Real Estate License?
I took the real estate course as a primer to start investing, particularly regarding laws in my state. Now I am sitting on the wall as to whether I should go ahead and get my license or not. I have heard views from boths sides, but the problems is that those were people I knew personally. Can you folks offer me some objective feedback. Tomorrow is my last day of class and was hoping to decide before I go there tomorrow and schedule the test.
Thanks in advance.
you don't need one to be successful at this. With it you get perks, but then again, it depends on what area of rei you want to go into. Figure out what area you want to go into, study it, know it, and determine if a liscense will benefit you.
The only hurdle that may play is sometimes people will call and ask, "Are you a realtor?" and of course I say no but I do believe if you have a liscense you have to disclose certain information. People these days hate realtor's and get turned off by them. But, like I said, figure out which area you want to get into, determine if you can benefit from it enormously, if you can, get it.
plenty of properties out there....3% extra for you...just an idea.
like I said, it depends on how you buy and sell your houses.
I'm a sub2 person so no commissions are paid
I am getting my Broker license mainly because I want to have my own company and put a "Realtor" sign in the yard. After two years as a realtor I have found that there are many people who are not comfortable dealing with FSBO's. They want a Realtor to write the contract and make everything work with the closing, title company etc. I want to sell my houses myself and save the commission but more important I want the buyers to feel that I know what I'm doing. I don't know what the laws are in your state but in Wisconsin, if you sell more than 5 properties in one year or more than 10 in ten years you must have a Brokers license. Also, if you only have your real estate "sales" license and not your brokers license you can't sell real estate as a Realtor unless you are working for a broker in their company. If you only get your sales license you will still be considered only a private individual doing a For Sale By Owner. I found also that getting your license doesn't prepare you for the "real World" of selling real estate and the problem situations you may face. Only time in the business does that. One more point here is that if you become licensed and sell as a broker/realtor, you will have more liability. The courts will hold you to a higher standard if there is a conflict and you could be subject to state disipline etc. There is a lot to consider.
There are positives and negatives to having your license. But they can also slow your investments down also due to all the things you will be doing for your clients and not having the time to concentrate on what you are trying to accomplish. There are lots of different fees to pay such as local REALTOR dues, MLS fees, advertising your listings,and a few others. About the only good thing about it would be the access to the MLS, But if you are serious about investing you can hook up with a good REALTOR that will give you anything you want from the MLS as long as you keep in contact with them and don't try to screw them of their comission when they deserve one. And return their calls even if it is just to say that you didn't see anything of interest at that point. Then they will look for others that might fit your description better. Also try and stay with just one REALTOR or they will not work for you as hard if at all. Just my .02
Realtor fees and dues are not mandatory, only an option for more perks etc. MLS in nice to have but it costs 30.00 a month. Thats kind of expensive unless you are buying and selling properties on a really regular basis. Most realtors have web sites. some of them have all listed house in the county on their sites so it's pretty easy to find the listed stuff.
Hate to correct you but REALTOR fees are mandatory if you want to be a REALTOR. If not you are just a licensed agent with none of the perks really. MLS here in NC is like 120.00 every 3 months. And you have to be a REALTOR to get on the MLS not just a licensed salesperson. Most REALTOR sites are not updated regularly either so alot of the time the deals on there are gone by the time you see them.
I think the response that came first was most direct. Decide what you want to do and then ask " is a license going to be a benefit to me?" I know millionaire investors that have done it both ways.
If you are concentrating on short sales and reo properties, or building your own homes it would definately be plus in my opinion.
There are some fees but they vary from state to state.
REMAx in some states will let you hang your license there and use the MLS for $100 per month, no broker split.
Having gone through the training you could "try it for awhile" and if you don't find it to be a beni then let the license lapse.
[addsig]
Great info on this!! I was just planning on getting my Real Estate License to be able to get access to the MLS to find leads as well as educate myself with the laws and terms of real estate in the state of CA. 3 to 6% sounds good to me to start since Im a newbie, then with the knowledge move on to Sub2, but in my opinion I belive you can never have enough knowledge of the feild you working in. I hope Im on the right track. Thanks everyone!!
The best way to look at it this way. Do you want to be a realtor full time, and investor part time? or a full time investor and a part time realtor?
If your going for realty full time, get the licence, if not, I'd say no, only because there are certain rules and guidelines you need to obey as one, where as an investor, you can go around them.
[addsig]
Get the license. Most don't use it. The attrition rate is horrendous. But,, you will learn more about what NOT to do and that could save you a fortune in legal fees-and grief.
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It doesn't hurt to be held to a "higher standard". I think everyone should want that , Realtor or not.
Most Realtors, sadly enough, just work for tips. That's not how we investors enrich ourselves.
thank you all for the great information. I am not looking to work as a realtor at all. I took the class and was wondering if I should just to have something to fall bak on should my job go the way of the samurai, but not sure I would make enough as a starting agent to survive anyway. My goal is to be a full time investor (eventually).
Thanks to everyone who replied on here. The original question was one I was going to ask also and this has been very helpful. I think I am going to go ahead and get my license just to see how that goes, but I suspect I am going to find that my real interests lie in investment. Now, if I only had some idea what to do. Lol. I'd be happy to be able to get into a chat.
In any event, here is my situation: I recently moved to WA from NY and just happened to fall into an area that is currently undergoing what most realtors around here call the biggest real estate boom ever. I am living about 14 miles north of Bellingham and about 44 miles south of Vancouver B.C. in a little town called Custer.
I still have a business back in NY (used car dealership - please don't hate me for that) as well as a 68 year old Mom which means that I need to fly back there occasionally. Because of this, I wanted to find something to do with a good deal of flexibility. A friend suggested I get into real estate. I have passed the course and will be taking the state exam on 12/17.
I have a regular paycheck coming from NY, but like everyone else, can always use more. I am renting a house (for a year) and looking for something to buy. Unfortunately, prices are skyrocketing right now. By the same token, they aren’t going to drop for a very long time if ever, so if I am going to act, it needs to be soon. I suppose this puts me in a rather “bittersweet” position.
There seem to be a lot of good property management companies in this area and one of the things I thought I would try is rental properties. I have some experience in this back east, but not a lot of good ones (with tenants, anyhow). I thought that being in Real Estate might give me a good edge at finding properties, but want to be sure I do everything ethically. Apparently the answer there is simple…disclose, disclose, disclose.
I have about $10,000 to $12,000 cash to play with right now and continue to try and liquidate all I can back east to add to that.
I want to get started as soon as possible in REI. I also need to find a place for myself and my family to live in. I am not too crazy about the notion of living in a duplex (or more), but that may be a good way for me to get started. As I understand it, there is a lot better chance of getting financing on owner occupied. At the same time, I assume there would be no harm in picking up other properties of value if something were to come along.
Jeff
I got my license about 6 months ago and here are my thoughts. I don't mess with houses. The prices and commissions are just terribly low and not worth my time, in my opinion. What I do with my license is work with big properties....raw development land in the $1 million to $5 million range. The commissions are much bigger though they are slower. The commissions become investment money. DOing it this way I work with properties I can't possibly afford myself and the commissions are great. If you go this route the money is good and it is fun.