I received an email request from the Georgia Association of Realtors asking me to complete an online survey regarding continuing education.
The Georgia Real Estate Commission, which oversees real estate licensees in the state, is considering increasing the number of mandatory continuing education hours during each license period.
Currently, the minimum requirement is 24 hours for each 4 year renewal period, which translated to a paltry 6 hours per year.
My position on the survey was clear … YES to more CE hours. Double them!
We need to improve as a profession. We need to make certain that agents and brokers are kept up to speed in a constantly changing real estate environment.
This is our livelihood. And we need to treat it as such.
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Richard, NC requires 8 hours every year....a mandatory update and then some sort of elective. It doesn't seem like much does it when you consider the magnitude of what we handle and how often the rules get tweaked.
Is should be at least 12-24 hours per year, of course on the other hand it seems like a money making business too. We get feed to death.
Good morning Richard,
I agree!! We get our license renewed every 2 years and need 15 hours..I think it should be more! There are great classes out there..just took one yesterday on our new contract changes and loved it! Very enlightening! This industry needs way more mandatory classes than currently outlined.
Mona...
One of the other questions on the survey asked about the need for "required" courses. As of now, we can fulfill our obligation with just about anything from staging to meth labs.
The NAR requires a COE course every quadrennial, but the GREC does not. Thanks.
Winston...
We have a LOT of very inexpensive options. The GREC provides some free courses, as does our company, but typically a course costs $15-$25 which is not bad at all. Thanks.
Richard, we too have 24 hours every 2 years but i hear they are raising it to 36 in the next 2 years...my issue is that they do not offer enough diverse courses to grow your learning...i am tired of lead education. Our courses are more expensive which is an issue here too.
Hi Richard,
here in Tennessee it is 16 hours over 2 years and the brokers who were "brokered" before a certain year (I think it's 2000 or somewhere close to that) are grandfathered and don't have to take CE. I think that is a travesty!
Dorie...
We don't have any state-mandated courses. I wish that would change! Thanks so much.
Ginny...
We have unlimited diversity in courses, with plenty of low cost options. Most years I can make it on free courses alone! Thanks.
Cindy...
Here, only those licensed before Jan 1, 1984 are grandfathered. There's an old saying in GA that the only thing worse than a grandfathered agent is a grandfathered broker! Thanks.
Richard, Here it's 30 hours every 3 years. I take most of mine online because of the convenience and the typical conflict with the day job. For the most part, I don't see c.e. addressing the basic problems with our industry that cause public perception issues. While there may be a bit more knowledge gained, it doesn't seem to drive customer service habits, better presentation of homes, the things the public really wants from us. And I'd say in general those agents operating one the wrong side of the ethics line aren't doing it because they don't KNOW what is wrong or right, but because they choose to ignore what they know. Bill
We have 14 hours every two years here in Florida, and I agree, I think we should require more.
Once again a great post Richard. When I got into Real Estate fellow Realtors told me I needed to learn by the school of hard knocks, to go out and make mistakes. I saw it as my mistakes causing my clients anguish and money. I took every coarse I could, ended up spending more time in class then actually selling real estate. My first referral came from a fellow agent that saw me attending these classes, she said she knew I was serious about this profession and had my clients best interest at heart. I agree that we need at minimum to double the education requirements in Georgia.
Richard - Here in Northern Virginia, it's 16 hours for every two year renewal, or 8 hours a year, and that doesn't seem to enough. However, is it the need for more hours or real CE content? I have to say that whether a live class or online, the course themselves seem pretty light on real content. Just my $0.02...
You voted well Richard.
Now if there was only a test at the end of class....
We do 15 hours a year in Minnesota. We need MORE. if you don't believe this, just look around at the agents you have to work with on the other side of the deal. That alone should convince everyone!
Suggersted !
Richard... we have 22.5 in New York... I think we need more quality lectures on things more relevant to the current picture. I have gone to the lectures that take 7.5 hours of my time and have about 20 minutes of real content. I want to learn something!
That's a great question brought up by your board. I find many of the better real estate agents in our area already take way more education than they need, yes these can be the mega producers even. But on the flip side how effective is the State at coming up with and implementing things in a way that actually will make an idustry better?
Wow, 6 hours a year? Wyoming requires 45 hours every 3 years. They need to improve the quality of the courses as well.
Love the new pics in the header, especially the one on the right. As for the CE, I am with you 100%. Of course, CE does no good if the agents attending have their noses in laptops, tabloids or cell phones the whole class. There's nothing I hate more than attending a CE class and seeing more than half the class buried in work.
Richard I've always thought more education is a good thing for both agents and brokers. Currently in AZ we have 24 required hours every 2 years. For me personally I normally have at least twice if not more than the required. Since we have a very large percentage of small - very green brokers - they have recently increased brokers hours up to 6 more CE I think. I would also like to see our measely 90 hours of education to get into the business increased as well -along with a mentorhship much like many other professions. But....that most likely won't happen as we've been trying for years.
I agree with Bill (#8). While I think the continuing ed is very important and probably should be raised (right now we're required to take 18 hours every 2 years), it's the disrespect, unprofessionalism, and laziness that seem to be all too prevalent in our industry. Agents just need to make better choices in what they say, how they respond to their colleagues, and how they present themselves to their clients and customers.
I think the amount of CE is one thing but I think the quality is really the issue. I've been in so many CE classes that were so horribly boring that I almost didn't make it. Shame!