Real estate agent pre-licensing classes teach you about real estate laws and customs in your state, but they don’t teach you how to manage and promote your business or work effectively with consumers. Some agents accomplish that by participating in one or more special designation programs.
Designated Realtors are those who aspire to a higher level of professionalism in their real estate business and seek a skill set to better serve their clients. To earn a designation, a Realtor does coursework and demonstrates specific skills, performances and knowledge in particular areas of the real estate industry. Realtors need to be both strong generalists and specialists. The complexity and changing financial environment with market elements like short sales and foreclosures create more demand for specialized education.
There is an official designation for practically every specialty area in the real estate industry. The National Association of Realtors and its affiliated institutes, societies and councils provide a wide range of programs and services that assist members with increasing skills, productivity, marketability, proficiency and knowledge.
Whether you want to close a transaction, build your referral business, learn more about the needs of buyers and sellers, hire an assistant, protect your commission or master listing presentations, short sales, foreclosures, green-building or international transactions, NAR has a course to make you the best in meeting these specialized needs.
Agents and brokers who hold professional designations typically are more productive and earn more income than those practitioners without professional designations.
Designations such as CIPS (Certified International Property Specialist), CRS (Certified Residential Specialist), ABR (Accredited Buyers Representative), GRI(Graduate Realtor Institute), and Short Sales and Foreclosures Resource (SFR) are the designations sought by many.
College degrees and professional designations are becoming increasingly important to Realtors. Thirty six percent of Realtors have obtained at least one professional designation, up from 34 percent in 2010. Thirty nine percent of CRS designees have a bachelor’s degree; 15 percent have a graduate degree.
NAR and its institutes, societies and councils offer the highest quality real estate education in the world.
For more information and direction on where to go for your designation, log on to www.marealtor.com and go to the “education” tab.
Success doesn’t happen by chance; it takes planning and education. Get going on your designation.
Marilyn Jarvis of RE/MAX Advantage Real Estate in Beverly is vice president of professional development at the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. Email: marilyn@marilynjarvis.com
