She's a Principal Broker!

As Beth’s husband, partner, and hype man of over 20 years, I’ve been able to watch Beth grow and evolve in many ways, both personally and professionally. When it comes to her real estate practice, the growth and evolution is constant through continuing education, experience with every transaction, connecting and learning through her peers, and via her constant interest and excitement in real estate, architecture, design, and working with people. Recently Beth undertook one of the largest growth periods I’ve witnessed so far: SHE GOT HER PRINCIPAL BROKER LICENSE! I am so exceptionally proud of her that I offered to write this post to do two things: explain to everyone why a principal broker license is so amazing and to brag about Beth.

Beth ready for real estate work in 2009!

Beth has been practicing real estate for 14 years now as a licensed real estate broker in the state of Oregon. 7 years ago, Beth also got her real estate broker license in the state of Washington. She did this as she noticed more and more people were going across the river into Vancouver and the surrounding area for various reasons (price, taxes, etc.). These licenses are the standard licenses that all real estate brokers need to have to practice real estate in their respective states (each state has their own licensing requirements and you must be licensed in each state you practice in). In Oregon, there are 19,000 real estate brokers that are licensed. Many of those maintain their license, but many do not practice real estate full time.

In Oregon, the highest level of licensure you can get is Principal Broker. Only a small number of real estate brokers in Oregon are Principal Brokers. This is due to the large amount of knowledge, experience, and drive you must have about the industry. The knowledge ranges from contracts to property rights to agency. It’s information that is less frequently used, but is required within the industry from time to time. The more knowledge you have, the more well rounded you are.

In order to become a Principal Broker, you must first be a licensed real estate broker. Check. Next, it’s time to study. This is done through an online course (paired with a textbook) that takes 30 hours. It’s even timed to ensure that you spent those many hours studying. Finally, after weeks and weeks of studying, there is an exam. This exam is proctored, which means that someone watches you take the test to ensure you don’t cheat.  There are two parts of the test, National and State. The kicker is that this is a closed book test! Once passed, you are now a Principal Broker.

Brokers typically become Principal Brokers to run their own brokerage or to lead a branch of an existing brokerage. They are the top dog that supervises all the brokers within that office. They review contract documents, mentor brokers within the office, and are available for questions as they come up with broker’s transactions. Over the years, Beth has worked under many Principal Brokers (some great, some not so great) and has found them, for the most part, an invaluable resource. 

You’re probably thinking to yourself, Is Beth starting her own brokerage? The answer is no, not at this time. She loves working with clients too much to give that up for running an office. So why did she go through all this effort in order to become a Principal Broker? She did it to better serve her clients! This is the part where I want to brag. 

Beth has always astounded me in the way that she works for her clients. She is a wonderful listener in regards to her clients’ needs, wants, and dreams, then she does everything in her power to deliver on those. She is an unparalleled advocate for her clients. This has helped her to get clients into their first starter home, into buying a farm with acreage, acquiring bare land for development, or settling clients into their forever home. She never has her own agenda for her clients, but is a great extension of her clients. 

Now that she is a Principal Broker, she can now advocate for her clients in a much broader sense. No matter what your needs, wants, or dreams are, Beth is fully prepared to bring those into reality. Beth has, and continues, to want to serve a wide range of clients rather than focus on a specialty. She continues to grow and evolve to better serve her clients.

What will Beth do next? I’m not sure, but I’m excited to witness it!

Schuyler Silva

Hype man