I actually own a real estate agency in New Jersey.
My advice...
In most states real estate schools need to be approved and monitored by the state real estate commission, find their website and you will find a list of approved schools.
The market is rough now for many experienced agents, about 5% of the agents out there do 95% of the deals, the rest fight over the scraps. It is a highly competitive industry and most of the people get into it because they think it is so easy to get rich, truth be told many agents would make more off of collecting unemployment, there are also many who have no business being in the business and these are the ones who are giving the honest ones a bad rep.
You should be dependable, honest with integrity and a hard worker if you want to make it and make a comfortable living in real estate and it is not hard to do if you ignore the bad advice many agents will give you or try to discourage you with. Most of them don't get to the office until 10 or 11:am anyway, they are easy to spot, some will pass themselves off as big shots and be arrogant.
I love this business and try to conduct myself as a professional with integrity and always look out for the best interest of my clients, you do that and you can't go wrong.
(Note: this can be a challenge, many of the people you try to help may think you are out to screw them and fight you every step of the way.) You need to be patient, persistent and aggressive when necessary, not in a physical why mind you.
If you are looking to break in you will need a source of income or enough in savings to last you about 6 months as backup money. It is not free to get started either, most companies will offer some sort of scholarship or discount for schools, my agency offers this and will reimburse you 100% for schooling after you get your first sale to cover it from our end of the commissions. Look for agencies that make similar offers.
You will also need money to pay for:
(Below are average costs)
Real Estate School $300 to $600
License $100 to $200
Local board of realtors $200 to $600
MLS membership $160 to $1,200
E&O (Errors and Omissions insurance) $400-$600
Business Cards $100 online you can get about $5,000 for this price, don't buy through the brokerage or franchise, you can get them cheaper online.
Other marketing materials that cost: Custom Postcards, Letters, CMA software, Contract Software, a good Contact Manager, Name Badge (Like a mini billboard, recommended), website, suite and tie or appropriate business clothing (its critical to look the part), the list goes on but these are the bare necessities in my book.
It's a good idea to have at least a $2-3,000 to start, not to mention I would advise doing research about the agency you choose by talking to a few of their agents 1 on 1 asking what they think about the agency.
Do they have regularly scheduled good training free or paid available? Critical - Real Estate school only teaches you how not to break the laws!
Do they offer any benefits or perks?
Example: We offer a vehicle discount purchase program, Group rate health insurance, Discounts on printed marketing materials; we have a postage allowance where we pay for the postage for "x" amount of mailings per week.
Also find out if there are any minimum requirements such as you are required to do floor time duty, unpaid secretary! However, you can get leads this way and may be a good way to start. Any minimum sales per specified time period?
Do you need to pay any desk fees? This is important because it can be a major expense, many offices offering higher commission splits usually offer little if any support, training, or perks, usually they make most of their money by charging desk rental fees and fees for using their equipment such as fax and phone, photo copies, office assistants, and so on. Be careful for these can be MAJOR expenses and not recommended for newbie’s.
It is also a good idea to get involved with an active mentor, one who does a lot of business and won’t just get to share your deals and not offer any advice or guidance. Basically you need to find a good honest brokerage and hookup with a good productive agent who will work with you and guide you, this can be difficult to find and another suggestion or alternative would be to take additional training classes or designation courses, not seminar classes but a designation course like a GRI, CRS, ePro CCIM and others like them to become knowledgeable about the business you choose to be in. This may be the best option and you'll end up more knowledgeable than most "mentors".
Good Luck!