Flexible Learning Method

For the past ten years or so, we've been using a teaching method that involves combining home study with classroom lecture (our workshops). This gives the student several advantages when taking the required 45 hour prelicense course:

• Study and complete the course at your own pace, taking from several weeks to as much as six months.
• Usually involves much smaller groups with more time for individual attention.
• Lectures can be repeated at any of the workshop locations if needed.
• Workshops attendance is not mandatory.
• Fewer hours are required sitting in a classroom.
• Individual tutoring and all-day reviews are available.

What you must remember is we're teaching material needed in order to pass the State of Illinois licensing exam, not teaching you how to function as a real estate agent. Both the textbook, workbook, and workshops focus on exam type material. With the flexible learning method, we also provide an instructional cd for additional practice. We are currently offering the workshops at several locations here in Northern Illinois and welcome your call or email for additional information. If you'd like to register online, click here.

Consumers Want Real Estate Agents

A few years ago I heard a report from the man who supposedly "brought down the travel agency business" by developing on-line reservations systems for airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, etc. ... all the things that were typically handled by travel agents. He turned his focus to the real estate business and created Zillow with the goal of "bringing down the real estate agency business." Lots of people outside the real estate industry thought that he could do it. People inside the real estate industry knew that it was just more "hog wash."

Real estate professionals know that there's something they provide that the internet can't and people really value that "something."

Consumers want a low price and discounts and rebates make sense in many industries, particularly the retail industry. However, one of the first things a real estate license student learns is the difference between "Real Property" and "Personal Property" and viva la difference. Real estate (real property) is just not sold the same way as personal property (i.e. airline tickets, hotel rooms). So far the internet has done little to sway a big percentage of housing consumers away from brokers.

Today, with the huge number of foreclosures and short sales, people, both buyers and sellers, need agents more than ever just to navigate through all the mine fields that these kinds of properties bring to the game.

Does anyone really think the role of the real estate professional will be diminished? We'll be challenged by the competition the internet brings, which is a good thing. But real estate agents are here to stay and our numbers will increase.

Agents should not be concerned. Those who think there’s some easy way to replace the service we provide are wrong ... at least that's what the consumers have concluded so far. The services we provide are just too valuable to walk away from. Perhaps consumers really want something more than just a low price.

Questions About Appraisal Careers

As residential real estate agents we are not (normally) licensed as appraisers: it's a totally different, though related, field. We use an appraisal approach called the Market Data Approach, when trying to determine the best price at which to list a home: it's our "best guess" as to the price our Seller's home could bring based on what similar homes in the neighborhood have recently sold for. Appraisers typically use three approaches to value and reconcile the values to arrive at their "best guess." While I found doing actual appraisal work pretty boring, several friends have made long and successful careers in the field. If you'd like to learn more go to
http://www.appraisalinstitute.org/ . The Appraisal Institute is located in Chicago.