The Short Answer
A real estate license provides a wide variety of career opportunities, beyond being a real estate agent. It’s important to choose a career path that best suits your personal and financial goals Some of the opportunities are:
- Real estate developer
- Real estate paralegal
- Real estate appraiser
- Property manager
- Leasing agent
A real estate license also opens doors for opportunities to make money outside of these roles. For example, through consulting to real estate clients on investments, or training new real estate agents. Whichever opportunity you choose, a real estate license can be a useful tool to grow your career and specialize in a niche within the real estate industry.
Jobs You Can Do With A Real Estate License
A real estate license unlocks a wide array of career opportunities beyond the traditional role of buying and selling homes. With a license in hand, real estate professionals can explore diverse paths within the industry, each offering unique responsibilities, earning potential, and growth opportunities.
Whether you’re interested in managing properties, appraising homes, working in a legal capacity, or pursuing real estate investments, a real estate license serves as a valuable asset. In this article, we’ll explore a variety of career options available to those with a real estate license, highlighting the skills and qualifications needed to succeed in each role.
Best Jobs You Can Do With A Real Estate License
A real estate license opens several doors beyond selling homes. So, those who have a real estate license can look at a variety of careers in the real estate industry. Let’s dive into a few of these.
Career 1: Residential Real Estate Agent
One of the most popular jobs in real estate is being an agent. Residential real estate agents assist their clients with buying and/or selling their homes. Their role involves handling the entire transaction from beginning to end, including contracts and deal negotiations. Real estate agents are paid on a commission basis, which means that they take a cut from the sale of each home at the time of closing.
Career 2: Real Estate Assistant
Real estate assistants typically work for agents or brokers, assisting them with administrative tasks. These tasks can include answering phone calls, sending emails, maintaining and sharing property listings, setting up homes for open houses, coordinating marketing efforts, scheduling appointments and more.
Career 3: Real Estate Paralegal
A real estate paralegal works alongside a real estate attorney to assist clients with their real estate transactions. A real estate paralegal will be responsible for drafting letters and agreements for a real estate attorney, filing documents, securing title insurance and helping their client through the closing process. Paralegals may need to do a training program to become certified, after which they can apply to work for a real estate attorney.
Career 4: Real Estate Broker
A real estate broker begins their career as an agent, gaining experience before pursuing additional training and certification to become a real estate broker. While brokers continue to handle similar responsibilities as agents, helping both buyers and sellers with property transactions, they also have expanded opportunities.
Brokers can open their own brokerage or manage a team of agents within a brokerage firm. In this role, they mentor agents, oversee their transactions, and in return, earn a portion of the commission from each sale made by the agents they supervise.
Career 5: Property Manager
A certified property manager is responsible for making sure that a property is ready to rent and is safe to live in, and this will include doing other tasks required to ensure the adequacy of the property for the duration that they are managing it. A property manager is also required to do outgoing inspections when tenants leave the property, to arrange for the deposit return.
Career 6: Real Estate Appraiser
The role of a real estate appraiser is to determine the value of a property, both residential and commercial. Lenders, property owners, or prospective buyers typically use real estate appraisers to determine the value of their property, either for a sale or for tax assessments. Real estate appraisers use factors like a property’s features, location, land size, and comparable properties in the area, to provide an objective valuation.
Before becoming a real estate appraiser, you’ll need a real estate license, a specialized license, a number of hours of education and you’ll need to pass an exam.
Career 7: Leasing Agent
Leasing agents specialize in renting out residential or commercial properties. They work with property managers and landlords to find suitable tenants and manage the leasing process. Their duties may include marketing available units, contacting prospective tenants to assess their interest, and organizing events to showcase and promote the property.
Leasing agents are required to screen potential tenants, verify the rental applications, negotiate the lease agreement terms, and serve as the main contact point for tenants while they are renting a property.
Career 8: Home Inspector
The role of home inspectors is to evaluate the condition of a home before it is bought or sold. They do this by conducting thorough inspections of properties, and looking for any structural issues, code violations, or repairs that need be done. A report is done after the inspection, and this is used to advise buyers or sellers on what needs to be done to the home before it is up to code. Home inspectors need a real estate license, as well as certificate to qualify for this role.
Career 9: Escrow Officer
An escrow officer is responsible for safeguarding the escrow funds provided by a homebuyer during the purchase process. As a neutral third party, they play a key role in ensuring that the transaction is secure and impartial for both buyer and seller.
Given the significant sums of money involved in real estate transactions, escrow officers must be comfortable managing large financial amounts. In addition to handling finances, they are required to undergo specialized training in escrow and typically gain experience through an apprenticeship before fully assuming their role.
Career 10: Commercial Real Estate Agent
Much like a residential real estate agent, a commercial real estate agent specializes in helping their clients with buying and selling income generating properties. These include office buildings, retails space, and industrial complexes. Commercial real estate transactions are typically more complex, and agents will need knowledge of the zoning laws, property valuations, and investment potential.
Commercial real estate agents work with business owners, investors and corporations, to find profitable properties. They can facilitate long-term leases or acquisitions.
Career 11: Real Estate Developer
Real estate developers buy and then develop new properties, or oversee the renovation of current ones. The idea is to turn the properties into something more valuable that they can sell for a profit. For example, buying land and developing multiple units on it.
Real estate developer duties include coordinating permits, hiring a team of architects and builders, selling or leasing the property once it has been completed and more. A real estate license is beneficial for developers because they can negotiate deals on both the buying and selling ends of the transaction.
Career 12: Real Estate Investor
There are various types of real estate investor options, and a real estate license isn’t required for all of them, but it may be useful. For some full-time investors, having a real estate license can be advantageous, as it allows them to handle their own property transactions, eliminating the need to pay an agent’s commission during purchases and sales.
Real estate investor types include:
- Buy and hold investors: They purchase a property, and hold onto it for an extended period while renting it out to generate a passive income. Eventually they can benefit from property appreciation as well.
- Fix and flip investors: They purchase a property, renovate it to increase its market value and then sell it for a profit.
- Wholesalers: They find properties for below-market prices and sell the contracts to these, to buyers.
- REIT investors: These investors invest in publicly traded or private REITs, which are companies that own, operate, or finance income-generating real estate. REIT investors own shares rather than physical properties.
- Short-term rental investors: These investors purchase properties that they can rent out for the short-term, these include vacation rental properties such as Airbnb properties.
Choosing the best real estate investing strategy depends on your availability, capital, and goals.
Other Ways To Make Money With A Real Estate License
The above mentioned jobs are just a few examples of the jobs you can do with a real estate license, but there a variety of ways that you can make money with a real estate license over and above these. Here are a few…
- Real Estate Consultant
If you have a real estate license, you can provide real estate consultant services to clients who are looking for advice on property investing, property development, property purchases for various purposes, property managements strategies and more. Consultants typically charge a fee for their services, either an hourly rate or a flat fee.
- Real Estate Trainer
Real estate trainers are typically experienced agents who offer courses to new agents, to help them begin their careers in real estate. Trainers will need their real estate license, and they will typically be helping new agents prepare for their exams, and the ins and outs of what their career entails. Real estate trainers typically get paid for the courses they conduct, for their coaching services and/or for the training materials.
- Real Estate Marketing Specialist
Licensed real estate professionals can specialize in marketing properties for other real estate professionals such as property developers, agents, and more. This marketing involves running digital marketing campaigns, running social media accounts, email marketing, brochure design, setting up online property listings and more.
- Real Estate Auctions
Real estate professionals can conduct or assist with real estate auctions, which means that they can work with banks or property owners to get properties sold quicky via auction. Auctioneers will earn a commission based on the price that the property is sold for, and sometimes buyer’s premium fees are charged.
- Real estate loan officer
A real estate loan officer is a professional who assists their clients with obtaining financing for real estate purchases. Their primary role is to help clients navigate the loan process, by evaluating the client’s financial situation and then helping through the application process.
Final Thoughts
A real estate license provides a gateway to a broad range of careers in the dynamic world of real estate. From working as an agent or broker to specializing in property management, appraisals, or even working as a real estate loan officer, the opportunities are abundant. Additionally, with the right strategy, a license can help you venture into investment opportunities or expand your expertise through consulting and teaching.
Ultimately, your career path will depend on your interests, goals, and desired level of involvement in the real estate industry. Whether you’re just starting or looking to diversify, a real estate license is a powerful tool that can open many doors for financial success and professional growth.