Learning the Hard Way

Online Course Synopsis Last week I had the opportunity to take my real estate exams in Falls Church, Virginia.  If you would have told me two months ago that I was going to do so last week instead of months down the road, I would have thought you a fool.

Not too long ago,  I made the decision to change career paths and venture into the world of real estate.  Reaching this decision, I was sure that it would take me every bit of six months for my online training and studying to be complete.  The online course that I took allowed six months to complete training.  When this training is complete, two exams are given.  Both of these must be passed in order to be successfully allowed to enroll in the proctored real estate licensing examinations. A little more than a week after making the decision to change career paths, I began the online course.  This course is basically page after page of 'slides' as they call them, of information explaining definitions and other terms to prepare one for the up coming exams.  Including practice tests, at the end of chapters, there are 41 sections in this course. Three weeks later, I  reached the end of the training part and was ready for the exams at the end of the course, or so I thought.  What I learned quickly was that the course does not prepare one for the exams, it has flaws in its method of preparation.  Otherwise, I would have been confident taking the exams at the end of the course. I decided to do my own homework and began taking practice tests from all over the internet, wherever I could dig up them.  When I completed one, I found and took another.  Each time I took a different practice test, I saw new questions.  In the course I took, I never saw new questions.  After a week of practice tests, I successfully passed the end of course exams and was ready for the real estate licensing exams.  I signed up, went to the examination sight and passed. What I learned from the combination of online course and many practice tests is that passing the licensing exams is possible on the first try. I am not sure how difficult the classroom course would have been, but the freedom of studying at any time of day helped me.  Now, finding someone their dream home is just around my corner. The best way to update a property in {Location_Name} is to paint it. It’s a job that many sellers can do themselves. Here are six suggestions for making the work go quickly.

1. Move the furniture. Get as much furniture as possible out of the way, and then cover what’s left with plastic drop cloths held in place with masking tape.
2. Buy good paint. Top-quality latex interior paint will hide what’s underneath and make the job go faster.
3. Tape the edges. Taping the edges with painters tape will speed up the job and make the results more professional.
4. Work top down. Paint the ceiling first, then the walls, then the windows and trim and finally the baseboards. This will cut down on time spent repairing drips and splatter marks.
5. Cut in the corners. Applying a three-inch band of paint around the edges will allow you to fill in the middle with a paint roller.
6. Apply paint generously. Trying to stretch the paint won’t save sellers any money if they have to repaint.

Do you know what your home in {Location_Name} really worth? Call Nesbitt Realty for a fast and free home evaluation. Source: Paint Quality Institute (09/21/2010)