How Did You Get Into Real Estate?

Hey Friends!

It’s been a minute since I’ve even had time to sit and write a blog post, but I promise it was for a good reason!

I have been busy, busy, busy with a huge career change and launching myself into the real estate world.

Several of you have reached out to me to ask me what class I took, how hard the class/test was, and how I got into it all. What I’ve learned from that is that several of you are curious about whether it might be a good fit or career change for yourself.

Now I’m no expert, I’ve only been licensed barely a month and what worked for me might not work for you. But, I can share my experience and my journey to becoming a Realtor! My hope in sharing this will either bring light to the fact that I am licensed now and I can help you sell your home or buy a home (this business is built on referrals!!) or it will inspire you or give you more info on how to start your own journey in real estate.

Let’s take it back a bit. My background is in craft brewing industry and the hospitality industry. In 2017, I moved back home from college with no “real” job so I applied to American Honor Ale House (which soon will be rebranded to Blowing Rock Draft House by Blowing Rock Brewing) and started working there waiting tables. In 2018, I accepted the Front of House Manager position for the Draft House. In 2019, I accepted the General Manager position. In 2020, that GM position expanded to both locations (Hickory and Blowing Rock). Lastly in 2021, I moved into an Operations role and became the Operations Manager for the company, spanning over both locations and both breweries. I was responsible for scheduling over 50 employees each week, creating quality processes and standard operating procedures, a little bit of HR, a little bit of filling in for the sick bartender, and a lot of ordering supplies and ingredients for our two brew houses. And in 2024, I decided I needed a change.

If I’m being honest, I lovedddd my job until I didn’t. I thought I would be in this position for the long haul. I had created a family with my employees, a great group of regulars that I got to see often, and I got to work with at the time my boyfriend who turned husband. Also, let’s not forget the perk of free beer!!

But, something just hit me last year and I decided I need to take a step away. I needed to challenge myself and grow professionally and personally in a different direction. I was just over the hospitality industry. If you know, you know. It’s tough! And after our beloved Draft House in Hickory shut its’ doors in June of 2024 it seemed like a sign to pursue what I had been thinking about for a long time.

I set a goal for myself. Which was, after I got married and got back from our honeymoon I would sign up for the real estate class. So once we got back on October 1st I started my class! I believe I finished the class by the beginning of February and took my state exam few weeks later.

I took the self-paced class with Aceable Agent. I will link the North Carolina class here!

I chose the basic plan and it was just under $500. The main reason why I went with this class was because it reads it aloud to you. A class that you basically have to read an online textbook front to back with no human instructor was just not going to be for me. So, even though this had no instructor, it felt more engaged.

I loved how it sprinkled in quizzes and tests into each chapter. The class also gives you your progress update saying you at 23% of the way through or 95%. This helped me with gauging how much time I needed to dedicate to the class to get where I wanted to be that week.

There are practice tests for each chapter and practice tests for the state and national portions of the state exam. These helped me so much! I’m not a flash cards kind of girl because I will read them and it’ll leave my brain, but being able to test myself over and over helped me apply what I had learned to a test question.

The class itself was not hard. The chapter quizzes were not hard.The class exam and the state exam…HARD. I;m not sure of the exact percentage, but the pass rate for the state exam is not very high. I, however, was fortunate enough to pass both my class exam and the state exam on the first try. I don’t say that to brag but to highlight the fact that I think the course you take matters!

I also supplemented with Youtube videos by Travis Everette. He is amazing and helped me understand some of the harder topics (I’m looking at you, agency). Keep in mind though that some of his videos are somewhat dated and the rules/regulations have since been changed but overall the information is correct. I figured out when I was watching his video and realized the information had changed, that I really understood the material. So much so that I was able to point out that the information on the video was old.

I began interviewing with a few different local firms before I was finished with my class. In North Carolina, you must work under a BIC (Broker In Charge) until you complete your post-licensing education and you have 18 months to do so once becoming licensed. Once you are first licensed, you will be a provisional broker and then after completing your post-licensing education, you drop the provisional part and are now just a broker. This just ensures that you have someone “babysitting” you while you navigate your first year and a half of real estate.

I ended up choosing to work with Osborne Real Estate Group. There were a few reasons why I chose to work with them. For starters, it’s a smaller firm and I liked being able to have the attention I knew I would need as a new agent. In fact, they require all of their new agents to take part in an 8-week new agent boot camp. They also are very involved in the community which I love. Relationships are everything and sometimes as much as I hate to admit, it’s all about who you know! Lastly, the whole process just felt very genuine to me. There is no unnecessary competition – everyone is rooting for you and helping you as much as they can! And, in my opinion, that’s the only way you grow. When you have people that you work alongside that genuinely care about your success, you know you’ve found the right fit.

So, there it is. That is how I got started and the process I went through!

If anyone has any questions or just wants to pick my brain about something, please feel free to reach out!! I love talking about this and I do believe I have found my true passion. I love getting to help people and I would love to work with you. Even if we don’t work together, I’ll be cheering you on from afar.

Drop a comment below, if you’d like more info!

I hope everyone has a great weekend 🙂