Real Estate Careers and Required Education

The real estate market is one of the most lucrative in the world. Entering the market at the right time and growing your reputation gives you access to impressive deals with good returns. Unlike the popular notion that real estate is a specific career, the niche has multiple nested sub-niches, each being perfect for different people.

Here are the top sub-niches that you should consider when venturing into real estate and what type of education you need to succeed.

Become a Real Estate Agent

Real estate agents are the most popular in this line of work. They help other people sell or buy new properties. This puts you at the very center of the market, where trust and reliability are crucial. You will work on a commission per transaction, and you can work as often as you please.

Even though there are no specific diploma or degree requirements, being very informed, eloquent, and persuasive will help you seal more deals. A certification from a real estate program will come in handy. This could be a postsecondary certification or degree and diploma courses in real estate. 

You have to look and sound dependable when talking to buyers and sellers since first impressions play a vital role in your success. 

A Real Estate Developer

Developers solicit funds, identify viable locations, and then build real estate property on them. As a developer, you have more at stake, and your business acumen should be precise. A degree or master’s in urban planning, architecture, business, or civil engineering will come in handy. 

You will be rubbing shoulders with wealthy investors, investment funds, and skilled laborers too. It would be best if you had the right education to translate technical information from your skilled laborers into factual but easy to digest information your investors can take in.

Knowing how the development works will also come in handy when estimating costs or making cost-cutting decisions without compromising on build quality.

Property Manager

If you don’t want to be involved in the construction and selling portion of the business, you can still venture into real estate by providing property management services. Property managers are in charge of the daily running of a property. They take care of:

• Utility bill payments
• Revenue collections
• Repairs and maintenance
• Customer relations

You will need astute customer service and management skills. A degree or diploma in business management or HR is a good starting point. Most of the managerial skills can be gathered from other disciplines, though. You still have to do a lot of writing, so the expertise you picked from school or knowing where to buy dissertations, proposals, presentations, and other forms of writing will come in handy. You could decide to work for another property management agency or create your own. Most property owners prefer working with agencies, not individuals.

Becoming a Real Estate Attorney

All real estate transactions go through an attorney. The legal work is sometimes complicated, and hiring someone highly experienced is the right way for buyers and sellers to avoid wrangles. They do so by ensuring that purchases are legal and done by the book.

Should any problems arise in the future, real estate attorneys step in to help their clients safeguard their interests regardless of the problem?

To become a real estate lawyer, you need a bachelor’s in law, an LSAT, the Juris Doctor degree, and finally a pass of the bar examination. The process could take up to eight years to complete. After this, you will need some essential lawyer experience of around two years before you can specialize. However, according to Glassdoor, the average salary in this career path is about $107549 per year. This makes the long preparation worth it.

A Home Inspector

Home inspectors go through the property to identify any defects in the building that could cause investors trouble shortly. Skipping inspection is not only illegal in some places but could also lead to uninformed purchases. You have to know every detail about a property and the tiniest possible problems so that you can factor them in the purchase and plan to fix them soon. 

To be successful, you have to be conversant with construction, wiring, or plumbing. A diploma in any of these fields should set you up. However, they are not mandatory as you can get proper home inspector training before launching your career. This is crucial in states that licensed inspectors. A college degree isn’t compulsory, but a diploma or finishing your high school studies is vital. 

A good number of real estate careers don’t require specific education career paths. This doesn’t mean that you won’t need a college degree and can drop out of school sooner. Degrees set you up for promotions or the freedom to open up your own successful company in the real estate market.