations provide leads for the Agent. Marketing costs so the expense will be filtered to the Agents.
UPDATE: I've passed the exam recently! I agree with Roshard. I purchased the textbook and read it entirely, taking all of the end of chapter quizzes and the final prep quiz (in the book) before taking the online pre-licensing course, and end of course exam.
For me it was between Bob Hogue (as they're reputable and I'm local to Tampa) and Rowlett School of Real Estate for the online course. Rowlett was a little bit cheaper and it worked great for me. I did buy the textbook through Bob Hogue, as that was cheaper though them. Haha.
Rowlett offered great exam prep quizzes that definitely helped me on the exam. I feel that I overstudied for the exam, BUT it was worth it, when you take the test and it all comes right back to you. I definitely heard a lot of "sighing" in the test center from those that didn't study as hard as they needed to.
I have also sat with a number of Investor Friendly Brokers, offering 100% commission, if you only plan to use your license for your own investing. Some have a few small monthly fees and the average transaction fee is around $250 a transaction.
Hope this info helps!
Jonathan, I took your device and I am on chapter 4 of Rowlett online school. A lot of my chapter exams I keep getting one question wrong but I'm taking notes on those so I don't forget them at the end. I also purchased my books from bobs school. Just excited to get going.
@Anastasia G. My wife and I paid for the Bob Houge course, but I also did the class online because the chapter tests and practice test are close to the state exam. Both my wife and I passed the state exam in December. there is another online prep site that has a bunch of quizzes and timed practice exams. It was very helpful. I listed both urls below.
http://www.bobhogue-school.com/
I may have gone a little overboard studying but I wanted to be sure I passed the state exam the first time, which I did.
Good luck! We use to live in Jersey as well. Post when you pass the state exam.
Mark, I'm happy that my advice is working for you. It definitely prepares you. Make sure to go through all of the State Exam Prep Quizzes on the website through the "Student Resources" side of RE-Campus. There are A LOT of quizzes. Definitely over a couple thousand questions throughout all the topics.
Those helped to seal the deal. I recognized some of the same (or very similar) questions on the state exam.
Good luck all!
hi All!
Thank you for replying. So many things happened since this post. I have decided to start in New Jersey. You must attend physical class here and can't take any online courses. It took me some time but I finished real estate school and now scheduled state exam for next Saturday. One step closer!
I found quizlet very helpful free source. One day will get to Florida :)
Thank you for everyone's input!
@Anastasia G. good luck on the exam! Once you are licensed, I'd love to have a conversation on how we can do some deals together in NJ. We are always looking for more ambitious realtors to help us find properties and other investors that we can do deals with.