Posts in category 'Real Estate Careers'
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Illinois Written Buyer Agreements: What Brokers Must Do
A written buyer agreement is a contract between a buyer and a brokerage that says what services the buyer gets, what they will pay for them, and how long the deal lasts. In Illinois the state's own rules already call for one, and since August 17, 2024, the National Association of Realtors has required one before an agent who uses an MLS tours a home with a buyer. If you are about to become a broker, this is the first document you will put in front of a stranger, and you will have to explain every line of it.
We have been bringing new agents into the business in Rockford since 1923, and the first buyer meeting has changed more in the last two years than in the decades before. Some new agents still treat the agreement as a form to get through. That is a mistake, because it is the clearest picture a buyer gets of how you work. This guide sticks to two sources, Illinois law and the facts NAR has published about its own practice changes, so you know exactly what each one says. If...
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Illinois Agency Law for New Brokers: Duties and Dual Agency
In Illinois, the law decides who you represent before you do. Unless a written agreement says otherwise, every consumer you work with is treated as your client, and you are treated as that client's designated agent. New brokers who do not know this rule spend their first year making promises they did not realize they had made.
Agency is the part of the License Act that governs the relationship between a broker and the people on either side of a deal. It decides who gets your loyalty, what you have to say out loud, what you have to keep quiet, and when you need a signature before you can do something. We have been bringing new agents into the business in Rockford since 1923, and nothing about the work changes more quickly from the textbook to the kitchen table than this subject. This guide puts the rules in plain words. If you are weighing offices, our guide on
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Errors and Omissions Insurance for Illinois Brokers
Illinois does not require an individual real estate broker to carry errors and omissions insurance. We went looking for the rule and could not find one. That surprises most new licensees, and it is the reason you should not assume you are covered just because somebody told you the office has a policy.
The question matters most in the first year, when you are the least experienced person in any room and the most likely to miss something. We have been bringing new agents into the business in Rockford since 1923, and the agents who last are the ones who learned early what could go wrong and who stood behind them when it did. This guide covers what the law actually says, what this insurance is, what it does not do, and what to ask before you sign with a brokerage. If you are still comparing offices, our guide on how to choose your first brokerage puts this ques...
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Can You Be a Part-Time Real Estate Agent in Illinois?
Yes, you can be a part-time real estate broker in Illinois. Nothing in the License Act or the state's rules sets a minimum number of hours a licensee must work. What the law does require is the same for everyone, and none of it shrinks because your hours do.
That second sentence is where part-time plans run into trouble. People picture a flexible side business and forget that a license is a license. The sponsorship, the continuing education, the renewal fees, the escrow rules, and the penalties for working without a valid license apply the day you pass the exam, whether you show a house once a month or six times a week. This article lays out what the state asks of every licensee, then looks honestly at what a smaller schedule changes in practice. We have been bringing new agents into the business in Rockford since 1923, and we have watched people succeed at a variety of schedules and struggle with others. The difference is rarely the number of hours. It is whether the person...
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Transfer Your Real Estate License to Illinois: 2026 Steps
If you hold an active real estate license in another state, you can get an Illinois broker license by endorsement without starting over. You do not repeat the 75-hour pre-license course covered in our license guide or the national exam described in our exam article. You take a 30-hour course on Illinois law, pass an exam on Illinois brokerage law, send the state proof that your home license is clean, and pay $150.
That is the short version, and it replaces what many articles still describe. Illinois used to issue licenses to out-of-state brokers under reciprocal agreements with certain states. That route is closed. The state's rule says no application under a reciprocal agreement could be submitted or granted on or after January 1,...