More people taking real estate jobs during pandemic

For some real estate agents, the pandemic was the perfect opportunity to evaluate life goals and make that career change.

"Previously, I did a little bit of investing where I was very interested in the housing market itself," said Corey Brenner, real estate agent at Anderson Mosier Realty Group. "And finally, with the pandemic hitting and a few encouragements from some friends, I decided to take a leap of faith and went to it full time."

Initially, Brenner says there was a three-week waiting time between scheduling and taking the exam. But he said it was still perfect timing for him to become a real estate agent.

"Competition for homes is at an all-time high," Brenner said. "There’s definitely a lack of inventory here in the Twin Cities and very low interest rates are attributing to those conditions. And we definitely see this trend sticking around for quite some time here."

With so many requests during the pandemic to book exams and with social distancing and capacity guidelines, the Minnesota Department of Commerce is now putting their exams online with live proctors.

From Jan. 1, 2020, to March 15, 2020, before COVID-19 limited in-person capacity limits, the department of commerce had 3,288 pre-licensing exams scheduled. While during the same time period this year, there were 4,062 pre-licensing exams scheduled. That’s an uptick of 24%.

"It’s more convenient for people to be in their home to take the exam, and the proctors feel like it’s a good solution," said Grace Arnold, interim commissioner at Minnesota Department of Commerce. "And Minnesotans are benefiting because you still get a licensed real estate agent that has all the qualifications that are there to help your very large decision that you’re making but in a way that is a little more convenient and more helpful."

The commerce department has over 140 exams through online testing with live proctors.