Would I be wise to have a degree of some sort before entering Real Estate?

What would the disadvantage be if I start without a degree?

Cristina,
Starting Real Estate without a degree will have no effect at all.

Hello,
Are you 100% sure that 10 years from now you will still be a realtor? If so then yes you can be a realtor without getting a degree.
But if you are unsure then go to school part time and get a degree.

Good Luck
Ritu

If you are in school right now I would urge you to stay there and get your degree.

You might consider looking for a part time job in a real estate offices as an employee or an assistant to an agent; that way you will get a taste of real estate to see if it's something you might want to pursue.

If you are not in school and do not have a degree I don't see that in inself being a handicap to success.

Starting with out a Degree will OBVIOUSLY have an effect.

You will be starting out with out the knowledge your degree has provided you. Hopefully you are not considering a degree in "Under Water Basket Weaving". Hopefully you will have selected a degree field that would assist you in understanding business practices, financial matters, human relationships and how to collect and properly evaluate various types of data. Most Business related degrees will do that. If your certain it is real estate you want to pursue then look at Business degrees in Real Estate... many states now have active programs and most states have plans to move toward something like that as a future requirement to become a Broker/ Agent. Florida and Colorado and a few others have had it in play for several years but have not finalized it due to reluctance of some established companies on how to grandfather existing people.

Do you Need a Degree.... No, it is not "required" but would always be helpful except from a few active agents and brokers who may feel intimidated by your credentials and envious of them.

Should you get a degree before you become an agent... I'll have to go along with JimLee... If your in school.. STAY IN. It your unsure of what you will do with your life... having a functional degree will always be helpful in about anything you do in life.

Do you need one before you start real estate as a career... may not but then.... about 97% of all real estate agents drop out of the field within 2 years..... I'll bet that almost 99.9% of those didn't have a business degree. That was not the major reason but it sure could have been a major factor in their failure.

Don't ever allow anyone to tell you an education is not worth having, or would not be beneficial in any field or life in general. It will demonstrate your ability to complete complicated tasks successfully and in the time frame required. It teaches you how to work with others and be responsible for setting goals and making those goals.

You need to fully understand with your goal are... and see if real estate will meet those goals and very importantly... Do you have any idea what the traditional real estate business is actually about... at least enough to make it a life goal? If not, make sure, but work toward an education that will provide many alternatives.

Realty,
Just where did you pull that 97% drop out stat. I can find no evidence to back up that statistic anywhere. The main reason new agents fail is unrealistic expectation of first 2 yrs income.

I also disagree with your comment that not having a degree will obviously have an effect. A degree has nothig to do with success in this business. I have seen MBA's fail miserably as Realtors while I have seen many top producers with only some college courses.

I found this old article about "drop outs":

Should Brokers Do More to Help New Hires Survive?
by Blanche Evans

One of the most embarrassing problems that the real estate industry faces is the high failure rate of its new practitioners. According to studies performed by the National Association of REALTORSŪ, new Realtors drop out at a rate of 86% per year. Only 7% renew their licenses. The reason? Overall, the 76% of the industry earns less than $30,000 per year.
There are a lot of reasons new agents fail, from high personal start-up costs to the emotional and financial lack of preparedness to survive on commissions only. When an agent washes out, it costs both the agent and the broker a lot of money. So should the broker do more to protect his/her investment?
According to Cec Daniels, an Arizona broker and real estate educator, 30 agents remain for every 200 who try. He blames the lack of high standards in the industry for "the swinging door."
"We all know that the failure rate is high, and as brokers we can share in the blame," says Daniels. He recommends assigning a cost of hiring a new agent based on the recruiting, interviewing, and training of new agents. He also recommends including the costs of desk space, and the mistakes the agent might make. "If I recruited and hired 10 new agents in a year my cost would be $50,000 for a yield of just 1.4 agents."
Broker Vikki Morvant agrees that risk can be lowered in the recruitment phase. "If you spot someone who has potential, but no capital. . . you may decide this is a business opportunity to bankroll that person's career."
But, Morvant points out, other professionals bankroll their own success. Why shouldn't Realtors be willing to? "Look at a dentist (or doctor, engineer, attorney, or any other professional (to which we like to compare ourselves.) S/he is not allowed to "practice" on your teeth, unless s/he has learned dentistry. On top of the education debt, the dentist gets a business loan in order to hire a receptionist, hygienist, and technician, and get every piece of the latest technical tools necessary to do the job right.
Morvant believes Realtors should be willing to do the same. "If new Realtors had a business plan, and a background that suggested a chance of success, a banker would be willing to grant a business loan," suggests Morvant. "But how many new agents approach it as a business, instead of a hobby or a daydream? Would you risk your capital on someone who is deciding to "give real estate a try?""
She believes the solution lies in internships. "An assistant costs me tremendous money to train," she explains. "If I train an assistant, it is with the intent that the assistant will become a valuable investment on which I receive a return, during many years of our continued association."
"I do not pay an intern for the privilege of me training him/her. Gradually, they turn into a showing agent, and get a split of commissions. The split gets better as they get better. The split gets really good to encourage them to stay with the team."
Both Morvant and Daniels see new agent training as a potential trouble spot, too. Daniels suggests seeing that new hires enroll in certification and designation programs to receive better training and to save the broker costs. "The cost of training a new agent is very high, even higher when you add the attrition to the matrix," he says. "If you were to pay for an agent to complete the GRI, it is a fraction of the cost for taking your time or having your own in-house trainer. Another benefit is that you could pay GRI and call it consideration in return for a minimum number of years without penalty."
Morvant sums it up. "I think the public and the industry would be better served if new Realtors had to meet a higher commitment of education and business investment."
Published: January 19, 2000

Paul if you actually think that having a business degree will not be of assistance to a real estate agent... well I am not sure I could convince you the world is round.....

As far as the stats go NAR's 2002 data showed approximately 86% of new agents drop out per year... only about EQUAL to what was quoted in the article Blanch Evans put together from another source.... very close...

100 agents less 86% first year = 14 agents
14 agents less 86% second year = 2 agents

2 agent in two years is about 98%

The rate has varied between 95 and 97 % for several years.

This is not Calculus or differential equations or even algebra... just simple every day math.

I did not need Any of my college degrees to figure it out... but they probably helped the though process.

http://www.realtor.org/rmomag.NSF/pages/featuremillionemay04?OpenDocument

"Indeed, 13 percent of REALTORSŪ didn't post a single sale in 2002, according to the 2003 NAR Member Profile............"

You have to wonder why some of the ones that are here are still here.

All things being equal having a degree should be more beneficial than not having one.

However in life and real estate all things are almost never equal; someone with desire, motivation, determinition, and 'stick to itness' can overcome and surpasss someone with a bachelors of anything.

What's in your heart is more important than what's in your head.

http://www.realtor.org/libweb.nsf/pages/fg006

Here's a member breakdown of formal school levels attained:
"Formal education of REALTORSŪ:
Some college/associate degree: 43%;
Bachelor's degree: 26%;
High school graduate: 10%;
Graduate degree and above: 12%;
Graduate study: 8%

Over half the membership does not have a bachelors degree and a large number of them would be considered successful.

Realty,
The world is Round? Really!

I did not say that a business degree would not be helpful what I did say was that a degree is not a must have in the real estate business as there are many very sucessful agents who do not have degrees.

The agents who leave the business in the first 2 years are as a rule those who were in it because they thought is was get rich quick and failed to look on it as a business.


And before you get too superior I got my degree before I went into real estate. I know a great many college grads that do not have an ounce of common sense so a degree is not a measure of success or intelligence.

The point is.... that well over 95% of new agents fail within 2 years of being in real estate for various reasons. But key among those reasons would be a near total lack of understanding what being in business actually meant, and what it required in time, effort and funding.

A degree in Underwater Basket Weaving would probably not help much, but any course work in business management, finance, psychology, and others do provide a substantial base from which to work and build on that a high school degree would not normally provide.

We do have presently a number of very successful real estate agent with no college level education, BUT... if you look around.... they are primarily the suvivers... generally older agent and often long term brokers who have been in the business 20+ years. The percentage of no-college, successful agents is drooping because more and more people see the need for continuing learning after high school and many take college level classes for in... but Not always obtaining a degree but at least gain knowledge to provide a base for career development and hopefully financial development.

Simply, the idea that a college education would be of No benefit at all is ridiculous.

I hate to say it, but I've seen some of the dumbest, least educated, realtors do better than many of the smartest, most educated ones. College is not a necessity for success in real estate.

I think college is quite important, but you can do quite well without it. I do, however, recommend going, if you have an opportunity.

Well, this is my first post, but here goes.

The one comment I agree with is that if you're in school, stay there. Aside from that I'm surprised that no one brought the following up yet, because after reading posts, there are some very intelligent people on this board.

First, do you have any kind of business experience with your current job? It would be a huge shock to go from being a homemaker, or a librarian, or a cashier or something, and then jumping into RE.

Second, how comfortable are you with tech stuff? Again, big shock to go from barely being able to run a program on a pc, and being confronted with tons of pc related stuff in regard to RE.

I'm not knocking anyone with a degree or without. I think it comes down to the individual and how comfortable one is with real word business and pc knowledge.

I plan on going to the local college in the fall, and my major will be Real Estate. I'm also planning on going for a Associate of Applied Science Degree. I'm 17 years old and never had a job before. I do not currently have one either. What should I be doing right now to get ready for studying Real Estate? I've already been working more on my math and my mom got me a couple of books on Real Estate. She says they are like the best of the best because she was studying Real Estate at one time, but never took college or any state tests. Any help is very welcome, Thank you!