Education never stops.  That's an important lesson. 

high enough????? it's laying on the floor.....

Education is not the answer or solution.  I know people with Masters and PhDs who appear challenged navigating through life.  

I know people who "only" have a high school education that runs circles around people with higher education.  

Training is what is missing, IMHO.  Extensive training at the onset and mandatory training throughout. 

Obtaining a license is just that. It does not mean the one who holds it knows squat about business, customer service, or doing the right thing no matter what! 

Don't get me started (LOL)!

In IL you need to be a broker to sell now. Sorta raised the bar. 

Brian,

I have PhD's who haven't a clue as to how to live life!

I've long said that a mentoring or apprenticing type program, much like appraisers etc would be of great value to new agents - and the public.

Prelicensing? Sure. The real education begins in the trenches.

Afterwards? Well. Let's hope your broker can properly guide you. 

That's the big problem and I see it with lots of rookies. No one minding the store and they don't know how to do anything, they don't understand the contracts etc because they need guidance. 

And brokers who got their license right out of the minimum required time and '1 year repeated 3x'. We saw this during the building boom when all the agents I went to school with went to work for builders. ONE contract, lather rinse repeat. Then got broker's license and opened shop in General RE. Knowing NOTHING. Decades later = still don't. But they can sell you a new build! LOL

Yes the bar is fine. Most of what is learned in class is useless in the real- real-estate world.  You learn nothing about strategies and daily tasks that will ensure you are a successful agent. The proof of what I am saying is in the turnover rate for new agents. Now personaly speaking I dont need more competition, but let's not make believe that real estate school will make you a good agent- it will just give you the vocabulary & letter of the law. 

Yes and no.  Yes, because this is one of the few fields left where people with little or no education, but a desire to learn and earn, can do really well for themselves.  I've known people who were highly successful agents who came to this country with the clothes on their backs, barely any money and little to no understanding of the English language.  By the time I met them at a Mike Ferry Superstar Retreat, he was a multi-millionaire, selling more houses per month than there were days in the week, had his own MLS and was fluent in English.  In other words, you could have made a movie about his life and called it "The American Dream".

On the other hand, no.  I've dealt with many agents who don't know what they're doing, lie and cheat their client, violate any number of regulations and have no excuses for doing so.

In summary: I think raising the bar will not keep the idiots out of the industry, but will hurt those who don't have much but can be "rockstars" in the field.

As the prelicensing education has little to do with the day to day activitites of a successful agent, I'm fine with the current education bar (having more of it will do little to create "better" agents in my opinion).  One of the draws about becoming a realtor is to be able to get started in a very challenging industry with unlimited potential fairly easily and without a college education.

The education bar to obtain a real estate license, just like in all professions, is sufficient for the individual to obtain the real training from their company. I don't care if the training was writing code. soldering pipes or data entry, the company will need to add a bunch more training for the freshly graduated student to be competent.

In Real ESTATE the failure in education lies completely with BROKER who promise train'n  and deliver squat.

This would change if brokers were REQUIRED to compensate those they take on board. 

When the student does not achieve, it IS the TEACHER. In this case the obligation of the BROKER! 

But the broker delegates this responsibility to Teams, none practicing trainers or an agent with lots of time on their hands. And the outcome is what you are experiencing.

A few years back, California lawmakers tried to change the requirements to get a real estate license to "raise the bar" to loud applause from the existing body of license holders. (No surprise there.)

The Governor vetoed the law saying that it stood in the way of "job creation" and was not in the best interest of those who were seeking a career in real estate.

Yes - education has little to do with success.  Morals, ethics, drive, and the motivation to be good at what you do and self respect are far more important than education, IMO.  

I've taken many hours of education, continuing education, and spend a ton of time educating myself - rarely does a course or class cover the things I need to know in my day to day business.

No. But, with that said, education doesn't guarantee common sense, integrity, or a good work ethic. 

Each real estate transaction has its own challenges. We learn the most while doing our everyday routine. What we need to keep in mind every day is our fiduciary duties with our buyers and sellers.

Imagine how many people here would be denied a license if they required a degree to get into this game.

It will never be enough education...

The problem is that once a person gets their license, they think that they know it all and are finished learning...so there are a lot of "dummies" in the real estate business.

Then you have the brokers who think that the "brokers license" means that they already know everything so they are too smart to take advanced classes...so much of what they tell their agents is plain wrong.

Eve

Brian,

Not even close.

# 1 There needs to be good solid education about the systems of a modern house. Something like the InterNACHI® House of Horrors® which is an entire house with 1,000 defects. Everyone is welcome to visit, attend a chapter meeting or training provided by inspectors or experts in the industry that InterNACHI® may help facilitate, take a tour of the PRO-LAB® laboratories, and experience inspecting the House of Horrors®.

I’m not suggesting agents try to be inspectors but they need at least a reasonable knowledge.

https://www.nachi.org/school/

# 2 There needs to be simulation training. Put candidates through 100 or more different simulated deals on a computer and/or live role play.

# 3 A pre-license internship.

# 4 More training in law as it pertains to real estate.

I’ll let others add more.

Sadly, there is no bar, Brian. We seriously need more extensive training and a serious mentor program for ALL new agents. 

I've been saying for years and years and years that the entry bar into this profession is way, way, way too low.

High enough for what? Hopefully, the answer is to serve clients well and that takes appropriate experience and continuous education. Also, an earned doctorate in any field is indicative of a person who is quite adept at formulating issues and developing quality solutions. It certainly has helped me in real estate, especially at the beginnin!

It is not high enough.

No, not high enough.

I can only speak of North Dakota's RE education and I think it stinks. All the focus is on how to pass the test. There is nothing on being a good real estate professional or how to survive in this business Brian DeYoung . It could be worse however, it could be run like that Utah RE school.

No.

Needs to rise and educate to the higher levels

Not even close.  The barriers to entry (and re-entry) to the Real Estate & Mortgage Industries are far too low (in my humble opinion).  

For Silicon Valley probably not.

All these esquires who are showing homes stipulating lines and lines of conditions. Some say their liability as a broker and lawyer is just $15K.  I make sure the sellers initial that they have read. All the rest offers are as is no contingency w/o a JD education.

In a lot of licensing - whether it be plumbing or massage, there is a practical training requirement.  I do think new agents would be best supported by having the follow other agents for a required number of hours - including negotiation, inpsections, showing property, research, cold-calling, property mgmt, paperwork, etc.  

This would lead to agents knowing some practical aspects and also being aware of the wide variety of real estate jobs that do exist .  not everyone is best suited to be a residential sales person.  Just my 2 cents.

I think it can still be higher!

A BIG NO. We need a higher bar on education, testing and common sense. 

Not just one, but HELL NO! It can't get much lower

No for real estate and lending.

In Oregon you have had to be a Broker since 2001. And the state association has a push to "raise the bar" with additional education.

Not really. Do you?

Don't even start this... seems everything about real estate has to be reviewed and improved and providing new licensees with a more useful education would be a good step to start this process. 

The bar is as low as it can be. I memorized enough of the glossary in the back of my study guides, memorized a few worthless figures that I never use in actual practice (i.e. sq ft in an acre...umm in NYC, you typically own an apartment in the sky) and did little else to prepare and that was more than sufficient enough to pass. I used to create training materials for the Series 7 stockbroker exam (and other exams) in the financial industy. While the bar is set much higher there- there are a lot of questions on these required exams that aren't overly relevant to the practice of your job. 

Nope

No is the simple answer. Most states make memorization of useless facts the basis to pass a test. Nothing practical.

I'm sure it could be higher. And, I have plenty of stories of  that would prove it, but I wasn't complaining when I went through the process.