The qualifying courses needed to sit for the agent and broker exams are a joke. When I applied for the agent exam, my undergrad transcripts were analyzed and I was allowed credit for business law (3 semester units), economics (total 9 semester units), and accounting (my major). I was denied credit for finance (6 upper division units!) because I hadn’t taken “real estate finance”. The exam was a joke also…if you can memorize lots of arcane information and understand junior high math, you’ll pass.
Later, through an approved on-line school, I completed the so-called coursework for the broker exam, including “real estate finance”. The class consisted of more memorization of factoids, such as learning all the acronyms – FNMA, FreddieMac, FIRREA etc., and very basic explanation of topics such as the monetary system, the secondary mortgage market, loan, deed of trust, beneficiary. Not even an iota of the rigor of my non-real estate finance classes, and no mention of details such as IRR, present value, investment analysis and comparison.
When I compare the coursework and exam requirements for becoming a real estate broker to the coursework I had to complete and the exam I passed to become a CPA, it becomes apparent that no great intellect or reasoning abilities are required for the former.
