Broker

I’ve been saying for about four years now I was going to get my real estate license and begin working with my husband when the children got a little older.   At first my son and daughter were quite young, which involved a large time commitment as any parent who takes care of young children will tell you.   Then, they started school, but it was only until noon and the three hours each day they were in school got sucked up with household management and other tasks I couldn’t easily get done with two little toddlers in tow.

Last year they were both in school from eight-thirty until three o’clock, but I was heavily time-committed with our school’s capital campaign, board and committee duties, substituting and the construction of the new school which didn’t leave much time to dedicate towards a new career in real estate.

So, for quite some time, the question has been when should I get my license?   This year after the first week of school I found myself with the available time needed to take action on my plan.   I signed up for the first pre-licensing class I could get into and prepared to go back to school.

The North Carolina Real Estate Commission has made the requirements much more challenging over recent years.   Past exams was deemed too easy.   One of the commission’s primary jobs is to protect the public from realtors.   The thought is, a realtor is not a lawyer and can’t give legal advice and yet they’re helping people with what is likely one of the largest financial transactions of their lives.   So they made the test harder.

The class I’ve attended for the past month had a teacher that, in kindness, I’m going to say screeched at us all day long.   She treated us in part like we were adults but tempered that by talking to us like we were children.   It sounds like not the kind of teacher you want to have, but by the end of the course, I knew I was going to miss her because she really cared about helping us learn.

Here’s the thing.  The pass rate for the end of class exam is fifty percent.   And the pass rate of the state certification exam is fifty-two percent.   Kim, our instructor, wanted us to know this wasn’t a joke and it was going to be a month of hard work.   And she was right.    She said, “one third of the people in this class are taking the class over because they failed the end of class test.”   There is a requirement by the commission to pass the end of class test by a certain percent or you must retake the course.   If you take the class again and don’t meet the attendance requirement, you’re not eligible to take the end of class test, which means you can’t sit for the state exam.

I thought she was joking, but she wasn’t.  During the month, I met many people who were in the class a second time—people who told me Kim was correct, the test was hard, and to believe her when she said we need to read the material and study every night.

So I read the material, which mainly included a large, small print course book.   Initially I had hoped there would be some, “fluff” in the chapters but no, it was all important.   There is a lot to cover in the field of real estate in a month and every night I’d try to complete the reading for the next class so I could have time to review.   Mostly by the time I was done reading, it was too late and I went to bed.

The Tuesday before our end of class test on Thursday we were still covering new material and I thought there was no way I was going to be able to review and remember everything in two days.   My husband heard me whine and complain endlessly about worrying I'd fail and have to take the class again.

Last Thursday was the day of our class test.  In the morning we had three hours of review by Kim before taking the test after lunch.   At the start of the class she said, “half of you will fail the test today, so pay attention because this review will help you this afternoon.”   She did a thorough job of going through as much of the material as she could in that time.  

I went into the class test fairly confident.   After the test several of us messaged back and forth, all agreeing the test wasn’t as hard as we’d thought.    We had all been studying and were most definitely taking the class seriously.    On Friday I found out I had passed the class test and could finalize my application to the NC Real Estate Commission to take the state test.   I registered for the first slot available, which was this afternoon.

That left me with two-and-a-half days for final review.   My husband was great with the children throughout the entire past month and especially so right at the end.   Today I went in, fairly confident, even though I’d heard the state test was much harder than the class test.

Folks, it was hard.   It was harder than expected.   So much so that I wasn’t sure I was going to pass the national section of the test.   When I got to the state portion I knew I had that half covered, but in the back of my mind I was wondering if I’d failed one part and would have to take it over.

I finished both tests and stared at the PASS grade for both the national and state sections.   I sat there in my seat stunned for a minute before I got up.   I was so anxious about the national portion I couldn’t even be happy yet.  I was just relieved.

Now, later in the evening, I’m not only relieved, I’m excited to be a real estate agent.   I’m looking forward to working with my husband and his team in the future.

The Big Boy Update:  My son was outside, playing with his friends.   I have no idea what the context was but I heard him yell out to them, “I’m growing younger!” as he whizzed off on his scooter.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  We were reading a Halloween book tonight before bed.   On each page of the book there is a flap and underneath is a typical Halloween creature (ghost, bat, witch, etc.).   When they lifted the flap on each and every page my daughter said, “too scary!”