“Flavor of the Month” Training Certifications

Another blog planted this in my mind and I thought it would be better for it to stand alone then spoil someone else’s thread.

I have got to ask this question: What makes the Five Star Cert or any other training company different from the 20 or 30 other REO or Short Sale cert's out there? Why should I suddenly rush out and get ANOTHER cert when I have already been certified for years? How many cert’s do I need to do the same thing I’ve been doing all along?

I ask this because the same thing that has been happening to the REO market for the last 2 years is now starting to happen with Short Sales now that HAFA is about to kick in. Every other month another company releases a "New" cert of some type with all the hype of that you will be left behind if you do not get it. Well I'm here to say I had MORE business before getting all of these cert's. Over the last 2 years I have spent $$THOUSANDS$$ in the latest “Flavor of the Month” REO training because someone recommended it or it sounded good. Well, after 2 years of trying, marketing and more training, not ONE piece of business can be directly related to any of the training! NOT ONE!

Should I have spent all of this money in other methods of marketing? I don’t know. After all these expensive classes for the “Flavor of the Month” cert’s, I still get almost all of my business in networking with other agents, lenders and people in the industry. My biggest client, Bank of America, came to me because I answered my phone! I was referred to them by a property manager that I knew and without warning one day a Senior V.P. out of their Baltimore office calls to ask me if I would like to do a couple of BPO’s for them. What a silly question! This was BEFORE I even considered spending one dime on the “Flavor of the Month” cert. None of the banks I was already working with require any type of certification. I took the classes because I thought they would teach me something new, most of them failed at that.

Please, do not get me wrong, Five Star is probably at the top of their field. Maybe for agents who work in brokerages that do not provide top notch training, these cert's are a must have. But what do they provide that is different from what anybody else teaches?

I guess I’m lucky with the decision I made when I first got my real estate license and was looking for a broker. Years later I’m now certain that decision was the best I have ever made! Yes, I went with the largest brokerage in the Atlanta area. Who already had their own training academy, provides hours and hours of training for free to our agents. Where training is highly encourage and promoted! In fact, within my first 4 year license period I had over 200 CE credits and additional 100+ hours of non-CE training…..all at no cost to me! Now I’m getting into company promotion and it’s not the direction I wanted to go with this.

So, my question still stands: What does the “Flavor of the Month” certification course offer that others have not been teaching for many years (some for free)? A few extra alphabets behind my name that no one outside this industry understands or cares about? I made myself a promise this year, one I plan to keep! I’m saving my hard earned money I would have spent on all these new “Flavor of the Month” certifications and put it into networking events. I can only hope to recover the money I have lost over the last two years!

I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

Steve Adkins

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers

www.The-Adkins-Group

Hi Steve,

I really would like to see more input on this topic, and your right....it does need to be a standalone thread. I will give my heartfelt input as I know agents struggle with this daily. I have responded to this question on many similar forums and have yet to get any challenges so I will put it out once again.

RDCP cert through Default School is in my opinion still the most widely accepted REO certification and for anyone in our business, this should be the 1st certification an agent should spend money on. The reason is they were one of the 1st national programs out there for agents to use and be accepted universally. This cert is still a requirement to list any Wells Fargo (PAS) assignments. I only bring this to light because my first Wells Fargo closing is happening today….I know I know, PAS has been locked to new agents since I can remember but I got this listing through Select Portfolio on Dispo Solutions. I don’t know if it was a fluke or a back door in, but it is the only listing from them thus far and will more than pay for the cert over three years ago. I hope there will be more to come.

5 Star cert is another good one however it does not meet the Wells Fargo requirement and I do believe that was a big part of my decision to go with RDCP simply because it covered more lenders. I still believe it is the “Biggest Bang” for the buck.

With this being said, to not get certifications is not a wise move for anyone serious about REO and many large lenders have their own required training once you get in and some don’t require training at all and pick the agent with the most experience…..but what makes the companies that don’t require certifications pick an agent?

Now for the sake of anyone that is contemplating certification and is trying to get a feel for the value of it a much simpler approach to hours of research can be done. Simply look at the most successful REO brokers in your area and see what the letters are directly after their name. I say again…if anyone knows of a better, more universally accepted cert than RDCP, please put it out there.

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Comments

Tony Linton March 26, 2010 at 2:28am

Hi Steve,

I really would like to see more input on this topic, and your right....it does need to be a standalone thread. I will give my heartfelt input as I know agents struggle with this daily. I have responded to this question on many similar forums and have yet to get any challenges so I will put it out once again.

RDCP cert through Default School is in my opinion still the most widely accepted REO certification and for anyone in our business, this should be the 1st certification an agent should spend money on. The reason is they were one of the 1st national programs out there for agents to use and be accepted universally. This cert is still a requirement to list any Wells Fargo (PAS) assignments. I only bring this to light because my first Wells Fargo closing is happening today….I know I know, PAS has been locked to new agents since I can remember but I got this listing through Select Portfolio on Dispo Solutions. I don’t know if it was a fluke or a back door in, but it is the only listing from them thus far and will more than pay for the cert over three years ago. I hope there will be more to come.

5 Star cert is another good one however it does not meet the Wells Fargo requirement and I do believe that was a big part of my decision to go with RDCP simply because it covered more lenders. I still believe it is the “Biggest Bang” for the buck.

With this being said, to not get certifications is not a wise move for anyone serious about REO and many large lenders have their own required training once you get in and some don’t require training at all and pick the agent with the most experience…..but what makes the companies that don’t require certifications pick an agent?

Now for the sake of anyone that is contemplating certification and is trying to get a feel for the value of it a much simpler approach to hours of research can be done. Simply look at the most successful REO brokers in your area and see what the letters are directly after their name. I say again…if anyone knows of a better, more universally accepted cert than RDCP, please put it out there.
Steve Adkins March 25, 2010 at 5:09am

Thanks Albert! I too feel that education is key to be able to help your clients effectively...and sometimes the agents on the other side of the deal. We just need to be wiser in what classes we attend! And I have noticed the same thing, those who use to sell (and maybe lost thier clients or something) now teach to make money.
Albert W. Jackson March 24, 2010 at 6:59pm

I'm in complete agreement with your post here. It's almost as if every one who'd been in the industry over 5 years has up and decided to make supplemental income by going to the local associations selling classes. I too have decided to be a lot more cautious with chasing certs just to have them. In some cases I've went to some supposedly certificated courses, and found that they literally contradict or are exactly opposite of what's going on out in the field. Now in most cases I'm actually an advocate for one educating themselves, but in this case I'm seeing it's to hard to qualify how pertinent and instructive a course is just by looking at its flyer.

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