The Georgia real estate market has been thriving over the last decade, especially in the Metro Atlanta area. Becoming a real estate agent in Georgia is an excellent choice for those thinking about making a career change.
We’re going to share everything you need to know about getting your Georgia real estate license, including:
The Georgia Real Estate Commission (GREC) has some basic requirements you have to meet in order to secure your real estate license and become a real estate agent in Georgia:
Once you’ve completed your Georgia real estate course and passed the school exam, you can apply to take the state exam with Applied Measurement Professionals. The cost for the examination is $121. In order to pass the exam, you have to get a minimum score of 72%.
If you don’t pass the first time, no worries! You can take the exam again without having to retake the course.
Once you’ve passed, you will have 12 months to find a sponsoring broker and officially activate your real estate license. If you don’t activate your license within 12 months, you’ll have to retake the Georgia state exam.
In your first year as a real estate agent, the Georgia Real Estate Commission requires that you take a 25-hour salesperson post-license course. If you fail to take the course before the end of the 12 month period, your license will lapse.
While you do have to jump through a few hoops to become a real estate agent in Georgia, this is an incredible opportunity to build a lifelong business.
In order to get your Georgia real estate license, you’ll have to attend a school that’s approved by GREC. There are quite a few approved real estate schools in Georgia. Some are online, others in person, and a few do a combination of the two. Here are a few of the most popular GA real estate schools:
When you are shopping for the best real estate schools, make sure that they offer additional support for exam prep and sample exams for practice. Some schools even offer weekend cram courses or online support / chat to make sure that you pass the real estate salesperson exam on the first try.
In Georgia, you must affiliate with a real estate brokerage in order to activate your real estate license. This is often referred to as the “sponsoring broker.”
We would recommend shopping for the best broker once you’ve completed the pre-licensing course and are waiting to take your state exam. There are a few ways to do this:
The most important thing you should look for in a brokerage is how they support brand new real estate agents. Do they have a formal training program? Will you have at least 3 people you can reach out to if you have questions? Do they have mentors – and what exactly will the mentors do to assist you?
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There are several fees involved when working to become a real estate agent in Georgia…
Now that you know how to get a real estate license in Georgia and how to find the best brokerage, the next step is getting yourself in the mindset that you are building a new business.
Your pre-licensing course is primarily focused on learning the common terms and laws when practicing real estate. The courses don’t usually cover writing contracts, preparing a home valuation report for sellers, mastering your scripts, and learning how to market and promote your business.
Once you’ve become a real estate agent in Georgia, you need to be highly motivated and laser-focused on learning as much as you can. When you wake up each morning, no one is going to be there telling you what to do, you have to be focused on several key areas including:
We talk with dozens of newly licensed agents each year. Most have no idea how challenging this career path can be and how much you need to learn to be successful. We won’t sugarcoat it — it is a tough business! But if you are a self-starter who is 110% committed to being successful and you have the support of a great brokerage and mentor, it can be a rewarding and profitable business.
Honestly, that’s up to you! The pre-licensing course is only 75 hours, so you could finish that in as little as two weeks. In week three you would take the class exam and then about 1 to 2 weeks later, the state exam. Once you pass the state exam, you’ll have to get up and running with all the tools and systems at your new brokerage, so that could take another 2 to 4 weeks. All in all, you could be licensed in as little as a month, but we would recommend planning for 6 to 9 weeks before you would be in a place to start working with clients and writing offers.
It’s not uncommon for people to fail on the first try. You can easily take the Georgia real estate exam again, you just have to pay another $121. You are allowed to take the Georgia real estate exam three times in one year.
There are 152 multiple choice questions and you’ll have up to 4 hours to take the exam. Most agents will tell you “it can be tricky” or “it’s not so easy,”, so it’s vital that you do as many practice exams as possible to prepare. If you’re still not feeling confident, sign up for an exam prep or cram course.
If you’ve been licensed as a Georgia Salesperson for at least 3 of the previous 5 years, you can qualify to become a broker. You’ll just have to complete 60 hours of approved Georgia Broker Pre-Licensing education and pass the state broker exam.
Georgia allows real estate license reciprocity with every state in the United States (except for Florida). It’s fairly simple to get your reciprocal real estate license. You just have to submit proof of a current (not lapsed or expired) real estate license from another state. You can submit your application here.
According to ZipRecruiter, as of February 2022, the average US monthly pay is $6,908 (about $82K annually). This can fluctuate dramatically from city to city, so focusing on areas where the average sale price is higher will allow you to earn more. If you are in the Metro Atlanta area, the average is $84K according to Indeed.com.
We outlined the costs above, but to sum it up, you’re looking at about $650 to $800 to get your license and then you’ll have to join the Board of Realtors, MLS and there is usually a fee to join your brokerage. In total, the initial fees to get started in real estate could range from $1,000 to $1,500 depending on your area and the brokerage you select.
