It's a new year and many folks think about getting a new job or career as one of their resolutions for 2025. Data was recently released showing that 74% of all realtors sold 0 homes in 2024; 2% sold between 11 and 20 homes; and 0.14% sold 45 or more homes last year. Basically, when you are a salesperson in most any industry, 10% of people sell 90% of the inventory, and that's true for real estate as well.

Getting a license to sell property in Utah isn't hard. You must be 18 years old, have at least a high school diploma or equivalent, complete 120 hours of (state-) approved real estate education, pass the Utah real estate exam, complete a background check, provide two fingerprint cards, and meet the statutory licensing requirements of honesty, integrity, truthfulness, reputation and competency. The exam is actually two parts—mostly a general national exam and a local exam which you have to pass with 70% on each test. You can fail one part and re-test.

Once you complete all this, then you hopefully get approved to work for a broker. And then every two years you must complete 18 hours of continuing education courses approved by the state and pay a renewal fee.

Once you pass the tests and are approved by the state to sell real estate within our borders, you aren't approved to sell in other states. You would have to test in each state on their local laws, but might not have to re-test the national exam. And you don't just go off and work on your own—you must be sponsored by a licensed real estate broker who will act as a guide and supervisor during your transactions. Our laws here state that a person must be licensed as a sales agent or broker to negotiate or consummate the sale, lease, exchange, or purchase real estate in Utah.

Can you sell your own properties and/or manage them without being an agent? Of course! The licensing requirements do not apply to an owner who manages their own property if they manage an apartment building and live in the building at reduced rent compensation, or if they are a full-time salaried employee of an HOA.

Sadly, most of those who do get licensed don't end up picking real estate as a career. When I taught in real estate school the odds weren't great—you'd last about 15 months self-employed and would probably file bankruptcy on account of ill-training and from paying taxes and/or fees each month to your broker and Board/MLS so that you had little left for advertising.

But hey, there are over 10,000 members of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors, over 1,000 in the Park City Board of Realtors and almost 1,000 members in the Washington County Board of Realtors. Many are making a great living!