Recruiting and retaining highly productive real estate agents is a struggle for real estate brokerages of all sizes. Finding alternative options to help attract and retain new agents can help brokers have an edge over the competition.
This article will reveal how real estate brokers/brokerages can leverage tuition reimbursement programs to attract competent real estate agents in 2022.
What is Tuition Reimbursement?
A tuition reimbursement program pays for an agent’s pre-licensing courses once certain milestones are met. This is often done in exchange for the agent working for the brokerage, or using a certain business to help them find a brokerage.
For example some brokerages like Keller Williams and Century 21 recently built their own real estate school for their agents to attend. A non brokerage example would be, Agent Advice, which offers one of the leading programs offering tuition reimbursement to recently licensed real estate agents, and helps connect them with a brokerage.
How Does a Tuition Reimbursement Program Work?
Tuition reimbursement policies may differ, but the program refunds your tuition costs once you meet specific requirements. You pay for the tuition and then receive a reimbursement after completing a real estate licensing course. Often the new agent will work for the brokerage that helped with their tuition, or will be placed in a brokerage by the company they worked with.
How to Utilize a Tuition Reimbursement Program
Brokerages have a few options on how they can leverage tuition reimbursement to help acquire agents. For those that can afford it, they can go the same route as Keller Williams and build their own school. Others can opt to partner with real estate schools to become a reseller, but this can also be costly, requiring upfront money, plus ongoing maintenance to track and support the program. Another option that still requires a good amount of ongoing maintenance, but less upfront cash would be for the brokerage to partner with real estate schools as an affiliate. An option that does not require any upfront cost or ongoing maintenance would be for the brokerage to use a free program like Agent Advice’s.
Benefits Of Leveraging Education As A Real Estate Broker
Here are some of the benefits of taking advantage of a tuition reimbursement program when recruiting budding real estate agents in your brokerage.
- Allows for Access to More Qualified Candidates
One of the challenging factors faced by most people looking to get into the real estate industry are the costs associated with obtaining a real estate license. On average, the cost of obtaining a real estate license in most states is between $400 and $1,000.
The high costs of obtaining a license discourage potential agents from getting licensed and reduce the number of real estate agents available to be hired by brokerages. One of the goals of tuition reimbursement is to eradicate this cost barrier on the part of the student, thereby allowing for more qualified prospects ready to be hired by brokerages.
- Encourages Students to Complete the Course Faster
Most tuition reimbursement programs will have some sort of a time frame for the student to complete their courses and pass the exam, or incentive of a job or financial gain when they are finished. For example one of the main offerings of Agent Advice is the reimbursement of their money for the classes once a potential agent attends an interview scheduled by an AgentAdvice recruiter after scheduling or passing the state exam.
With this type of offering, prospective agents are encouraged to not only complete the course at a quicker rate but ensure that they pass the state exam with flying colors.
- Screens Out Less Motivated Agents
One of the upsides to these tuition reimbursement programs is that you are ensuring the future agents have taken accredited classes and their progress can be overseen.
As a real estate brokerage, whether you opt to partner with a real estate school, or use a program like Agent Advice, you will have the advantage of knowing you are hiring motivated fully licensed, screened, and competent real estate agents, thereby reducing the costs of scouting agents.
Key Takeaway
While brokerages have a few options on how they can leverage tuition reimbursement, not all programs are created equal. For those brokerages that cannot afford to create a real estate school, or put up the up front cost of partnering with a real estate school, the Agent Advice tuition reimbursement program might be a great approach to sourcing new talent for your firm. From access to more qualified and licensed agents, a smoother recruitment process, and differentiating your company from other brokerages without this kind of benefit, there are many upsides to this program.
