Earning your real estate license is a good way to start working as a real estate agent in a matter of months (or even weeks). But you don't need to work as a real estate agent full-time to make it worthwhile. If you're thinking about moving or you want to earn a bit of extra money on the side while you work another full-time job or raise a family, working part-time as a real estate agent is a great way to do.

Is it worth keeping your real estate license renewed if you're not working full-time? How frequently you have to renew your real estate license depends on the state. For example, you have to renew your real estate license in California every four years. In most states, renewing your license is not onerous, making it easy to work as a real estate agent part-time, or even just for friends and family.

Earning your real estate license is also easy. Real estate license schools like RealEstateU offer online courses at great affordable prices - as low as $99 in California or New York. More affordable courses tend to be generated in-house by real estate experts, never outsourced. They allow you to complete courses on your own time, all online. You can get more information online about how to get your real estate license in a way that works for you.

There are tons of benefits to earning your real estate license even if you don't intend on working full-time.

Save Money When You Buy or Sell a Home

Are you planning on moving soon? Whether you're buying your first home or selling your current house and hoping to upgrade (or downsize), you can wind up spending a lot of money on real estate agents. The average real estate commission is slightly over 5 percent, which gets split between the selling agent and the buying agent.

Real estate values depend on a lot of factors, including the state, whether it's located in the city or the suburbs, local wages, and proximity to amenities like shopping, freeways, or public transit infrastructure.

Let's take some average home prices in California to see how much money you can save. The average home price is $544,900, so let's say you're upgrading by selling your home for $400,000 and buying one that's $600,000.

When you sell your home, the total commission would be $20,000. You would keep half of that as the selling agent. With the home you buy, the total commission would be $30,000. Your total share for both houses would be $25,000, split with your broker. Usually it's a 60/40 split in your favor, meaning you would save a grand total of $15,000 on all transactions. That's a great return for spending a couple of weeks spent on online classes and a few hundred dollars earning your license.

Work for Friends and Family

Since real estate is a commission-based industry, you make a large sum of money every time you close. If you don't feel like marketing and generating new clients, you can also work for friends and family. They will appreciate having someone they trust to keep their best interests in mind, while you can earn a little bit of extra money on the side.

Earning your real estate license is a smart financial decision no matter how you plan to use it.