Teens soon become qualified in real estate

You can study everything from law to art at secondary school - and now, real estate.
In a move to entice more young people into the industry, Real ITO, the sector's industry training organisation, is working with the Real Estate Institute on level 2 and 3 qualifications for secondary school students, which it hopes will be available from late next year. The move has been welcomed by two of Tauranga's youngest real estate agents Nikki Stone and Rodney Fong, both 27.
The pair, who work at LJ Hooker, both started in the business at 23. Miss Stone said age was no barrier to selling houses and praised Real ITO's initiative.
"In Australia there's a lot of 18-year-olds doing really well. They're some of the top agents and the top earners so I don't see it being a problem.
Mr Fong, who became interested in real estate after buying his first rental at 22, said it was "great" students were able to pursue a career at school.
"Housing affects everybody, whether you're an owner or a tenant, it's irrelevant of age."
However, one school principal wasn't overly convinced.
Principal of Mount Maunganui College Terry Collett said his school would not be looking at offering courses in real estate.
"Apart from our curriculum already being very full, these requests for new courses always seem to come from an interest group who think schools can pick them up quite easily.
"I think real estate is one of those careers that people will pick up after they have had a little bit of life experience post secondary school, rather than enter it at the age of 16 to 18 years."
Mr Collett said he wasn't sure how he'd feel investing in $400,000 to $500,000 worth of property through a 17-year-old.
Real ITO said the aim of the course was to offer students unit standards which will result in them getting a national qualification in property. Details are yet to be finalised.
The qualification is intended as a stepping stone and will not be enough to let teenagers start selling homes.
Real ITO chief executive Lesley Southwick said more than 17,000 people were licensed to work in real estate offices around the country but virtually all entered as adults from a previous job.
Principal of Otumoetai College Dave Randell said offering real estate at school "had merit".
"It's another avenue to exposing our young people to the real world ... I think they'd be a number of students in school who would be interested in that sort of thing."