If you found this blog post, and then you are most likely exploring the potential option of opening up your own business and becoming a licensed real estate agent out here in Hawaii. Today, I’m gonna talk about the step-by-step process of all that. It’s actually painless and easy to become a licensed agent just like myself out here in Hawaii. I’ve been in this profession for almost a decade now, and it’s a beautiful business to be in. It’s not easy, but once you figure it out it becomes a very fruitful and fun business to be in.

Criteria

Now to start it all off, there is a couple of small criteria, if you want to become a licensed real estate agent out here in Hawaii. Number one, you have to be 18 years of age or older. Number two, you have to be a U S. Citizen or have some kind of documentation that has you as a U. S. Citizen, and number three you basically have to be able to pass a background check. Other than that, all you have to do is pass the test and you’re ready to rock and roll. 

Step 1: Sign Up for Real Estate Approved Course

The first thing you’re gonna need to do is to pass a 60-hour pre-approved real estate course. If you’re looking out here in Hawaii, the one person I would suggest looking into is Abe Lee Seminars. He has an in-person and online course. I personally did the in-person course and was able to finish in three or four weeks. The course itself is very intensive and he really knows his stuff. More importantly, he gives you pretty much all the questions and answers that you need to know to pass the test. And that’s really the goal here. In order to become a licensed real estate agent, you just need to pass that test. Coming from experience, you’re going to learn 70-80% of what you need to know in this business, out in the field. And when you start educating yourself after the license, a lot of the stuff that they teach you in these courses, you’re gonna forget a lot of it. It will just eventually come up later when you cross those bridges.

Step 2: Memorize the Q&A, not the content

The second important thing you need to know is to memorize the questions and answers, not the content. What I mean by this is, you don’t necessarily have to keep on reading and studying the books. Memorizing the questions and answers will be enough for you to pass the exam because in the actual test, the Q&A is pretty much the exact same verbiage, maybe with a couple of little changes. You don’t need to understand the concepts completely by memorizing the paragraph and understanding it inside and out, just memorize the questions and the answers. Now, one of the things that I did when I was studying for the test is my basic rule of thumb is when I went chapter by chapter, I would basically study that. I read a little bit, but I’d probably just go directly to the back where the quizzes are and then I would go through the questions, read through them, and memorize the answers. I’d repeat the same process until I got 100% 3 times in a row. Once I did that, then I would move on to the next chapter. The classes are good for you in terms of getting someone to teach you the general concepts. But at the end of the day, you really just need to memorize those questions and answers because they’re gonna be pretty much the exact same on the actual test. So try to focus your energy on that 

Step 3: Create an EHawaii Account

The third important thing is to create an E. Hawaii account. This is basically going to be your internet profile showing that you signed up for this course, passed this class, and so on.

Step 4: Pass the Course Exam

The fourth important step is for you to pass the course that you’re in. This is different from the state or national exam. Whether it’s with Abe Lee or any of these online places, you need to pass that test and get at least 70%, which is great because you don’t have to get everything right. And again, to pass that test just memorize the questions and memorize the answers inside and out. Once you have passed the course exam, that gives you the green light to the actual test or the state and national certified test 

Step 5: Schedule your State & National Exam

Now that you have the go signal to take the actual exam, you’ll need to schedule your exam. I highly suggest that you schedule that exam as soon as possible because you have all this information fresh in your brain. All the questions and answers you memorized are still retained. So might as well take advantage of it because you don’t want too much time to go by where you have to re-study a lot.

I would still also suggest that you study right before the national and state test. Another tip as well is, don’t get caught up on the math questions. The exam contains about five or six questions about it, so don’t get too caught up in the math, just basically focus on passing and getting 70%. The two tests are split up into two. You’ve got the national and you have the state. The national exam is 80 questions and you get 100 and 50 minutes to complete that. While the state test is 50 questions and you’re given 90 minutes to complete it. Once you take the exam, you’ll also get an answer that day on whether you passed or not. 

Now, if you did not pass that is okay. Keep your head up and just get back to studying, schedule your next exam as soon as possible. Because again they won’t show you which answers you got wrong, but you want to get back in there while that information is still fresh. Restudy and go in that same process. Go chapter by chapter. Memorize all the questions and answers. Don’t go on to the next chapter until you know you’ve got 100% 3 times in a row. 

Step 6: Select a Brokerage

Once you’ve passed the test, the only unfortunate thing is you can’t sell houses yet. You need to hang your license with a brokerage. Selecting a brokerage is a huge step and you want to make sure that you do it right. Now, the first thing you need to understand is any brokerage will hire you. They’re basically gonna take a little bit of your commission whenever you do a transaction. Also, keep in mind that you work for yourself, the brokerage you’re in won’t be breathing over you to make sure that you’re working. This is your own business.

When you’re looking at brokerages, you want to focus on a couple of things. Personally, I particularly look at Commission Split, Education, Support, and the Marketing Training that they can offer in order to help me run my business. Now, you can see different kinds of splits. With the smaller brokerages, sometimes they only have a transaction fee, but most brokerages are anywhere between 50/50 or 70/30. To give an example, I was at Keller & Williams and they gave me a 70/30 split. Basically, if I had a $10,000 commission cheque, I would keep 7,000, give them 3,000. But now at the brokerage that I’m at, I get an 80/20 split. If I get a $10,000 commission cheque, I keep 8,000, I give them 2,000, and once I give them $16,000 I make 100% for the rest of the year, which is absolutely amazing. 

I personally see this as a game-changer in regards to building wealth and making a lot more money quicker. So, the commission split is definitely something you want to look into because you want to make sure you’re getting the most possible when you’re working hard. 

The other thing you want to look into is education, especially if you’re a new agent. Since you’re new to the business, you don’t know exactly what you’re doing yet. A brokerage that’s going to provide you with a lot of education about being in this business is a huge deal. By education, I mean specifically showing you how to do sales scripts, how to find leads, how to do open houses, all these things that you have no idea, you need to make sure that you learn that from them in order for you to succeed in this tough business.

The third thing is support, you have to make sure that the brokerage you’re joining has some kind of support for you. By support, this means that if you have a question or an issue that needs to be addressed, you can call your broker and they’ll help you figure it out, that’s their job. A mentorship program from them would also come in handy. This way, you’re informed and well-aware of what kind of support they have at that brokerage. Lastly, you need to know the kind of marketing material that they’ll provide you. These could be things like business card templates, and how to generate leads online with Facebook ads or through social media. 

A lot of brokerages that I’ve seen and I’ve interviewed with, don’t offer high-tech marketing. What they’ll offer you is the general stuff, showing you how to do open houses and generate leads or cold calling. From my experience, the brokerage and team I joined showed us some useful tactics for generating business through video and social media like Instagram. These are some tactics that I like doing, getting to link up with people that I want to work with through social media. 

So that’s basically the process of it all. If ever you’re interested in joining EXP Realty or The Wolf Pack, I’m happy to help any other agent who’s looking to join this great community of realtors out here in Hawaii.