Mandatory Apprenticeship

I remember distinctly passing my real estate exam, getting my license, finding my broker and being extremely excited about getting my start...The problem was, I didn't know anything. Sure, I passed the exam and new all the laws, but that's not what being a Realtor is about. It's about giving advise and helping me find property that is best suited to their needs. It's about how to handle all the different parties in a transaction and how to negotiate and close the deal.

I believe that the real estate industry should follow the appraisal industry and adopt a mandatory apprenticship program. In order to become an appraiser one has to have 90 class room ours and then 2000 apprenticeship hours. Real estate agents are advising people about the biggest purchase most of them will make in their lives, and agents don't need to disclose how long they've been active, how many transactions they've done or how experienced they are.

For example, when you first start out as an agent you are taught to talk about "we" a lot. We have 6 offices, we have over 40 homes sold this month, we have sold $80 mil worth of real estate. In order to make up for the agent having ZERO experience, the agent just says we a lot and that way he/she can take credit for everything the brokerage they're with has done, which in turn makes the agent sound very knowledgeable. Is what the clients don't know is that agent may be licensed for all of 3 days and works from home and has a broker that spends far more time on the golf course than in the office.

If there was a mandatory apprentice ship, which should be a combination of homes sold and hours spent, then all buyers & seller would be guaranteed to be working with an agent that has at least seen a transaction from start to finish and has some a far better idea what they're doing.

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