September 6th, 2017 12:27 PM by Gregg Mower
Have you ever wondered what it takes to become a Real Estate Agent or a Loan Officer in California? First, you have to ask yourself what exactly you want to offer your clients once you have the appropriate licensing. You might just want to sell Real Estate which will only require you to have a California Bureau of Real Estate License. If you just want to be a Loan Officer you would have to take and pass the National Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) test for both State and Federal. This is where it becomes confusing for new licensees with the NMLS license. If you just have the NMLS license and not a Real Estate License you can only work for a Mortgage Company that is regulated by California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) or a Bank. If you hold both a Real Estate License and an NMLS license you can go to work for a Mortgage Broker that is regulated by the BRE and you can practice both Real Estate and Loans. If you want to offer your clients a one stop approach where you can offer both the Real Estate Services as well as Loan services you want to hold both licenses and work for a company that has the appropriate licensing under the BRE, like MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan.
So, once you have decided that you want to get your Real Estate License where do you go to get your licensing prerequisite courses. The Bureau will require that you take an approved Real Estate Principles course, and Real Estate Practice then you can choose from a specialty course such as: Appraisal, Property management, Finance, Economics, Legal aspects, Accounting, etc. for more information on the specifics click here to go to the BRE license requirements page. If you have 4 year degree you may be exempt from taking all or some of the courses and you can go right to the Broker’s test if you wish as opposed to getting the Sales Person license first then wait the 2 years to get the necessary experience to take the Broker Exam. Now if you have not taken the college courses and need to take the prerequisite courses you can find approved Real Estate Schools online and they will generally walk you through exactly what you need to have to take the test and get your license. The school I recommend to my people is a school called First Tuesday they will look at what education you have already and let you know what you need to take to get the license, they also provide test preparation courses which I would strongly recommend. Once you have taken the online courses you need you can then apply to take the Real Estate Exam from the BRE. You can go to the BRE site to follow their instructions as you will need to be finger printed, and not have been convicted of a felony and pay the necessary fees and for sites where the Exam is held. Click here to see the detailed steps you need to take to get to the Exam. Then take the Exam when you are ready, it will require you to study hard as it is not easy if you are not prepared. Once you pass the exam you will be notified by the Bureau and when your license has been issued you can now work as a licensed Agent. But since you know nothing about how the real world works you will need to find a company like MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan to train you in the Art of Selling which will revisit in a minute.
Moving on to getting the NMLS license or Mortgage Loan Originator (MLO) License. The test will be the same whether you want to have both licenses and sell real estate and do loans. To get your NMLS license you will need to have 20 hours of prerequisite courses that can also be obtained from any California Approved Licensing Agency and again First Tuesday can also provide the necessary courses required to obtain the NMLS License. I would again, stress that you take an Exam Preparation course that has practice tests and if you use First Tuesday they also have these courses. You will need to follow the steps on the NMLS site as well as signing up online. You will also need finger prints and no felonies to apply. Once you have completed all the steps to take the exam make sure you are ready by taking preparation tests and classes if necessary and take the test. Once you have passed the test you will have to know what you want to do with your new license as you will need to be trained in the art of Mortgage Lending. If you only have the NMLS license and have no desire to offer both Real Estate services and Loan Services you will have to pick a Mortgage Banker regulated by the DBO. Then, in order to start work, you must pay the $300 to the DBO. If you have your BRE license already you have the option for working for a Mortgage Broker that can offer both Real Estate Services and Loan services, like MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan.
Once you have the licensing you desire you will need to be trained in real life practice. You will need to choose a company that offers training like MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan. We will train you as a Realtor and as a MLO, so if you have one or both licenses you can utilize both licenses to their fullest. It has baffled me as to why if you have a BRE license and an MLO license you would work for a company regulated by the DBO where you are restricted to only doing loans. If you have the ability to offer your client a one stop shopping experience where you can “Bundle” your services and save you client money and make commissions on both the loan and the Real Estate why wouldn’t you choose that rout. Yes, you will have to pay your dues to the Association of Realtors but that gives you the opportunity to know the inventory in your area and become more professional in both fields as they have to work hand in hand in most every Real Estate transaction. Your dues will give you access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) where you can view all the details of property offered for sale or what has sold. YOur dues also gives you access to Zip Forms that are the online Real Estate Contracts and forms. Even if you have a client that just is requesting a refinance you will have the ability to log on and determine the value of the home prior to ordering an appraisal taking the guess work out of the equation and potentially saving your client the cost of an appraisal. With both licenses working for a Mortgage Broker you will have more products to offer than working for one Mortgage Company under the DBO as a Mortgage Broker has the ability to use many different lenders that offer many different products. At MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan we also offer the ability to Broker Hard Money Loans, thus further opening the doors to more commission possibilities.
Once you have obtained both licenses and you want to be trained in both fields or if you have been a Realtor and just got your MLO license and need training what do you do? Training opportunities in Mortgage business has always been costly or self-done and there are very few companies that offer extensive training prior to going out in the field . Here at MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan we have developed a training programs from the over 30 years of mortgage experience. We combine mentoring with classroom and homework to get the details needed to be a professional Loan Originator. If you would like more information please click here to be directed to our employment page and complete the form or simply call us (916) 672-6130 and we will show the benefits and the opportunities that you may not have known about before. Our training program will take 4-6 weeks where you can be working at the same time. You will learn all the ins and outs of the business from how to take a loan application and write a contract to how to close out a transaction and get referral business and all the marketing that you will need to know. I hope this has helped with your quest to enter the Real Estate and Loan business we are here to help as MAE Capital Real Estate and Loan has developed a reputation of being smart and innovative and are always looking for individuals that want to have the opportunity to expand their career to limitless possibilities.