You may have heard but there are apartment locators earning over 6 figures annually. This might be the reason you are checking out the profession and are interested in becoming an apartment locator.

First, Apartment Locating is a licensed real estate profession and it requires an active real estate license in the state of Texas. If you have not obtained your real estate license yet then here is what you need to know about that step.

           1. Requires 180 hours of real estate courses - There are online options like Kaplan, Trainagents, etc…

           2. You must pass both the state and national real estate licensee exam - I would highly recommend taking the exam prep because only 50% pass the first time without.

           3. There is fingerprinting and a background check - Having a background could delay or prevent you from getting your real estate license.

Once you have completed the requirements the Texas Real Estate Commission will take your application fee and will get you an inactive license in 2 to 6 weeks.

How you become active is by having a broker sponsor your license. You cannot just have any broker though; you will need a broker that does and allows apartment locating. There are a few different types of apartment locating brokers out there.

Traditional brokerage

The traditional brokerage will provide you leads and training on how to work as an apartment locator. They also provide all of the infrastructure to handle the invoicing, collections and accounts payable for you. In some cases, you are considered an employee and will be provided set hours along with benefits.

At a traditional broker they are going to keep a large percentage (70% to the broker) of the commission received from each of the transactions in order to pay for the leads and overhead required to support you. It will also allow for the broker’s income.

Independent Contractor Brokerage

The independent Contractor brokerage will allow you to work as an independent agent. The brokerage services are minimal but the commission split is often much better in these situations (100% to the agent), and there is a fixed monthly rate normally.

There are leads provided from the broker at times, but not at the higher commission split, and the broker will most likely require you to handle your own invoicing and collections of your commission. Also, if you are offering an incentive then you will most likely be responsible for those as well.

Hybrid Brokerage

There really isn’t a specific name for the brokerage other than these usually take some of the benefits of the traditional brokerage and offer them to independent agents so they can have the support they need to be a more effective apartment locator and still have the high commission split.

For example, Spirit Real Estate Group will take care of the invoicing, collections and accounts payable like rebates and incentives so you don’t have to and the agent can still earn 100% commission on their transactions.

If you are interested in more information about this type of sponsorship, go to https://brokersponsorship.com.

Summary

After you get your requirements done with TREC you will need to select a broker in order to sponsor your license and become an active agent and become an apartment locator. You need to consider what is the best fit for your situation and experience.

The brokerages listed will have varying types of training available but most will give you what you need in order to get the basics down. Just keep in mind, if you have no experience at all then the more training and support you have the better chance you will have at becoming a successful apartment locator.