INDIANAPOLIS — According to the National Association of Realtors, in May 2021, 5.8 million houses were sold in the United State, and that's an increase of nearly 45%, when compared to May 2020.
We know when you buy a new home, it feels like a fresh start in life and for Michelle Green, selling these homes is a career change that feels like a light of hope, during the pandemic.
"It allows me to live my dreams, all of the dreams that I've had,” Green said.
She told WRTV around her 50th birthday, she stopped working in social services and opened the door to a new occupation as a real estate agent.
"To me, that was serving in a huge capacity,” Green said.
It's a capacity to help people buy or sell a place to live and Green credits the Keller Williams' pre-licensing course, with helping her make the career move.
"It was invaluable to me, and I did so well during the pandemic and it's all thanks to them," Green said.
Autumn Ferrando works as the director of marketing for Keller Williams in Indiana. She said, “we welcome all of the agents."
She also added with a booming housing market, she's seeing more people leave their jobs during this pandemic and become brokers instead.
"They're really wanting time flexibility, flexibility with their money, and real-estate is really just one of the greatest options for that," Ferrando said.
As of Tuesday, state officials counted more than 24,300 active real estate broker licenses in Indiana. That's 4,215 more real-estate brokers here now, compared to Aug. 31, 2019, and Ferrando said 8,500 of them are selling homes in the state, with Keller Williams.
Ferrando said the K.W pre-licensing course takes about 90 hours, over six weeks. During that time, people get all the support they need to get their new agent licenses.
"One-on-one coaching, you kind of get a plan based on what you want. We had an agent who is like 'I want to buy a boat' ok, well let's build a plan around that. So, you can get your boat,” Ferrando said.
The course costs $400 , but with Keller Williams, the cost is completely reimbursed, when you sign on with the brokerage.
Once you work for K.W., you get a support team of 10 people. Plus, a concierge team that helps with marketing, transactions and listing management.
"That's like having a whole team behind you and not having to pay them, which is so great, but you look like a top-notch real-estate agent," Ferrando said.
It's a top-notch feeling, that fulfills Green's dream to help others.
"The interaction with people and having to be ready to on the spot put in an offer, and then also the anticipation of getting that offer accepted is just so exciting,” Green said.
Keller Williams is known for its training, even after an agent is signed on with the brokerage. Right now, they have about 1.5 million real estate agents across the country.
During the K.W. pre-licensing course, there's a Facebook group, which meets every week to study and that helped cut down the number of times people need to take the big state and national real estate test.
The test costs about $50 each a time and most people take it five to seven times. Now with the Facebook group, people have passed on the first or second try.
You might want to note that this line of work isn't all easy.
You do have flexible hours, but you also might be working while on vacation and as of April 9, the Bureau of Labor Statistics does project employment of real estate brokers and sales agents will grow by only 2% from 2019 to 2029, which is slower than the average for all occupations, in the U.S. economy.
