Real estate agents need a lot of specialized knowledge. If you’re thinking about becoming a real estate agent, you’ll need to know how to buy, sell, rent, and manage property. As an agent, you could sell homes to clients, manage properties for a landlord, or work with sellers and tenants.
A real estate license is the minimum requirement for legally working as a real estate agent in Australia. Though you may already have experience as an agents’ representative, you’ll need a license to graduate to the next level and become an agent yourself. Working real estate agents are also required to take Continuing Professional Development or real estate CPD courses in order to maintain their professional knowledge. Higher tier agencies might ask that you take additional courses or acquire other licenses before working for them.
To safely manage property, you can’t just know about buying and selling prices and techniques, you also have to be aware of the legal ins and outs to protect yourself from liability.
A real estate license is the minimum requirement for legally working as a real estate agent in Australia. Though you may already have experience as an agents’ representative, you’ll need a license to graduate to the next level and become an agent yourself. Working real estate agents are also required to take Continuing Professional Development or real estate CPD courses in order to maintain their professional knowledge. Higher tier agencies might ask that you take additional courses or acquire other licenses before working for them.
Regional Licensing Rules
Each Australian state and territory requires different levels of licensing to work in real estate. In NSW, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) requires you to get a license and certificate of registration before beginning work as a real estate agent. To obtain your license, you’ll have to take a course from a registered licensing body.
This course will help you with knowledge about legal and ethical requirements of property management and property sales. You’ll also learn about working in the real estate industry, how to read legal information and minimize risk for yourself and your client.
The course will help you get the CPP40307- Certificate IV in Property Services, which you’ll need to get your real estate license.
Paying for Classes
The Government Option In some situations, the government will pay for your entire real estate license course. If you are the employee of a real estate agency, you may have access to this reimbursement. If you’re a fairly recent employee (less than three months full time or six months part time), the NSW state government can cover most of the cost of your real estate license course or the enrollment fee (up to $2900).
The Federal Government offers an incentive of up to $4000 dollars to employers who put their employees through training course. If you’ve been employed for more than three months full time or six months part time, you do not qualify for the NSW state government coverage, but the federal government incentive may still be awarded to your employer.
What to Look for in a Course Provider
Make sure that the real estate training course provider is a Registered Training Organization (RTO). The Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) regulates real estate license courses to prevent fraud, so be sure that your course provider has their approval. If you plan to use government funding to pay for your course, make sure your RTO has experience working with employers to cover the cost of training.
Courses taught by practicing, licensed real estate agents are best, because they will focus on the knowledge you truly need. Some real estate license courses involve in-person training, while others can be completed online.
The best courses use a combination of these two teaching techniques, letting you get hands-on experience but allowing you to work by yourself so that it doesn’t take as long to complete.
Find a course that fits your schedule so that you can be sure to complete it and move forward in your career.
