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Overview of Real Estate
A career in real estate suits people with a genuine interest in property, sales and interacting with people. Jobs in real estate include estate agents, property managers and auctioneers.
Each state has a Real Estate Institute, which provides member benefits and training courses, but there are other providers of real estate courses as well. |
Studying Real Estate
To work for an agency, you need to be an authorised agent’s representative. You must be over 18 years old, pass your state’s minimum prescribed agent’s representative course and get a police check before being registered.
A popular real estate course is the Certificate III in Property Services, which can give you a start as a real estate agent or property manager. You can also get the Cert III by doing a traineeship.
You don’t need a licence to work, but you need one to run your own business. The minimum requirements are a Certificate IV in Property Services and 12 months as an agent’s representative.
Property management courses cover these requirements so you can apply for a licence when you graduate.
Careers in Real Estate
People in real estate work long, irregular hours, but they love the thrill of closing a sale and helping someone find a dream home.
Real estate agents buy, sell, lease, manage and appraise properties for their clients. Property managers, on the other hand, deal mainly with leasing and managing rental properties.
Only agents' representatives and licensed agents may become auctioneers, because there are strict guidelines to conducting auctions.
Full-time agents and property managers earn an average of $920 a week, while auctioneers earn $1150 a week.
The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations expects jobs for real estate agents to grow strongly, but decline for auctioneers, through 2015.
Skills needed in Real Estate
Real estate agents and property managers are organised and driven people with great people and sales skills.
Auctioneers also need to be great at interacting with people, answering questions about properties and have a loud, upbeat voice.
More information
Real Estate & Property
Property Valuation