If you’d like to enter a career as a NY realtor, the process of getting your license can be completed in as little as 75 hours. It’s also not extremely expensive if done correctly through qualified certification sources.
Licensed real estate salespersons can enjoy a rewarding and well-paid career in a high-demand profession inside the vibrant property markets of NY State. While no professional certification by itself can guarantee the success of high income, dedicating yourself to real estate sales and properly networking with potential clients can deliver robust and stable professional results. Certification is legally obligatory but fairly easy to achieve.
The total costs of becoming what is called a Real Estate Salesperson under NY State Real Estate License Law are also far from crushing. They come with only a few modest official application, renewal, and exam-taking fees alongside the also moderate costs of taking the course itself through an accredited provider.
There are also several other legal, preparation, and procedural essentials that you need to know if you want to be a licensed real estate salesperson yourself. Let’s cover these essentials now so that you know exactly what to do and what it might mean for you.
What is a Licensed Real Estate Salesperson?
Licensed real estate salespersons are not Real Estate Brokers. They instead work under the supervision of a broker as facilitators of property sales, purchases, and other transaction details on behalf of customers.
The most basic legal requirement of being a licensed real estate salesperson, aside from the certification itself, is that you be associated with a broker. With this covered, you can be directly involved in facilitating the listing, negotiating and financial transactions for the sale, lease or rental of property for clients.
In becoming a Licensed real estate salesperson, you must find your own sponsoring broker and complete their real estate salesperson course either online or offline. You will also need to take the license exam with a grade of at least 70% and then apply for an official license through the New York State government’s eAccessNY portal.
As a licensed real estate salesperson, your main source of income will be through commissions based on the number of transactions you handle with your broker sponsor. The only real limit to your potential earnings is in how many commissions you can handle per week, month or year.
Essentially, you will basically be working for yourself as a freelancer with the number of assignments or sales depending on your agreement with the broker or brokerage that sponsors you. Within the conditions of your agreement with your sponsoring broker or brokerage, you can work as much or as little as you like, depending on market demand and how well you perform.
What is the 75-Hour Online Real Estate Salesperson Licensing Course?
If you want to be licensed as a real estate salesperson, or realtor, you will have to take a 75-hour online study course that is followed by the state-administered salesperson exam itself. Only after you’ve gone through this process can you apply for your real estate sales license with the government of NY State.
Whatever private provider you choose to take your 75-hour course with has to first be certified by the NY Department of State to provide the course. This is an absolutely essential condition of choosing who you take the course with. If your provider doesn’t have certification, it can mean an invalid course completion. The NY Department of State has a handy list of approved schools that might be helpful here.
The full 75-hour Real Estate Salesperson Course has a number of detailed sections and subsections, but its basic curriculum consists of the following:
- License Law and Regulations
- Law of Agency
- Legal Issues
- The Contract of Sales and Leases
- Real Estate Finance
- Land Use Regulations
- Construction and Environmental Issues
- Valuation Process and Pricing Properties
- Human Rights and Fair Housing
- Real Estate Mathematics
- Municipal Agencies
- Property Insurance
- Licensee Safety
- Taxes and Assessments
- Condominiums and Cooperatives
- Commercial and Investment Properties
- Income Tax Issues in Real Estate Transactions
- Mortgage Brokerage
- Property Management
The agencies and schools that offer certified 75-hour courses also usually provide a number of on-demand video lessons, course material PDFs, and other resources for helping you learn the specific rules, regulations and other technical/professional details that you’ll need to pass the course effectively through your final state-issued exam.
How much does it cost to become a Licensed Real Estate Salesperson?
The official costs payable to the state government of NY for the processing and approval of your real estate salesperson license are pretty straightforward and easily affordable. They mainly involve the following and can be paid by check, money order, or credit card payment to the Department of State:
- $55 initial application fee
- $55 renewal fee (when you renew your current license)
- $15 for the written exam itself after your 75-hour course
- $10 for any change of name or address you request at some point
- $10 for duplicate registration and license copies
As you can see, these formal fees that you pay to the government itself are pretty modest and some of them don’t even necessarily apply all at once, or ever (unless you plan on changing your name or address down the line).
Then of course there are the course fees that you pay to accredited institutions and schools that offer the 75 Hour Online Real Estate Salesperson course. These often vary from one school to another but an average price range with most organizations is somewhere between $99 and $350 dollars. The amount can depend on the amount of study assistance materials included and the length of time you’re given to access the course, which can range from just weeks to 12 months.
The above are the core costs you can expect to pay for actually getting your license as a realtor. The costs of setting up your home or business office, finding customers and getting a broker or brokerage to sponsor you are an entirely different matter, and of course, these can vary enormously too.
What does the learning and exam process look like?
Studying for your real estate salesperson license through an accredited 75 hour course doesn’t actually mean that you need to complete the course within 75 hours of signing up. The 75 hours represent formal study times per each segment of the course. Once you’re actually moving through the material with a school, many of them allow you to take several months to complete the entire process.
Following the 75 hour course, you can then book an appointment to take your state exam to be approved for an official realtor license. Many accredited schools also let you take a realistic practice exam with them to maximize your chances of passing the real test.
What are the legal requirements to be a Licensed Real Estate Salesperson?
New York State licensing law doesn’t ask for too much from people who want to become licensed real estate salespersons. If this is a career that interests you, the basic requirements that you need to comply with before getting your license itself mainly involve:
- Submission of a complete application and its $55 fee to the Department of State
- Being at least 18 years old
- Successful completion of the 75-hour salesperson education course from an approved school
- Have a secured sponsorship from an NYS-licensed Real Estate Broker or Brokerage
- Passing the NYS Real Estate Salesperson test
- Having a valid NYS photo ID of some kind
That’s it. The most expensive part of the certification process as a real estate seller in New York is the cost of the 75-hour course itself. This is also the most time-consuming part except possibly finding a broker that’s willing to sponsor you.
The written state exam is done in person at a site that the NY Department of State chooses. You’ll have 1.5 hours to complete it. Obviously, while taking the test, you can’t carry in devices that you could use to cheat. These include cell phones and any large books or briefcases and bags.
Can you use your NY Real Estate License in other states?
If you’re feeling ambitious about making a career somewhere else and want to keep your travel options open after becoming a realtor, keep this in mind: The NY real estate seller’s license is valid in states that have a reciprocity agreement with the state of New York. These agreements can vary between NY and each of these states but you can look up their individual details online, per state on the website of the NYS Division of Licensing Services.
So which states do have reciprocity agreements with New York? The following apply for brokers, associate brokers and salesperson certifications:
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Georgia
- Massachusetts
- Mississippi
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- West Virginia
These agreements are always subject to legal and regulatory changes, so before assuming that any particular state does let NY real estate sellers practice in its territory, always be sure to check with the authorities in that state and with the website of the NY Licensing Services Division.
Why be a New York Real Estate Salesperson?
The decision to be a real estate salesperson is completely subjective and based on your personal needs or context. However, in terms of a few good summary reasons why this particular career might be a great choice for anyone starting on their professional career path in life:
- Being a real estate salesperson has potentially high income possibilities, i
- It’s not difficult or expensive to become legally certified in this career,
- The NY real estate market offers enormous market demand.
- It’s a career that offers enormously flexible, largely independent work conditions.
For almost any career, most of the above are excellent reasons for entering. They offer large potential rewards with very little risk in terms of time or money invested in trying to become successful as a real estate salesperson.
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