How to Become a Real Estate Agent in Illinois
Planning to start a career as a real estate agent? To get your real estate license, you will need to take classes at a real estate school, and satisfy all the requirements set forth by the Illinois Division of Banks and Real Estate.
Here's what you need to know to become a real estate agent in Illinois:
1) Licensing Requirements
2) Duties of a Real Estate Agent
3) What is a REALTOR®?
4) Income Potential
5) Real Estate Schools
How to Become a Real Estate Agent in Illinois
1) Real Estate Agent Licensing Requirements
In Illinois, real estate agents MUST be licensed by the Illinois Division of Banks and Real Estate, through the Bureau of Real Estate Professions. To obtain your real estate license, you must:
- Satisfy the minimum requirements to apply for the real estate exam:
- Age: Must be at least 21 yrs of age. (18 yrs if completed at least 4 semesters of post-secondary school study as a full-time student or the equivalent, with major emphasis on real estate courses, in an approved school).
- Character: Must be of good moral character.
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Experience: None. High School graduate or equivalent.
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Education: 45 hours approved pre-licensing course.
- Apply to take the State exam.
- Pass the exam. 3 exam failures require a repeat of the education requirement.
- Pay the appropriate fees.
- Apply for Real Estate License. Within 1 yr of passing the exam.
Newly licensed agents must work under the supervision of an employing real estate broker. Most new agents start out by working for one of the large brokerages like Coldwell-Banker, Century-21, Remax, etc. If you would like to have your own business and work for yourself, you must upgrade to a broker's license.
2) Duties of Real Estate Agents
A real estate agent's main job is to assist their clients in the process of buying and selling real estate.
Their list of duties include:
- Submit buyers' offer to purchase to seller for consideration
- Work with escrow officers, lenders, home inspectors, and pest control operators to ensure that terms and conditions of purchase agreements are met before closing dates.
- Interview potential buyers to determine what kinds of properties they are seeking.
- Prepare documents such as listing agreements, purchase agreements, etc.
- Coordinate property closings, overseeing signing of documents and disbursement of funds.
- Act as an intermediary in negotiations between buyers and sellers, generally representing one or the other.
- Determine a property's competitive market price by comparing the property with similar properties that have recently sold.
- Schedule appointments to show homes to potential buyers.
- Generate lists of properties that are compatible with buyers' needs and financial resources.
3) What is a REALTOR®?
A real estate agent becomes a REALTOR® when he or she pays an annual fee to be a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and subscribes to its Code of Ethics.
The agent generally joins through the local board or association.
For example, in Chicago, once you have obtained your real estate license, you may pay a fee to join the Chicago Association of REALTORS®. This also makes you a member of the Illinois Association of REALTORS® and the National Association of REALTORS®.
All REALTORS® are real estate agents but not all real estate agents are REALTORS®.
4) Income Potential
Real estate agents are generally paid based on a percentage of the sales price. The seller will generally pay 4-6% of the sales price as the fee and that will be split 50/50 between the seller and buyer's broker.
For example, if the fee for a $100,000 house is 6%, the buyer's broker will be paid 3% or $3000 and the seller's broker will be paid 3% or $3000 as well. The agent is paid by his or her broker, according to their previously agreed-upon commission split. This is often 50/50 for beginning agents, so in that case the agent in our example would receive $1500.
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, the Median Sales price for an existing single-family home in the Chicago area was $246,300 for the fourth quarter of 2004.
5) Real Estate Schools
Here are some approved real estate schools offering the pre-licensing courses for the state of Illinois:
| Academy of Real Estate Education | 5842 W. Fullerton Avenue Chicago, IL 60639 |
773/479-2700 |
| AHI Real Estate & Insurance Services, Inc. | 10115 W. Grand Ave. Franklin Park, IL 60131 |
847/455-5311 800/894-2495 |
| American Heritage Real Estate Academy, LLC | 2106 N. Clark Street Chicago, IL 60614 |
888/522-2336 |
| Chicago Real Estate Institute | 2711 N. Halsted Street Chicago, IL 60614 |
773/477-4455 |
| Coldwell Banker School of Real Estate | 2700 S. River Road Suite 400 DesPlaines, IL 60018 |
847/655-4017 |
| College of DuPage | 425 22nd Street Glen Ellyn, IL 60137 |
630/942-2800 |
| College of Lake County | ACE Division 19351 W. Washington Street Grayslake, IL 60030 |
847/223-6601 |
| Danville Area Community College | 2000 E. Main Street Danville, IL 61832 |
217/443-8786 |
| Education Services, Inc. | 2847 Pfingsten Road Suite E Glenview, IL 60025 |
847/559-9000 |
| Elgin Community College | 1700 Spartan Drive Elgin, IL 60123 |
847/214-7466 |
| Fitzgerald Real Estate Academy | 5422 W. Warwick Ave. 1R Chicago, IL 60641 |
773/725-6476 |
| Harold Washington College | Real Estate Program 30 E. Lake Street Chicago, IL 60601 |
312/553-5713 |
| Heartland Community College | 1500 W. Raab Road Normal, IL 61761 |
309/268-8160 |
| Highland Community College | 2998 W. Pearl City Rd. Freeport, IL 61032 |
815/599-3575 |
| Hondros College | One Energy Center 40 Shuman Blvd., Suite 160 Naperville, IL 60563 |
1/866-84LEARN |
| Illinois Academy of Real Estate | 316 N. Lake Street Aurora, IL 60506 |
630/844-0222 |
| Illinois Association of Realtors | Licensing & Training Center 3180 Adloff Lane Suite 400 Springfield, IL 62703 |
217/529-2600 |
| Illinois Central College | Business & Information Systems One College Drive East Peoria, IL 61635 |
309/694-5505 |
| Information Professionals, Inc. | 15154 S. Cicero Ave. Oak Forest, IL 60452 |
708/687-8049 |
| John A. Logan College | 700 Logan College Rd. Carterville, IL 62918 |
618/985-3741 ext. 202 |
| John Wood Community College | 1301 S. 48th Street Quincy, IL 62305 |
217/224-6500 |
| Joliet Junior College | Academic Services 1215 Houbolt Road Joliet, IL 60431 |
815/773-6629 |
| Kaskaskia College | 27210 College Road Centralia, IL 62801 |
618/532-1981 |
| Kishwaukee College | Business & Technology 21193 Malta Road Malta, IL 60150 |
815/825-2086 |
| Krause Academy of Real Estate | 20W444 Lake Street Suite C Addison, IL 60101 |
630/285-0200 |
| Lewis & Clark Community College | 5800 Godfrey Road Godfrey, IL 62035 |
618/466-5000 |
| Lincoln Land Community College | 130 W. Mason Springfield, IL 62702 |
217/782-1086 |
| Market Place Real Estate Academy, Inc. | 700 N. Lake Street Mundelein, IL 60060 |
847/949-7100 |
| National Academy of Real Estate | 151 Bruns Lane North Suite 104 Springfield, IL 62704 |
217/547-6600 |
| National Real Estate Schools | 6321 N. Avondale #218 Chicago, IL 60631 |
773/763-4241 |
| Net Real Estate School | 7000 West Archer Avenue Chicago, IL 60638 |
773/586-7000 |
| New Heritage Academy | 36 N. McLean Elgin, IL 60123 |
847/622-7466 |
| Parkland College | 1315 N. Mattis Avenue Champaign, IL 61821 |
217/351-2235 |
| Partners Real Estate School | 1842 45th Avenue Munster, IN 46321 |
219/922-1800 |
| Pav Real Estate School | 6447 W. Cermak Road Berwyn, IL 60402 |
708/795-7100 |
| Prairie State College | Matteson Area Center 4821 Southwick Drive Matteson, IL 60443 |
708/709-3750 |
| Real Estate Institute | 4433 W. Touhy Avenue Suite 514 Lincolnwood, IL 60712 |
847/329-1700 |
| Real Estate Training, Inc. | 1700 Ogden Avenue Lisle, IL 60532 |
630/960-3700 800/631-4752 |
| Richland Community College | One College Park Decatur, IL 62521 |
217/875-7211 ext. 263 |
| Rockford Real Estate Academy | 7210 E. State Street Rockford, IL 61108 |
815/397-7700 |
| Salamanca Real Estate Academy | 2075 N. Western Ave. Chicago, IL 60647 |
773/292-6111 |
| The Real Estate Education Center, Inc. | 200 N. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60601 |
312/456-3118 ext. 201 |
Also check out information on how to become a real estate appraiser in Illinois