Salesperson. The registration category most people start in. You are registered with the Real Estate Council of Ontario and employed by a registered brokerage, and you trade in real estate on that brokerage's behalf.

Broker. A further registration category reached after experience as a salesperson and additional education. Section seven covers it.

REALTOR. Not a government category at all. It is a trademark, and its use is tied to membership of an organized real estate association. Registration with RECO makes you a registered salesperson. Joining a real estate board and the associated provincial and national associations is what entitles you to use that term and gives you access to the board's systems, including the MLS system in your area.

The distinction is worth understanding before you start, because the two steps have separate requirements and separate ongoing obligations, and a page that treats them as one thing will mislead you about what is involved. Confirm the current membership requirements with the board that covers the area you intend to work in.

Registration education in Ontario is delivered through the Humber Real Estate Salesperson Program, and completing it is what satisfies RECO's education requirement.

The structure, in Humber's own terms: a registration education phase completed before you register, combining online learning with practical simulation sessions, and a post-registration phase completed afterwards.

The deadlines, which catch people out. Humber's guidance is that you complete the program within twenty four months, that you connect with a brokerage and apply for RECO registration within twelve months of finishing it, and that the post-registration phase is completed within twenty four months of registering.

Read that second deadline again, because it is the one people miss. Finishing the coursework starts a clock. If you complete the program and then spend a year deciding whether to go ahead, you can run out of time and be back at the start.

No costs appear here. Programme fees, RECO fees, board and association fees, insurance and the rest all change and vary. Get current figures from Humber, RECO and the board directly, and add them up before you commit rather than discovering them one at a time.

Registration requires a brokerage. You cannot be registered on your own, and that makes this a prerequisite rather than a decision you can defer.

It is also the decision that decides the most, and the one most new registrants make on the basis of the commission split alone. Ask these instead.

What training actually exists, and who delivers it? Not what the recruiting page claims. Ask to see the schedule, ask who runs it, and ask to speak to someone who joined within the last year.

Where does business come from in my first year? If the answer is your own sphere of contacts, that is a legitimate answer and you should plan accordingly. If the answer implies leads will be provided, ask exactly how many, on what terms, and what happens to the commission on them.

What are all the costs, monthly and annual? Desk fees, administration fees, technology, marketing, insurance, board and association dues. Ask for the complete list in writing. A favourable split with a long list of fees can cost more than a lower split without them.

Who actually supervises my first transactions? You will make mistakes in your first year. The question is whether someone catches them before they become a problem.

What happens if I leave? Ask before you join. The answer tells you a great deal about the organization, and it is far easier to ask now than to find out later.

The education continues after you register. Humber's guidance is that the post-registration phase must be completed within twenty four months of registering with RECO.

This is the part people underestimate, because it lands at exactly the moment you are busiest and least inclined to study: your first two years, when you are trying to build a business from nothing. Put the deadline in a calendar on the day you register rather than treating it as something to deal with later.

Beyond that, continuing education is an ongoing requirement for keeping your registration. Confirm the current cycle and requirements with RECO.

You are starting a business, not taking a job. There is no salary. Income is commission on completed transactions, which means there can be a long gap between starting work and being paid for it, and the gap is longest at the beginning when you have no pipeline.

Plan for the runway. The single most useful thing you can do before registering is work out how long you can cover your living costs with no income from this, and be honest about the number. People leave this business because they ran out of time, not because they were bad at it.

Costs continue whether or not you are earning. Brokerage fees, board and association dues, insurance, marketing, transport. These are monthly and they do not pause.

The work is mostly not what you expect. Showing property is a small fraction of it. The rest is prospecting, following up, paperwork, compliance, coordinating other professionals and solving problems that are not your fault. People who enjoy the first part and dislike the rest tend not to last.

Turnover in this industry is high, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something. A large share of people who register are no longer practising a few years later. That is not a reason to avoid it. It is a reason to go in with a plan, a runway and a brokerage that will actually train you.

No income figures appear here, deliberately. Any page quoting what you can earn is either averaging across people in completely different situations or is recruiting you. What you earn depends on your market, your effort, your network and how long you last, and nobody can forecast it for you. Speak to an accountant about how self-employment income and expenses work before you start.

1. Choosing a brokerage on the commission split alone. The split is one line in a longer calculation, and training and supervision are worth more in year one.

2. Finishing the course and then stalling. There is a deadline to register after completing the program. Stalling can send you back to the start.

3. Budgeting for the course and not for the rest. The program fee is one of several costs, and the recurring ones are what catch people.

4. Starting with no runway. The most common reason capable people leave.

5. Assuming leads will be provided. Ask exactly how many, on what terms, and what the commission arrangement is. Get it in writing.

6. Treating the regulatory rules as paperwork. Advertising, disclosure, representation and deposits are where new registrants get into trouble, and the regulator is active.

7. Not speaking to anyone who left. You will hear the honest version of this career from them and from nowhere else.