There are real estate designations and certifications for Realtors?
Buying or selling a property can be a stressful and dramatic experience. So you want to make sure that you find a real estate agent who can really help you with your needs.
It’s actually quite easy to become a real estate agent. This article from Realtor.com explains how to become a Realtor®. It requires taking a course, passing a test, and hanging your license with a broker.
Every four years a real estate agent has to take continuing education. But is that really enough?
When looking for an agent, how can you look for a real estate agent who has taken continuing education to better themselves in their field?
You need to look for a real estate agent with designations and certifications.
There are a lot of designations and certifications a Realtor® can get, and many of them are quite specific to niche real estate. You can read all about them here: National Association of Realtors Designations and Certifications
These designations require the agent to take courses, tests and some even require them to have a certain number of sales and experience to attain.
What are some examples of designations and certifications?
In 2014, I became a Realtor®. Since this was my career path, I focused on continuing my education. I felt that containing my education was important to deliver excellent service.
Continue my real estate education past the basic licensing was important to me, so I could deliver superior customer service to my customers. Hence, I got a designation/certification every year or so.
Here are the designations and certifications that I have:
ABR stands for Accredited Buyer Representative.
It is for agents who focus on servicing the buyers through the real estate process.
CRS is for the Certified Residential Specialist designation. It is a highly regarded designation since it has course requirements, transaction requirements and experience requirements.
ePRO® is the technology certification. In today’s fast paced world, I always try to refer to ePRO agents, because they have the best response times.
NAR’s GREEN Designation help navigate the real estate market considering green aspects.
GRI is the Graduated Realtor Institute designation. I refer to this designation as “College for Real Estate Agents.” It requires 7 courses (totaling 45 hours) and three exams.
SFR stands for Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource® certification. During the real estate market crash, South Florida had a lot of distressed sales. So this certification was helpful during that time.
How do you find agents who have designations and certifications?
The easiest way is to go to Realtor.com. When you search for a Realtor®, you can add Designations and Certifications in your criteria search.
You can search for specific designations or certifications by going to their homepage and searching by area. You can google search with your state and designation/certification.
Also, you can just keep it in mind when you are comparing agents.