How to Get Your Real Estate Brokers License in Virginia

Getting your Real Estate Brokers License varies depending on the state you are in. Most of the state requirements are similar and a lot of them are the exact same - today we are going to speak specifically about Virginia's Requirements for getting a brokers license. If you are interested in starting your own brokerage - sign up for our discovery day which will give you insight into owning your own brokerage and some of the tools and platforms you will need to get started. Here are the steps to getting your Broker's License in Virginia:

#1 Be a Real Estate Salesperson for a few years.

This is pretty straightforward - Most of you probably already know this one. You must be a real estate agent for a few years. The state wants to make sure you have experience and can oversee hundreds, sometimes even thousands of real estate transactions and agents. It’s important you get this experience so you can understand the real estate world before you dive headfirst into starting a brokerage. You have to have your brokers license to be a broker - but you don’t have to have your license to own a brokerage - you can always hire a principal broker for your brokerage if you don’t want to get your brokers license. 

#2 Pre Licensing Education

Just like with getting your Real Estate Salesperson License, you have to take some pre-licensing education courses. Virginia requires 180 class hours of Board Approved Pre License Courses. With the course, you have to also pass the final exam by whoever you take the classes through. In addition to the real estate brokerage course, you also have to take 3 broker-specific or Broker Related courses. 

#3 Taking the Broker Test 

You’ve been an agent for 36 of the past 48 months and you’ve completed your pre-licensing coursework. Now you're ready to take the test. The test is offered by PSI - so it’s pretty much just like when you got your salesperson license. The brokers test is much harder than the real estate salesperson exam, but that should be obvious as the responsibilities of being a broker are much greater. We suggest you take all the time you need to study and don't rush to take the exam. You can retake the test so don’t get super nervous like this is your one shot - just take your time and prepare. Oh and one extra thing - you have to get fingerprinted - you would think they can use your old ones from when you got your salesperson license but no they are going to fingerprint you again. 

#4 Picking your Brokerage Model

So this is the fun part of getting your Virginia Brokers License. This is what will make you unique and be the future of your company and operations. This is the foundation of how you will run your business. There are a lot of options once you get your broker's license on what you can do. 

You can go back to your old brokerage and see if there are opportunities to be a broker under their company at a different location. There are always new real estate brokerages being created and many of them need principal brokers. You also have the option to branch out and start your own brokerage. This is the route we recommend because it gives you the most value and allows you to truly run and create your own business without as many strings attached.

There are many real estate companies you can partner with to create your own brokerage under a franchise. Each offering something different. For example, our model gives you everything to start your first brokerage.

You can also choose to start completely from scratch - just note you won't have any support and will likely need to spend the first couple years creating the business. Just like when you became an agent you had the ability to go to different brokerages, as a broker you have the ability to go different paths as well.

Once you pick your brokerage model - you can get started as a broker. Congratulations! This is the finish line! Except it's just the beginning of your journey as a broker. 

If you are interested in starting your own brokerage - we have helped hundreds of agents across the country to start their own brokerage all off of our 1st class model. These brokers have seen huge success using our formula and taking advantage of everything 1st Class has to offer. If you are interested in starting your own brokerage I highly recommend signing up for our Discovery Day, where we educate new and aspiring brokers on the needed systems and upfront costs of starting a brokerage. 

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