I am so happy, and absolutely overwhelmed with emotion! Again, I am feeling butterflies in my stomach just like I felt when I got my attorney’s license in 1979. I have got my Real Estate’s degree!
Last year in December, when I returned home from the 2007 NAR Conference and Expo, I was still excited about the window of opportunity that had just opened in my Real Estate career. The first step was joining AMPI Morelia (Profesional Association of Realtors) in December. One of the advantages of being an AMPI member is that it allows one to become an International member of NAR (National
Association of Realtors).
I was mesmerized by NAR´s wide variety of realtors’ courses, so some of the goals that I set for this year were to complete 4 of those courses: SRES (Seniors Real Estate Specialist), TRC (Transnational Referral Certification), EcoBroker and CIPS (Certified International Property Specialist). I have finished the SRES and TRC and the first part of GREEN Designation (more complete than ecobroker).
However, when I was going to start the CIPS in April this year, I learned that July 9th 2007, my government, through the Secretaria de Educacion Publica (SEP) recognized real estate as a profession. Therefore, all professionals in the real estate Industry in Mexico, should have a license (called cedula profesional).
AMPI was promoting and organizing a process for real estate agents to get this license and they announced the procedure:
- A preparation course taken from June to August 2008, with classes every Tuesday and Friday from 4 PM to 8 PM.
- A test to be taken on August 27th 2008 with 177 questions.
- Presentation of a Portafolio de Evidencias. This had 4 sections: I.-Conventions and Conferences, II.- Publications, III.- Certifications and IV.- Real Estate Work.
I never hesitated. I signed up and we started our preparation course on June 10th, and finished on August 1st, 2008. We have completed 64 hours of preparation, going through several areas of knowledge: Management (office & agents administration, planning), Economy (supply and demand), Marketing (sales, appraisals, advertizing), Law (civil, commerce, public registration), Finances (mortgages) & Accounting (incorporations and taxes).
As a result of this course, I have prepared a 49 page guide with questions and answers that I received from every place I went from August 2nd to August 26th.
On August 27th, 40 realtors from Morelia, San Miguel de Allende, Queretaro and Zihuatanejo gathered at UVAQ classroom to take the test. Even though I was feeling comfortable answering questions, it took me almost the four hour limit to complete it.
On October 17th, I checked the test results online and found that I HAD PASSED THE TEST!!!
I was ready to continue to the next step: evidence of my work as a realtor. That was fun; I needed to talk about me, my goals, my accomplishments. I had to write about conferences, conventions, courses, my law degree, my website, the way I do business, you name it! They asked us not to be shy talking about ourselves, so I was not! I came up with a very thick presentation, about 120 pages and submitted it on November 3rd.
Finally, today, December 17th 2008, I got my results online: I HAVE MY REAL ESTATE DEGREE!!!
It has been tough, I have spent several months preparing, but it was definitely worth it.
From now on, I can proudly say that I am a CERTIFIED REAL ESTATE AGENT.
(This article was first published in December 2008 in my old website).
