Getting into the business as a Real Estate Agent (Discussion! let your thoughts be heard)
After college (Class of Texas A&M, 2013, Whoop!) I realized that in order to use my degree effectively, I'd need to get my Masters. After I decided that I didn't want to get into more debt, I decided to start doing what I was personally interested in and get into Real Estate Investing. In order to get into the business, I decided to work as an Agent, build cash reserves and immediately start building a rental portfolio.
So far, I've gotten my agents license in September and signed up with a virtual brokerage with one of my good friend's father who operates out of Dallas. Right now, I also have a second job, (to keep the lights on) at nights, so I have most of my mornings/afternoons free in order to hunt and work as an agent. I'm definitely going to see how far I can take this and will be updating my progress.
Current challenges/Questions:
-Getting MLS access. (My broker can't get me access to the Houston MLS system yet, because he has to sign up with them. I won't have access until the 10th of November. However, I don't want to sit around and twiddle my thumbs, so I'm going to be sending Direct mail ads (and follow up calls) to Probates and FSBO's. I hear the best deals are off market anyway, so hopefully I can pick up one of those.
-Deciding if I should stay with this broker. He gives me more Freedom to work, but less one on one training (due to distance). Plus, he doesn't understand that I want to work with investors. He mostly deals with commercial land contracts and has experience in residential. He has no bearing on the investor side of things though.
-Marketing with little cash. I don't work enough at my other job in order to give myself the cash I would need to do this on a decent scale. However, I don't thinking throwing money at a problem fixes it. I imagine I'll have more cashflow crunch times. I gotta learn to be flexible.