When You Pass the Real Estate Exam You are Not a Real Estate Agent Yet!

Remember? "If it sounds too good to be true..."

Over the years, your email inbox has probably been clogged with hundreds of emails that read:

“Work from home and earn $100k” or “Lose 50 pounds in just one weeks” or “Earn your degree in just 6 months” or "become a real estate agent in 6 weeks" or "we're here to help you, buy it now and pay in instalments" or "we will give you the questions that you will see on the UBC exam” and the list goes on and on... agree?

Sometimes we stop for a moment and ask: “how it comes so?”...

But usually, as an experienced and educated person, what do you do with these “too good to be true” emails?

And fortunately, we also have JUNK MAIL filters today to help with this.

Yet, when several companies are trying to convince people they could get their real estate license in as few as 5, 6 or 10 weeks, OR they know what questions you will see on the real estate exam OR they write the UBC real estate licensing exam once every 3 months to get the exam questions ... that RED FLAG of suspicion and doubt isn’t always raised.

Why?

Because people want to believe they can begin their real estate careers that much sooner.
Because people want to believe there may be someone with a “CRYSTAL BALL” who can help them, or
Maybe someone can “steal” the UBC questions, OR maybe UBC allows a person who runs tutorial classes, to keep writing the UBC exam every 3 months for years on and on ...

Here are the steps you can expect to take in pursuing your real estate agent’s license. For each step, we have also arrived at a conservative timeframe:

Step 1:

• You must register at UBC. Once you do, you’ll wait to receive your books in the mail. This will take about 3 to 4 DAYS.
• Once you receive your UBC study material, you will have to study and submit 20 assignments through your online UBC student account. You are NOT allowed to submit more than 2 assignments PER week — in our hypothetical scenario, you’ve already passed the “six-week” claim.

Step 2:

• You may need to take a real estate tutoring class. Most tutorial classes take about 5 to 10 WEEKS to complete.

Step 3:

• Just because you finish a tutoring course does NOT mean you’re quite ready to take the UBC real estate exam. We would suggest investing at least 2 or 3 weeks to review everything you learned, to best prepare for an in-classroom mock exam.
• At Excel Realty Academy, we offer such an opportunity to our students, so they may go through this invaluable experience and preparation — there is NO one single tutorial company in BC that offers in-classroom mock exam to their students.

Step 4:

• After your in-classroom mock exam that we offer, you’ll have to book your UBC exam date.
• The paper/written exams are available once every three months, and the timeslots for computerized exams are booked up quickly, especially since mid-2021. In some cases, the earliest you will find a spot is during the next three months ... so add 4 to 8 WEEKS.
• But, in order to be 100% prepared for the UBC exam you may need 2 to 3 weeks to practice 5 to 6 different mock exams that we provide to our students.
• The real estate exams are administered by UBC on behalf of the BC Financial Services Authority (BC government). This is a serious exam, in a high security setting where you CANNOT cheat, you can only bring certain things into your exam room. It is impossible to steal the UBC exam questions, and you CANNOT even take your scrap papers in/out with you.
• The UBC is one of the BEST universities in Canada, maintaining high standards and integrity. It would therefore be very naive to think that UBC has only 100 or 1,000 questions in their real estate exam questions' database, and it would be even more naïve to believe anyone who claims that they know what questions you will see on the real estate exam ... they are boldfaced LIARS!
• In regards to writing the real estate LICENSING exam once every three months ... those tutorial company owners who are making such claims, don’t they already have a real estate LICENSE?
• What if they surrendered their real estate license? Would UBC allow a person who runs tutorial classes, to keep writing the UBC exam every 3 months, for years...? UBC publicly denounces external tutorials on their website, we wonder why?
• We learned that their latest claims are "they're buying the exam questions from insiders at UBC ... an owner of a tutorial company prepares questions for the UBC exam, or "Guaranteed Employment", etc. ... HELLO, NO ONE from UBC will sell exam questions to ANYONE! The UBC does NOT need a tutorial company owner prepare questions for them ... they have enough professors! When you go and write your UBC exam, you yourself will see that they take every measure to guard their exam questions; UBC has integrity ... there is NO single brokerage that pays a pay-cheque to their real estate agents; it's just the other way around, you will pay desk fees to the brokerage whether you sell or not — brokerages need you as much as you need them!

When a person tells you that they know what questions you will see on the UBC exam or they guarantee you will have employment, you should know it's time to hang up your phone ...

After passing the UBC real estate licensing exam you CANNOT apply for a real estate license yet!

First you have to register for and successfully complete the first phase of the post-UBC exam course, which is called the Residential or Commercial Real Estate Trading Applied Course — most often you have to wait a MONTH to start this course.

The first phase of this real estate course is comprised of 2 WEEKS of online studying and submitting assignments and ONLY after successfully completing the online module you are allowed to attend the 2 DAYS in-classroom component at UBC.

Step 5:

• Is to sign up with a brokerage, this includes determining which brokerage fits your needs, completing the real estate licensing applications, and reviewing the conditions of the brokerage contract before you sign it.

Choosing a brokerage should be a carefully thought out decision!

Your real estate career and financial goals could be dependent on this decision. We advise all of our students to attend any career night events the real estate brokerages offer to compare and contrast their advantages and disadvantages. (Meanwhile, another week is GONE)

After you’ve decided which brokerage you want to work for, your managing broker will want to spend some time reviewing your real estate licensing application before he or she submits it to the BC Financial Services Authority.

Count on at least 2 DAYS for your broker to thoroughly review your real estate licensing application.

Step 6:

• Getting close, but there are still a couple more hoops to jump through before you can secure your real estate license. At the sixth step, the BC Financial Services Authority gets your background check results and reviews the application.
• This can take anywhere from 1 TO 2 WEEKS, but that’s assuming the application is approved. Sometimes may come back.

A lot of work and time goes into starting your real estate career. According to our above estimates, all of the above steps can take anywhere from 3 TO 5 MONTHS!

And these numbers assume you are a fast learner, you don’t experience any delays, you quickly grasp the law concepts, enjoy numbers and financial calculators, have some knowledge about building and construction, and that you already have a brokerage lined up.

What if you took our "3-week" tutorial program?

That’s a possibility. For starters, it means you’ll be studying 3 to 5 hours a day for 3 weeks, besides in-classroom instructions. Then you study 2 to 4 weeks before you come back to the review/practice exam class, and another 2 to 3 weeks until your UBC exam. Even if studying go flawlessly, you’ll still have to do the real estate applied course, application process, background checks, and more...

Even then, you will NOT get your Real Estate License in 5 or 6 weeks!

 We’re not presenting these numbers to frighten you away from a real estate career.

Real estate is a very rewarding and lucrative industry. And the knowledge you gain now will serve you well for years ... but it certainly takes some time and lots of studying to get your real estate license.

 It helps to check inside the BOX you are offered!

Of course, all businesses want to make money!

Remember: If it seems too good to be true, it most likely is too good to be true ...