Hello fron NJ, in beginning stages of researching real eatate investing, i see being a realtor or a realtor assistant, to have access to MLS seems very important. All state laws differ a little it seems. I am not positive but i see that in NJ you have to actually work for/through a broker office to even carry the license or be able to recieve it. Does anyone know if this is the case. Also i would thing an investor having a realtor license would be a conflict of intrest in many ways.

Hey @Jason Lippe . You are correct, you must have your license in order to have access to the MLS. However, if you build a good relationship with an agent with their own access, it's possible for them to give that access to you as well. But in general the best way to get access to get a license yourself.

@Jason Lippe

Yes. In order get direct access to the MLS, you need to have a license and hang it with a managing broker.

There's no conflict of interest between being an investor and having a license. Many investors have them and many real estate agents invest.

Depending on the area you are in, the MLS gets syndicated to public websites. You're not going to get too much more information than what'a publicly available. I often do searches on Realtor and Zillow since the MLS doesn't include office exclusives, preforeclosures, auctions, or FSBOs.

Thank you for the responses, i am just trying to get started in investing and learning all i can about real estate. I currently cannot justify $1000's of dollars in fees to have the MLS access personally. I know there are more precise/accurate numbers in the MLS from what i am hearing, but until i can get a deal or two under my belt and get going i do not see the absolute value in it. For now i am thinking i can lean on my realtor to help me assess potential deals and give me what i need in regards to numbers. Your thoughts on going about it that way for now?

@Jason Lippe Real Estate investing consists of lots of different fields. I don't think you have specified yet what exactly you want to do in real estate. There is Fix and Flip, Wholesale, Single Family, Multi family, Notes, Buy and Hold, Mobile, Office, Construction, ... etc. Depending on which field you chose, you might not might not need MLS. But at first you need to determine which area of Real Estate you are targeting to build knowledge in.

If you are really just getting started, I would suggest to listen to the Podcasts on BP so you can get a feel for your actual area of interest. Then based on that, I would start going in depth into one or two of those areas. Until then, I wouldn't recommend you to spend money on MLS.

I forgot to mention that i am interested in starting with house flipping, and maybe moving into some rentals depending on how it goes. I feel like i am in a great area for it, one that is growing at least slowly with new and expanding businesses. There are a decent amount of foreclosures, short sales, and regular properties for sale currently. Some in need of major repair, some that just need freshening up. I want to start small with properties that just might need a face lift, and then move into more complex deals if they can be priced right with potential for profit. Anyway, i appreciate the replies and info, i want to gather as much as i can from experienced people and try to limit my mistakes and try to get the correct info. I will get my first deal and learn from experience, its the only way to learn in my opinion, just gotta be smart and patient. Thanks again all!