You’ve decided that you want to get your real estate license. You’ve heard of a broker license too. What is the difference between these two real estate professions? Unless you’ve been involved in a real estate transaction or are familiar with the careers, you might not know the exact differences.

If you want to pursue your real estate license, you should thoroughly understand the similarities and differences.

All states require that real estate sales professionals, including salespersons and brokers, be licensed by that state. Brokers will generally be required to complete more real estate education and experience than a salesperson.

A real estate agent is usually an independent contractor who provides his or her services to a licensed real estate broker on a contract basis. In return, the real estate broker pays the salesperson a portion of the commission earned from the agent’s sale of the property.

Real Estate Salesperson – An individual who can show property for sale on behalf of a seller, but who may not have a license to transact the sale and collect the sales commission.

Real Estate Broker – A person licensed by his or her particular state to charge a fee for bringing a buyer and a seller together to purchase real estate.

Real estate salespersons and brokers perform many of the same duties including: obtaining listings, determining sales price; showing properties; assisting with financing; selling property; overseeing inspections, and more.

The state examination, which is more comprehensive for a real estate broker than an agent, includes questions on real estate transactions and laws affecting the sale of property. Most states require that a real estate salesperson complete between 30 and 90 hours of instruction. A real estate broker needs between 60 and 90 hours of real estate education and a specific amount of experience selling real estate (usually 1 to 3 years).

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I have been in the real estate markets for 16 years now and I find it amazing how much change can be sold to the American citizens through the lack of proper information, the press and our beloved federal government. The new revelation is that appraisals now should be under the control of the lender – a.k.a. the reputable banks because they will look out for the best interest of the consumer or in a real estate transaction the buyer and the seller. The big, bad Mortgage Brokers will no longer be able to manipulate value and appraisers will be held accountable to a higher power by big brother. What a crock! Let us look at why truly moving the conflict of interest from the Mortgage Broker to the Banks is really not as solid a decision as we would like to believe.1. The Banks will provide a more accurate value measure.In reality, the bank will always look for a lower value than fair market value because it is always in their best interest to do so. Leverage on a lower value will always benefit the bank – not the consumer. Why on earth would anybody think Banks, as credible as they have not been would do an about face on practices and take better care of the consumer? The true reality of the situation is that the Bank has a major conflict of interest when it controls value and may use it to it’s best advantage as it feels the need .How Else Might The Bank Use This Leveraged Position of Value?A few ways immediately come to mind and I will share them with you. Lending in the real world is automated through either a Fannie, Freddie or FHA Approval that will give a borrower based on the information provided an approval. Banks and Wholesale Lenders will now have the ability to use the appraisal as a reason to decline an approved loan based on value. Will a Bank effect value on an appraisal. You bet they will if it is in their best interest to do so. Banks can now get back into predatory lending and appraisal fee increases to the detriment of the consumer, but a major profit generator for them. The war cry has been – “Get rid of the mortgage broker and we can then get lending back to profitability by not having to compete for business.” For example, a bank charges the consumer 425.00 for an appraisal and the lender in turn pays the appraiser 225.00 – who gets the difference? You guessed it – the bank!! If you ask Barney Frank and the boys up at capitol hill they will all tell you hogwash – however when was the last time any of these gentlemen told the truth about anything and truly how many of the players in this game are not rewarded by the bank lobby? And for this discussion let us bring up one last topic – Discriminatory Lending – now the banks can fall back on the appraisal and say – Gee Mr. and Mrs. Jones – We just do not have the ability to get value on this property so your loan is declined!Anti Trust Law SuitsThis one is coming soon from the appraisers lobby. The banks have now truly destroyed a reputable appraisers business because every business relationship that the appraisal company has nurtured over the years in the business no longer matters. How would you like to be told that your 20 year business is being chopped up and a portion of it is now being given to under qualified appraisal services. What a tough sell this is. Now that is consumer protection at it’s finest folks.The Senate and Sub Committees – These guys might be the most uninformed morons on the planet. They no absolutely nothing about real estate and mortgages, however they want to be involved in the decision making process. That is as effective and logical as talking to a Country Club board about the business side of golf and believing they understood a word of what you said. The ego gets in the way of the brain as a general rule and Washington has alot of egos. We are in the mortgage mess because of these morons – not because they tried to stop bad practices. Hey, wait a minute, let’s give them more authority to ruin, oh wait protect the consumer.http://www.tombrewerjr.com

Investing in real estate has long been considered as a safe and high return investment. “Flipping” in real estate investing has become very popular over the last few years especially among the speculative real estate investors. Flipping refers to the buying and selling of real estate property within a short period for quick profits. Though the return on investment appears to be good, there is still a risk that your money could get locked-in in the absence of buyers.

Real estate prices have steadily increased since the beginning of this decade. However many signs point to the real estate boom coming to an end, so it may be wise to put real estate investing on hold. Investing in real estate, contrary to popular thinking, is a slow yielding investment. Hence real estate investors need to do proper planning and to conduct market analyses before investing.

Before investing in any property it is vital to study all the related documents of the property, to see the license of a broker if any, to check for liabilities etc. All contracts have to be in writing. All details such as the names of all parties, address of the property, area, purchase price, consideration etc. have to be entered in the contract along with all parties’ signatures. It is also prudent to hire a property lawyer to look into the intricacies of real estate contracts.

One good way of investing in real estate is to buy foreclosure properties. Foreclosure is the process in which a bank or a creditor sells the property of the homeowner to recover the loan, which the owner has not been able to pay back.

A lease to purchase contract is considered the best type of real estate investing. This type of contract basically allows the tenant to lease a particular property for some period, and at the end of the period he has the option of purchasing the property at an amount decided at the signing of the contract. The tenant pays an initial non-refundable deposit. If the value of the property goes up at the end of the leasing period, the he may want to buy the property at its original value. If the value has not increased he can opt not to buy it. During this period he can also rent the property to someone else. By this method, the investor takes a lot of the risk off himself as he does not have to commit a large sum of investment capital not apply for a big loan.

Currently, there are a few areas where the real estate market is just too overheated and investing in real estate is just too risky. They are Miami, Las Vegas, Northern Virginia, Phoenix, Sacramento, Boston, Washington DC, and San Diego. Other “hot” areas also include San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle. The safer, less volatile areas for investing with good ROI are Dallas, Cleveland, Houston, Columbus, Omaha, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh.