Do you have friends who’ve earned their real estate licenses while being stay-at-home moms? A real estate license is easy to earn on your own time while you’re busy raising kids, and it can lead to a career that fits your new normal.
Study at home
Studying for your state real estate license exam is easy to do from home. You can earn your real estate license online in just about any state. The state exam itself will have be scheduled and written in person, but the course (or courses) required to prepare for the exam can be completed at home, on your own schedule.
How long the course takes depends on the requirements of the state where you live. For example, there’s a 75 hour real estate course in New York that you have to complete before taking the exam, while in Virginia it’s only 60 hours. In California, there are three 45 hour courses.
These courses are available online with RealEstateU, an online real estate licensing school that operates in several states with courses tailored specifically to local requirements.
Affordable online real estate courses
Raising a family isn’t cheap, and you may just not have the money (not to mention the time) to go back to college. It may be financially out of reach, or the timing is wrong. With daycare costs so high (they’ve been rising at double the rate of inflation since the Great Recession), for many families it just makes sense to stay at home.
Online real estate courses cost as little as $99 from RealEstateU.tv, and compared to college, they can easily fit into your lifestyle. Keep in mind that there may be other fees associated with taking the state exam or renewing your real estate license.
You can make working work for you
Acting as a stay-at-home mom is sometimes the only option for families facing high daycare costs. But once the kids enter school, you can suddenly find yourself with a lot of free time and no clear way to spend it. It’s a good time to re-enter the work force – but how?
Re-entering the work force can be a challenge after several years away. You may face “the maternal wall,” a prejudice employers have that mothers are less competent than male parents or childless employees. You may also struggle just to get interviews; stay-at-home moms have half the chances of a call-back as parents who had been laid off.
As a real estate agent, you don’t need to work in an office and your hours are flexible. Have plenty of time to work during the day but need to be free by 3 p.m. to pick up the kids? Working independently gives you the freedom to do that. You can work evenings for open houses and showings once your spouse is home – the point is, working as a real estate agent is flexible.
Get back to work on your own terms. With online real estate license courses, you can get ready to start working for yourself.
