WHICH DIRECTION WOULD YOU TAKE?

Question

Hello Community,

Currently i'm in the US Air force and i'm enrolling in a real estate school called Allied Business School. I get out of the military January 10, 2009 and i would lilke to persue real estate (wholesaling, investing, property management, etc.) part-time, moving into full time, hopefully in which i have no doubt that i can do it!

My problem is i want my real estate license at least a month before i get out (the real estate company that i intern for requires it and it would be a good addtion under my belt) so that i can really be put to work as a licensed agent before i get out and to get some experience. The military will be paying for the school but they will only pay for ONE certificate at all while i'm in the Air Force AND including with my GI bill when i get out.

My situation is the school that i will be enrolling into (100% free due to the military) has a program that they offer since the military will only pay for ONE certificate, i can take their property management and small business management course first (an 18 week course but it's self paced and they told me people usually finish in 2 1/2 mths) then they will waive the course fee for the real estate sales (since military won't pay for property management and real estate sales certificates) and i can take it after i complete the PM and small bus. course. Well, people tell me that most people finish the real estate sales course in about a month. My other option is to take real estate sales and small bus, with the military paying for it and i would have to come out of pocket for the property management which is like $1200. Well i'm trying to get the most out of my tuition assisstance with the military but i also want to have my license before i get out. I want to have PM certification too and have more education under my belt. I know i should have done these courses in the beginning of the year, but i was listening to other people who said it's a waste of time to become licensed if i want to mainly wholesale and invest, investors don't deal with agents so why become one, the agents way of thinking about real estate investing is clueless and you will be taught the wrong ways, and other mixed opinions feelings that i received. I've came to my own conclusion that being licensed would'nt hurt me, i can receive my own commissions, and plus it's free education for me so why not?

To all ,which route would you personally take? Also my schedule at work and home allows me to be able to finish my work before the 18 wks course and 63 hrs course but i'm not superwoman. I'm very motivated to get this done and i wouldn't have a problem getting the work done early. Please give me your thoughts about what should do given that i want my license before i get out.  I'm putting this question on some other REI forums that i'm a part of as well.Any responses would be appreciated, Thanks.

Adam Spears · Answer

Hi Ashley,

I did the exact same thing you are wanting to do.  I attended Allied schools for Home inspection, Real Estate Practices, and Real Estate Principles.  The Air Force paid for all of the above with the one time certificate program and now I am using my MGIB for business management.  I don't know what you plan to use the MGIB for but I wanted to do the same thing and found this to be the best approach.  I am now attending Columbia Southern University which offers 100% online courses in Business w/various concentrations and they accept you MGIB..you can also apply for student loans through them.  I got my CA Real Estate License shortly after leaving the Air Force (remember you will have to pay for this) I would reccommend it because there is a lot of information you can pick up and the MLS is a very valuable tool.  Not to mention you can save yourself atleast half of the commission on every transaction.  I have found that a lot of Realtors are not very Investor minded.  One thing to remember is that once you are licensed you must disclose that before any deal you enter into, so be careful and know what disclosures and rules are out there for Realtors!  Hope this helps.

Michael Rossi · Answer

I don't honestly know what the question is here.  You said that people typically complete the PM and small business management course in about 2 1/2 months and that the real estate course takes about a month.  That's 3 1/2 months and this is Aug 15th.  If you hustle, you can easily have everything done by the end of November - well before you get out of the military.

So, what are you waiting for???  If you would have started today, you would be one day closer to being done!!!

Good Luck,

Mike

Jason Hanson · Answer

I would not get my license if I were you. It's not necessary and will most likely be a burden to you. If you are trying to become a real estate investor and not an agent, then don't get your license.

Also, most agents (about 99.999999999%) don't know the first thing about real estate investing and these are not the people you want to learn from.

I would research everything you can on this forum, go to the library and learn everything you can about creative real estate investing.