Real Estate Broker

BuyMyself - Canale, IRED Attitude & News Home Directories Int'l Realty US Realty BuyMyself Choosing A Real Estate Agent By Stephen M. Canale, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA There's a common saying in the real estate industry regarding the vast number of agents in the business: "If you don't have any friends who are agents, then you probably don't have any friends at all." With so many agent out there, how can you make an intelligent decision? Do you choose a friend, neighbor or coworker? Should you work with an agent at a large firm, a small firm, a franchise or an independent? While there's an exception to every rule, and every marketplace has its own nuances, here are some solid rules to apply when you want the best representation to protect your interests. Demand Experience The real estate profession is plagued by high turnover. This creates a workforce that is made up of many newcomers. While there are brand new agents with good intentions, why trust one of the largest investment you'll ever buy or sell to someone without experience? Always look for an agent with at least two years of experience. Anyone still in the business after two years has probably learned at least the fundamentals of real estate. Look for Commitment Another problem we have in the industry is a large number of part time and recreational salespeople. These folks have either retired from some other career, work in real estate seasonally or are earning a second income for the family and honestly don't need to work full time. No matter how long they have been in real estate, their lack of full-time commitment makes it impossible for them to keep up with the vast changes in law, marketing and business practices that are occurring in the profession today. If an agent isn't working at least thirty hours a week, fifty weeks a year, look for someone else. Consider Education In the majority of states, the requirements for real estate licensing are substantially less than those for cutting hair. In Michigan, for example, all that is required is a forty-hour class and a multiple choice test. You cannot rely on licensing to indicate competence. And, unfortunately, many agent's real estate education ends with their pre-license education. While there are numerous advanced real estate education courses available, the only technical and competence based program available nationwide is the Graduate, REALTORS® Institute (GRI) series, which is administered under the direction of the National Association of REALTORS®. A REALTOR® who completes the fifteen eight-hour modules, and passes examinations, may then use the designation of GRI. While only 15%-20% of agents have earned this accreditation, it should not be too difficult finding a GRI in your marketplace as they will commonly print the designation behind their name in advertising as well as on letterhead and business cards. Conduct Interviews Before you hire an agent to help you buy or sell a home, you should interview at least three agents in person. In order to do this, first get recommendations from friends, family and neighbors. Then look on the web, in homes magazines and the local newspaper to see what kind of marketing the various companies are doing in your area and call a few that impress you. Then make brief fact-finding calls to determine which of the agents on your list are full time, experienced and either hold the GRI designation or are at least working aggressively toward it. You will probably need to call ten to fifteen agents in order to find three that are worth interviewing. The interview itself need not be a formal one. It is simply an opportunity for you to meet the candidate and explain your needs; and to determine whether you would be comfortable working with them. Ask whatever questions you like, or simply explain your goals and listen carefully to what they propose to do for you in meeting your needs. The decision If you follow the suggestions above, you will find that there are excellent agents working for firms both large and small; both franchised and independent. Thus, the real decision must be made based on the competency of the individual agent you will be working with on a day-to-day basis. Stephen M. Canale is President, Broker/Instructor of Acclaim Residential Marketing Ann Arbor, Michigan | IRED Home | Search IRED | © 1995-2005 IRED.Com, Inc All Rights Reserved

Home Equity Loan /

Home Equity Loan | Home Equity Line of Credit -- BUY A HOME SELL A HOME HOME LOANS NEW HOME CONSTRUCTION ABOUT US MY ACCOUNT Find a REALTOR ® Buy or sell your home and you may receive a Gift Card worth up to $1,000. Find a REALTOR ® Find a Builder with iNest and Get 1% Cash Back! Finance Your Home Get a Mortgage Refinance Your Mortgage Home Equity Loan / Line of Credit Online Credit Report Search Homes for Sale Start Your Search Home Price Check ® Additional Services Insurance Quotes Get a Home Warranty Get a Home Inspection Find a Mover Find Home Improvement Professionals Change Your Address Setup Your Utilities Learning Center Qualifying for Home Loan How Much Can You Afford? How To Choose the Right Loan You are here: Home | Home Finance | Home Equity Loan Center Home Equity Loan Center Get up to 4 lenders competing for your home equity loan. When Banks Compete, You Win ® ! 3 Great Reasons to Use Your Home's Equity 1. Home Improvements Why wait to make needed home improvements. Redo your bathroom or kitchen now. 2. Major Purchases Thinking about buying a car or boat? Take advantage of low home equity rates now. 3. Dream Vacation The weather is getting warm. If you want to get away think about using a home equity line of credit. Login and View Your Offers Email: Password: Forgot Your Password? Know Your Credit Score. Make Smarter Decisions. Credit Reports TM , Score Power ® and Score Watch TM give you the tools you need to understand, manage and use your credit wisely. Need Help Before Getting Started? How large a line of credit can you obtain? Before You Remodel Your Home Should you consolidate debts? Home equity loan or an auto loan? Home Improvement What is a Credit Score? Furnishing on a Budget How to Find an Architect Buying a Home | Selling a Home | Homes for Sale | Credit Report & Score | House Prices at Domania New Home Construction | Find a Mover | Find a REALTOR ® | Home Financing | Real Estate Learning Center Customer Service | Publications | For the Media | News Releases | Join Our Real Estate Network | Post Home Listings Privacy | Security | Terms of Use | Jobs | Disclosures and Licenses | Sitemap | Loans | Commercial Real Estate Houses for Sale in: Atlanta | Austin | Boston | Charlotte | Chicago | Dallas | Denver | Houston | Las Vegas | Los Angeles Miami | Minneapolis | New York | Philadelphia | Phoenix | San Antonio | San Diego | San Francisco | Seattle Washington, DC | Real Estate in More Cities LendingTree technology and processes are patented under US Patent Nos. 6,385,594 and 6,611,816. © 1998 - Real Estate.com, a service of LendingTree, LLC. All Rights Reserved.This site is directed at, and made available to, persons in the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii only. Conversion to LendingTree, LLC We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. REALTOR ® -- A registered collective membership mark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS ® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. Not all of the real estate professionals participating in the "Agent's Competing" program are REALTORS ® , which are members of the National Association of REALTORS ® . The Home Depot ® is not affiliated with LendingTree, LLC. The Home Depot ® is a registered trademark of Homer TLC, Inc. RealEstate.com is not sponsored by or affiliated with the parent franchisor companies of any of the participating members of its network. Partner Sites: Citysearch | Expedia | Hotels.com | Ticketmaster.com | Hotwire.com | Entertainment.com | Match.com Home Shopping Network | ReserveAmerica | LendingTree.com | iNest | ServiceMagic | Ask Jeeves | Gift Ideas Mortgage Calculator | Refinance at GetSmart | LendingTree Mortgage | Free Online Credit Report | Home Equity Loans

Buy Home

South Bay Software Home Downloads Purchase Support Contact Us To Order By Phone: 1-800-434-MY-PC Featured Downloads .:: FolderView .:: Hot Corners .:: PrinterExpress .:: SuperCleaner .:: SysDate Other Purchase Free Utilities Support Product Support Customer Service Suggest a Feature Frequently Asked Questions Company Information Find and destroy garbage files that are eating up your disk space and slowing down your computer! Erase your web surfing history with SuperCleaner's powerful Internet Privacy features. Latest News SuperCleaner 2.84 Now Available! Here's what's new: - Added support for Netscape 8 - Improved Opera profile detection - Consolidated Miscellaneous and AutoClean sections - Added cleaning plug-in for AOL Instant Messenger and PMView Pro - Improved speed of several AutoClean cleaning options - Resolved issue with Start menu cleaner not removing folders - Changed header image Click here for more information on SuperCleaner! NoAds 2005.02.12 Now Available! Here's what's new: - Added target list import/export feature - Resolved issue with multiple ads of the same name not being closed - Resolved tab icons corruption - Resolved issue with "Load on startup" option not sticking - Misc improvements Click here for more information on NoAds! SysDate 1.41 Now Available! Here's what's new: - Can now display the date in an attractive gradient, instead of just a single color - Underlying code completely rewritten Click here for more information on SysDate! PrinterExpress 1.3 Now Available! Here's what's new: - Removed 'old menu style' option - Added tutorial - Enhanced menu look - Added description of "friendly printer names" to Options dialog Click here for more information on PrinterExpress! Hot Corners 2.21 Now Available! Here's what's new: - Added option to automatically check for updates - Resolved issue with Hot Corners and Windows XP Service Pack 2 Click here for more information on Hot Corners! FolderView 2.1 Now Available! Here's what's new: - Added support for several new file types, including Ogg Vorbis and PSD files - Added several new information columns, including artist, title, track, genre, and CRC32 - Added support for ID3v2 tagging in MP3 files Click here for more information on FolderView! New Messenger Service Ad Stopper! We've released a free tool called "Stop Messenger Service Ads!", which does just that...stops Messenger Service advertisements on Windows NT, 2000, XP, and 2003 systems. Best of all, it's absolutely free! Click here for more information on Stop Messenger Service Ads! Icrontic.com calls SuperCleaner "First Class!" Recently, Icrontic.com reviewed SuperCleaner, and here's what they had to say about this award-winning program: "SuperCleaner...is a fantastic Hard Disk cleaner for the PC, it can delete all your Internet history in a few clicks while saving all your important cookies, its clean up time here at Icrontic, and this useful utility will allow you to do just that! What I love about this program though is how quick it really is to do a complete clean, a couple of options and your hard drive will be cleaned of all trash - no messing around with troublesome options, SuperCleaner is fast but NOT dangerous like others in this genre. It knows what to delete and what not to delete. First Class! You can of course fully tweak the program to fit your needs, it really is that versatile! Fully supports ALL major browsers from IE/Netscape/Opera/AOL. What also makes this a worthwhile program is that it's constantly being updated. Value for money then!" Click here for more information on SuperCleaner! 2005 South Bay Software. All rights reserved. Privacy Statement

Real Estate Investment

Real Estate Center RECON Newsletter Name: E-mail: Subscribe Unsubscribe It's Free. Texas Cities... Texas Real Estate Confidence Index 4th Qtr 2005 % Chg Last Qtr .60 -0.04 Apartment Complex Sold SAN ANTONIO (mysanantonio.com) – Blue Star Apartment Management Inc. has purchased Sutter’s Mill Apartment Homes at 11955 Parliament St. from Delta Court Apartments LLC and Tabor Villa LLC of San Francisco for an undisclosed price. More RECON » Holiday Gift Speaks Homebuyer's Language COLLEGE STATION, Texas Have a friend, neighbor or relative who is in the market forbuying or selling a house this holiday season? The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University has a unique gift idea for less than $10 a glossary of realestate terms that makes real estate transactions easier to understand. More » More News Releases » Events Calendar Season's Greetings ! The Real Estate Center will be closed from December 22, 2005 until January 2, 2006 for the holidays. Instructor Training Courses , May 18-19, College Station, Texas.The Legal Update and Ethics instructor training courses include credit for the required 3-hour Legal Update course and the required 3-hour Ethics course. In addition, each instructor training course will include a brief orientation to the teachers manuals for each course as well as a discussion of training issues.Registration will open in January 2006. More Event Information » What's New • Software Directory Updated • Austin Recovers • Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac? • Homeownership Programs • Urban Big Boxes • Is Texas Land Overpiced? • Housing Affordability Index Revised • Property Tax Court Cases • Brokerage-Related Cases • Growth of Texas Cities • Depreciable Land Improvements • Monthly Review of the Texas Economy (Oct.) • Texas Homebuyers Get More Home . . . • Video: Real Estate is an Attractive Investment • Video: Texas Foreclosure in Perspective • Real Estate Confidence Drops Slightly • Family Violence Victims . . . • Numbers Pop Housing Bubble Talk • It’s Going to Cost More to Keep Cool • Consumers: "More Informal Space" • Hang on After Boarding the Homebuying Ride • Beware of ‘Gotchas’ in Home Warranties • Can’t Stand the Heat, Retire Some Place Else • Hallelujah for Hardware Heaven • Why Builders Say Your House Costs So Much • Signing Away Mineral Rights Forever • Lust for Luxury • Young Buyers Making Big Impact • Home Threats are Closer Than You Think • Lamenting Fragmenting Publications Tierra Grande is our quarterly magazine with timely research and analysis of the trends and events shaping Texas real estate today. Experts on appraisal, housing , finance, law, demography, economics, investment and other areas share insights unavailable anywhere else. Terminology associated with home buying or renting can intimidate anyone. When one party’s native languageis Spanish and the other’s is not, communication can be extra challenging.The Real Estate Center’s newly revised English-Spanish Real Estate Glossary addresses this problem by defining 700 real estateterms in English and Spanish. Now also a software program on CD. Thinking about a real estate career? Click here for a free online copy of Obtaining a Texas Real Estate License . The report includes the steps to take, types of licenses, qualifications, required educational courses, getting credit for previous class work, who offers classes, fees and much more. The Real Estate Software Directory , updated for 2005, features 977 software packages from 617 companies. Created as a resource for anyone whose business relates to real estate, the directory describes programs that design advertising, evaluate budgets, manage contacts, generate legal forms, help with loans or create web pages. More publications » Solutions Through Research News :: Publications :: Data :: Software :: Education :: Cybersites :: Site Map Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas

Real Estate Broker License

California Department of Real Estate: Real Estate Broker License California Home DRE Home What's new About DRE Careers at DRE DRE Records Consumers Escrow Violations Examinees Licensees Subdivisions Real Estate Law Regulations Publications Forms FAQs Links Index Department of Real Estate My CA Real Estate Broker License indicates an item is in Portable Document Format (PDF). You will need Adobe Reader (or an Adobe Acrobat product) to view it. Click on the icon below to download a free copy of Adobe Reader. Click here for information about using Adobe Reader. Minimum Requirements to Apply for the Broker Exam and License To obtain a real estate broker license, you must first qualify for and pass a written examination. Those who pass the examination are provided a license application which must be submitted to and approved by the DRE. For complete statutory requirements and qualification patterns, see Instructions to License Applicants . Age : To apply for a license, you must be 18 years of age or older. Residence : License applicants must provide Proof of Legal Presence in the U.S. If not a California resident, see Out-of-State Applicants . Honesty : License applicants must be honest and truthful. Conviction of a crime may result in the denial of a license. Failure to disclose any criminal violation or disciplinary action in an applicant's entire history may also result in the denial of a license. For further information, see Help Avoid Denial of Your License Application and Application Eligibility Information (RE 222) . Experience : A minimum of two years full-time licensed salesperson experience within the last five years or the equivalent is required. For further information, see Documenting Experience Requirements for the Broker Examination . Education : Applicants for a real estate broker license examination must have successfully completed the following eight statutorily required college-level courses: Real Estate Practice Legal Aspects of Real Estate Real Estate Finance Real Estate Appraisal Real Estate Economics or Accounting And three* courses from the following group: Real Estate Principles Business Law Property Management Escrows Real Estate Office Administration Mortgage Loan Brokering and Lending Advanced Legal Aspects of Real Estate Advanced Real Estate Finance Advanced Real Estate Appraisal Computer Applications in Real Estate Common Interest Developments * If both Real Estate Economics and Accounting are taken, only two courses from the above group are required. Continuing education offerings do not satisfy the college-level course requirements for this examination. Each college-level course must be a minimum of three semester-units or four quarter-units. The courses must be completed prior to being scheduled for an examination. Copies of official transcripts are generally acceptable evidence of completed courses. Transcripts of other courses, submitted as an equivalent course of study in lieu of the statutory courses, must be accompanied by an official course or catalog description in order to be evaluated. Broker qualification courses must be completed at an institution of higher learning accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges or by a comparable regional accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education, or by a private real estate school which has had its courses approved by the California Real Estate Commissioner. Courses completed through foreign institutions of higher learning must be evaluated by a foreign credentials evaluation service approved by the Department of Real Estate. See Examination Applicant Foreign Education Information (RE 223) . NOTE: Applicants who have completed the eight college-level courses statutorily required for the broker examination and license are eligible to take the salesperson examination without providing further evidence of education or experience. Back to Top of Page Conditions of Use | Privacy Policy | Tech Problems 2003 State of California This page last modified on Wednesday, November 02, 2005