Real estate can be a fantastic side hustle. The schedule is flexible, and you decide which projects to take on. It’s also quite lucrative, with an average salary of $100,000 per year. However, entering real estate side hustles successfully isn’t as easy as taking your licence and showing houses. In the US, there are over 3 million real estate agents and 1.5+ million realtors (members of the National Association of Realtors). Competition is fierce, especially in high-octane markets like LA, Miami, or New York City.
Becoming a standout agent isn’t a walk in the park; it’s a full-blown commitment. You need knowledge, grit, discipline, and a bunch of special skills to make it big. The bar is high, and the market won’t hold your hand.
Luckily, you can master all of them with practice and determination. Even better, you can do it on your terms, online, from anywhere. To give you a boost, here are five online courses every real estate agent needs to get their foot in the door.
First and foremost, you’ll need to get your real estate license (you cannot legally work as an agent without one). Of course, this won’t make you successful out of the bat, but it will empower you with knowledge and practice. It’s also a great foundation if you plan to turn your side hustle into a full-time business someday.
While you study for the license exam, you should also work on your negotiation skills, time management, understanding of financial analysis, and digital marketing. Again, these are all available as online courses, so let’s take a deeper dive into each.
In the US, each state has its own requirements before you can take the exam. For instance, if you want to be a New York City real estate agent, the state of New York requires 77 hours of approved qualifying education.
To access high‑quality, state‑specific educational materials, choose a well‑known, approved online school like NYREI (for New York). They provide the required 77‑hour pre‑licensing course as well as continuing‑education modules to help you stay compliant after earning your license. Most courses are delivered through a mix of video lessons, digital textbooks, quizzes, and interactive activities, accessible 24/7 on your computer or mobile device.
Keep in mind: While the course is flexible, there is a time limit (e.g., 4 months) to complete it, and you must log the full number of hours (77 hours in the case of NY).
Real estate is a sales business, so anyone who aims for the top needs to be a good negotiator. Since you’ll be competing with full-time professionals, being able to secure the best deal quickly and confidently for your clients is a powerful advantage.
Look for a general negotiation course, preferably offered by a respected university or business school. Check the course’s curriculum and make sure it includes topics like negotiating timelines, repairs, contract terms, and managing emotional stress.
A solid course will teach you about BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement), the distinction between interests and positions, and psychological tactics.
If we’re honest, this course should come first, before you even start the real estate course. Balancing a main job, personal life, and a demanding real estate side hustle requires flawless time management and efficiency.
A good course will teach you how to implement systems to prioritize high-value activities (like lead generation and client meetings) over low-value tasks (like excessive social media scrolling). Learning how to batch tasks and block schedule is critical for a side hustle as demanding as real estate.
You’ll work with a mountain of numerical data, starting from property values, historical records, and neighborhood quality indices. You also need to be able to quickly and accurately calculate potential returns for investors and buyers.
Look for a respectable Real Estate Financial Modeling course to get familiar with using spreadsheets and running insightful analyses. You’ll learn to calculate cap rates, cash-on-cash return, and run financial feasibility for flips or rentals, making you a value-added advisor, not just an agent.
Real estate success is all about your personal brand. A good course will teach you how to set up targeted ads, optimize your profile (LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.), and use email marketing to nurture leads automatically while you’re at your main job.
Look for a Digital Marketing Specialization on Coursera or a specific course on Facebook/Google advertising strategies for local businesses.
Real estate is a demanding and challenging field, but if you master the right skills, your path to the top is almost guaranteed. Keep up the good work, stay consistent, and go out there and conquer your local market!
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