Thinking of becoming a Real Estate Agent?

Here are the first few steps you’ll need to complete to begin your Real Estate career:

1. You will need to find a 63 hour Pre-License Course

• Select any 63 hour Pre-License course from the school of your choice. Choose in person or online based on your learning style and needs:
  • In person class (7 days straight), local classes are offered once a month in Saint Petersburg.
  • Online classes are at your own pace.
• Recommended by the Homepride Group:
  • Bob Hogue School of Real Estate. Check out the website by clicking the link above, or by phone at (727) 526-5338 to sign up for your class of choice.

2. Before completing the 63 hour Pre-License Course

• Apply for your Real Estate License on the Department of Business & Professional Regulation website, otherwise known as DPBR.
• Once you apply for your license, schedule your fingerprints with an approved vendor designated by DBPR. The application process takes about 2 weeks. 

3. Schedule your State Exam!

• When you pass your 63 hour Pre-License Course Exam, you will then be notified that you are approved to schedule your State Exam.
• Closest testing locations are Tallahassee, Dothan, Saint Petersburg and Pensacola.
• 75 or higher is a passing score. If you don’t pass on your first attempt don’t worry, you are not alone! You can take the test as many times as needed to pass.

4. Once you pass the State Exam

• You should receive your license within 72 hours via email from DBPR.
• Schedule your Agent Interview with the Homepride Group with the link above as soon as you pass the State Exam.
• Once accepted by the Homepride Group the onboarding process generally takes 72 hours.
• Pay annual dues to Osceola County Association of Realtors
  • Click links for more information on OSCAR membership and fees.
  • Fees are prorated depending on which month your membership becomes active.
• Once you’ve paid your first year dues, you can begin selling real estate

immediately!

We look forward to you joining our team, and helping YOU succeed in your real estate career.

Study Tips to Help You Sail Through Your Exam

It’s only natural that you’d be a bit worried about sitting for your real estate licensing exam. After all, it could be the beginning of a whole new life! But try to relax—nervous testers do not make good testers. “Relax?!” you ask. “How can I relax?!” The best way is to be so prepared that taking the exam is a cakewalk.

Here are some tips we’ve compiled for you that will help you prepare for the exam, calm your nerves, and set you up for a successful exam experience.

• Don’t take studying lightly. You’d be surprised at the number of people who think they can just whiz through the materials and then pass the exam. This does not happen! Rigor is built into the exam to weed these people out. You have to study—consistently and a lot. There is no getting around that.
• Use your practice exams as study tools. Review the results of all practice exams you’ve taken, paying close attention to any questions you got wrong (or those you got right but just guessed at the answer!). Review each question along with all the answer options until you understand why the incorrect answers are incorrect, as well as why the correct answers are correct. You can take your course practice exams as many times as you’d like, so take advantage of this benefit. Each time you take the practice exam, you’ll see a few new questions, because the questions are pulled from a larger exam bank. (Remember this ONLY applies to the practice exams! In most states, you’re limited in the number of times you can take the course final exam.)
• Retake the practice exams until you’re consistently scoring above 90% on them. Once you’re doing this, you should be ready for your course final exam, and then the licensing exam.
• Create a study space. Devote one area to studying for the duration of your coursework. This will help you get into the learning “zone” and focus.
• Study every day. Just a little studying each day helps keep you in the study groove and it is far better than trying to condense your studying into a few huge cram sessions. Your brain can only absorb so much at a time. Study every day for a half-hour to an hour, and do a bigger review session each week. Schedule your study time into your planner so it doesn’t get pushed off.
• Take the field trips and watch the videos and read the handouts. In your coursework, you’ll find we’ve included a lot of “extra” material. These extras are there to help you access the content in new ways. Something you see in a video or read in a handout may help a concept “click” that eluded you before. Take advantage of every resource we’ve provided!
• Write out notes as you study, especially for content that is unfamiliar to you. There is something kinesthetic and visual about writing out content in your own handwriting that helps it to “implant” on your brain. This will help your recall tremendously. Because it is so effective, you might want to write your notes multiple times, but be sure you don’t memorize only one way of explaining something. If the exam question is phrased differently, this could trip you up.
• Color-code your notes. If it’s a vocabulary word, highlight it in blue. If it’s a concept, green. Formula? Yellow. Choose the colors you like, one for each type of content. This will help you recall information during the exam—it will be easier for you to picture a word or concept if you know the color you gave it.
• Create your own flowcharts and diagrams, especially if you’re a visual learner. Just the act of creating them will help with your understanding of the content. They also make easy review tools.
• Record yourself. Record any difficult “memorization” type content in your own voice and play it back in the car or before you go to sleep.
• Match your study actions to the subject. Math is not something you read, as you would concepts. You need to actually work the problems. Make up your own math problems and work through several until it’s so familiar you could do it in a timed race. If you’re studying vocabulary, create your own flashcards, and have someone quiz you.
• Review your notes before you go to sleep. Your brain will “work” on the vocabulary, math, and concepts while you sleep.
• Use mnemonics. For content that requires memorization, such as unfamiliar vocabulary words, use wordplay. Take, for example, the word alluvion, which means the increase of land due to soil being deposited on it through the action of water. Picture yourself on your own land at the edge of a river when a ship named the “SS Alluvion” arrives and dumps a gigantic load of soil near you, increasing the size of your land.
• Use word association. For instance, an exclusive right to sell listing agreement means that the listing agent gets a commission no matter who SELLS it. An exclusive agency listing agreement means that the listing agent gets a commission no matter which AGENT sells it (so if the buyer is found by another agent, the listing agent is paid, but if the seller finds the buyer, the listing agent is not paid).
• Write your own study guide, made up of the content you find most difficult. Review this any time you have a few moments.
• Discuss what you’re learning with friends. When you’ve finished a section of your course, “teach” it to a friend, family member, or even your dog! This will show you how well you’ve absorbed the material, and identify any gaps in your understanding.
• Take your final exam when you feel ready, and note any areas where you were uncertain or missed questions; then go back and review these areas.
• Create your own exam. Take any concepts, vocabulary, formulas that you find especially difficult, and create your own exam questions. Use a variety of testing methods (flashcards, multiple-choice, fill in the blank) and test yourself until it’s very familiar to you.
• Act it out. For any particularly difficult content, turn it into performance art. It may sound silly but trust us: movement added to auditory input can help implant the information in your brain. Example: Do jumping jacks while reciting the essential elements of a valid contract. Or record your notes on your phone, leaving room for you to repeat after yourself, and/or fill in the blanks, and play them while you go for a jog or walk. For instance:
• [Your recorded voice] “An emblement is ___________” [pause]
• [You]:  “An emblement is an annual crop that belongs to the person who planted it.” [pause]
• [Your recorded voice]: “An emblement is an annual crop that belongs to the person who planted them, such as a tenant or former owner.”

One Week Before the Exam

• Continue to study and test yourself.
• Visualize yourself taking the exam. If you can, visit the space where the exam will be held so when you do your visualization, you can picture yourself in the exact location you’ll be taking the exam. Note the materials that will be provided for you. Note any smells. If visiting is out of the question, see if there are photos online of the place, check them out. At least know in what format the exam will happen: online? On paper? When you return to your study space and for the next week, take a few moments each day to close your eyes and picture yourself calmly and confidently working through the exam. Create feelings of happiness when you visualize the exam. Picture yourself receiving thunderous applause for acing the exam! Do a second visualization before you drift off to sleep each night.
• Create an affirmation for yourself, in your own words, and repeat it over and over throughout the days leading up to the exam. Example: “I find test-taking easy and I am always successful.” Or even, simply, “I’ve got this.”
• Keep hydrating!

The Day Before the Exam

• Review your materials. Start by studying what seems hardest to you, then review the easier content, especially if you haven’t reviewed it in a while. Sometimes people study so hard on the content they don’t know that they forget what they do know!
• Review the key points.
• Retake any quizzes or exams.
• Wear the same clothes. When you review your materials the day before you go, wear the same clothes you intend to wear to the exam. It sounds odd, we know, but recreating the same environment, as much as possible, as the one in which you study, helps with recollection. (And yes, please do change your underwear.)
• Memorize the formulas you’ll need (we’ve provided a cheat sheet for you to review). Then, because you’re allowed scratch paper at the exam, write down all the formulas as soon as you get to the exam, before you even begin your exam. Then they’ll be handy when you need them.
• Lay out your clothes and the items you will need to bring so you don’t have to search for them the following day.
• Hydrate!
• Get a good night’s sleep. You’ve earned it! Set your alarm if you’re not 100% sure you’ll wake up in time.

The Day of the Exam

• Don’t cram on test day! This is a day you should get into your Zen. Take a walk just before the exam. It helps calm you, improves circulation including blood flow to the brain, and helps take the “charge” out of the exam itself.
• Eat lightly, but don’t get light-headed. Stick to your traditional diet (if it’s healthy) but don’t overdo or try anything new. This is not the time to discover you’re allergic to kumquats. Protein over sugar, for sure!
• Bring your supplies. Bring everything you’re allowed to bring: a calculator, pencils, and everything you’re supposed to bring: I.D., credit card or checkbook.
• Hydrate, but not just before you go into the exam. You’ll want to enter the exam with an empty bladder, so take care of that before you walk in.
• Visualization. Just before you head into the exam, run through your visualization again, either in your car, or seated in the hallway outside of the exam. It should only take a few moments, and who cares if people stare? They don’t have to pass your exam—you do. Meditation is becoming more common, and most people will know to leave you alone.
• Arrive early. Give yourself a few minutes to gather your thoughts before starting the exam. This means you should plan to be in the exam room five to 10 minutes before the exam starts.

At the Exam

• Make it a goal to be the last person to finish the exam. You likely won’t be, but if this is your goal you will avoid that competitive rushed feeling that may occur when you see people getting up to leave and you’re only halfway through. Trust us: The people who leave the earliest will likely fail! Often they are leaving because they realized they do not know the content and there is no point in continuing. You don’t get extra points for being first to finish, and you won’t get any points docked by being last. Use all of your allotted time.
• Take a moment, before beginning, to close your eyes, and repeat your affirmation (silently, to yourself).
• Smile. It will send endorphins to your body, creating a state of well being.
• Immediately write down the formulas you’ve memorized (and anything else you’ve had to commit to memory), and if you like, even your affirmation, on the provided scratch paper. Take your time. There is no rush.
• Read all exam questions carefully. Some testing authorities like to use oddly or negatively phrased questions or over-complicate questions with unnecessary information in order to add an extra challenge to the exam. Take the time to really read the questions so you know what answer they’re looking for.
• Examples of negatively phrased questions
• Essential elements of a valid contract do not include:
• Which of the following statements about buyer pre-qualification is false?
• Example of an overly-complicated question
• Melissa has been licensed for three years and has completed 26 transactions. She typically keeps 60% of her commissions and her broker keeps the remaining 40% unless the client is a repeat client, in which case she keeps 75% of the commission. Melissa has just closed a transaction with a client who came to Melissa through a cold-calling campaign. If the total commission she received is $2,500, how much does Melissa’s broker keep?
• Begin the exam by answering questions that you know for sure. Skip any that confuse you, and go back to them if you have time—and you will likely have plenty of time, so don’t rush.
• Don’t panic if nothing seems familiar at first. If you feel yourself tensing up, close your eyes, take a deep breath, repeat your affirmation, and you might want to add, “This is easy. I’ve got far more time than I will ever need.”

Will you need to take all of these steps? Probably not. Pick the ones that seem to work for you, and leave the rest. But be at least 20% more prepared than you think is necessary. When it’s time to sit for your exam, you will never regret being too prepared!