While you were knee deep in all-you-can-drink Bud Lights and all-you-can-eat-and-throw-up-later chicken fingers (on New Year's Eve), The Illinois Association of Realtors was busy celebrating the signing of the new Illinois Real Estate License Act.
I rarely find myself in a position to get excited about what the Realtor associations are doing, but this time I'm pumped. IAR did a GREAT job working with the Illinois Legislature to TIGHTEN education and entrance standards for Realtors. It will now be much more difficult for that stoner kid that lives in your building to get his real estate license and start selling homes.
Here's how it currently works... there are 2 levels of agent licenses in Illinois:
- Salesperson license
- Broker's license
To become either a Salesperson or a Broker, a person must be 21 years old, be a high school graduate and "be of good moral character".
But the big difference under the current act is that a Salesperson has to complete 45 hours of coursework and a broker must complete 120 hours of coursework. In both cases, you have to pass a state-sponsored test (which is not a total cakewalk).
Under the new law, there will still be 2 levels. They are:
- Broker
- Managing Broker
But now, a person entering the real estate business as a licensee will need to complete almost 3 times as much education! This will weed out the current riff-raff (as all Salespersons will need to complete the additional education) and will keep new riff-raff from entering the business.
Hooray for real estate consumers!
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