[lust4speed]

Pass your test and draw a big target on your chest. Selling your own property is a terrible reason for obtaining a license. A real estate licensee is held to a much higher standard and is open game for anything that goes wrong with their property after the close of escrow. You should also be aware that those big fees for E&O insurance agents pay do not cover their own sales. I owned a Century 21 franchise for 21 years and have been a broker for 30 years with an average of three dozen agents under the business at any time. We never lost a suit, but my legal counsel probably paid off a couple of vacation homes with what he earned representing us over the years. Granted, this was in sue happy California. People can sue for any reason, and if you hold a license and sell your own property you are exposed.

I've seen agents over the years that I was surprised they could find their way to work - and they somehow passed the test. The problem with any state's real estate testing is that it works as a culling procedure rather than a knowledge test. I witnessed people with a two year certificate in real estate fail the test time after time. The commercial real estate schools pay really good money to have questions and answers "very similar" to what is asked on state tests. If you really want to pass any state real estate test, pay a reputable school and let them quiz you with their bank of practice tests. But don't obtain a license unless you actually want to work in real estate.

Also take that 6% and immediately cut it in half between selling and buying agencies. they take out the cut for the brokerage, then deduct fees for E&O and whatever other fees you have contracted for. What you save by selling your own property won't pay for the initial consultation time with the firms attorney.