Pros and Cons to becoming an agent for real estate investing
Rental Property Investor · West Monroe, LA · Member since 2020 · 3 posts · 0 votes
Pros and Cons to becoming an agent for real estate investing
3 Replies
- 5yShawn McenteerBusiness MemberRealtor · Boonton Township, NJ · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
best advice is become committed, we all start out interested. Once interest turns to commitment real estate becomes a game change. Regarding gettin your license, its whatever you make of it. I personally started with having a licenses and it is has saved us 10's of thousands of dollars and time. Having a licenses allowed me to literally view over 100 MFR in a few months prior to put an offer in on our first property. Do you need a license, absolutely not. I also wanted to help friends an family find properties when first starting so commission was great. What do you out of a license?
House Hacking New Jersey561 Reviews - Rental Property Investor · West Monroe, LA · Member since 2020 · 3 posts · 0 votes5y
@Shawn Mcenteer
Thank you so much for the input! I was hoping to not only save money when purchasing or selling a property, but also use the classes to help me get more versed in the lingo, options when it comes to finding deals, and even going look at properties without having to get an agent involved.
- Real Estate Broker · Coppell, TX · Member since 2011 · 5k+ posts · 4k+ votes5y
@Robin Romero If you are an active real estate agent, you may have a better idea of prices, pricing, and what people want. You may know more about real estate because you are in and around it every day. Potentially you can save some money on buys and sells depending on your brokerage. Some don't allow you to sell your own listings, so you may not save money there. My guess is you might know more about contracts if you take the class and practice that. You might also get access to the forms software, which you can set up templates and generate offers faster.
On the downside you will be held to a higher standard.....your broker may want to review your contracts. If you screw things up...well you should have know better.....you're not just a rouge wholesaler, you are a professional licensed person. For some people that's like a handyman or DIY doing electrical and plumbing, vs a licensed master electrician or plumber doing the work. I think there is an opportunity for wholesaling if you have a licenses, but may be much more limited. It's kind of tough for you to go in and say I'll give you X, but you want to sell it for Y. Invariably, you buy the house for $50,000 and sell it for $100,000 as a good wholesaler would and the family sues you and your broker for ripping off and taking advantage of grandma. Maybe it was justified, but when you're explaining that to a judge, it smells bad. Maybe you and your broker can come up with options....I can buy cash today for $50,000, or you can list with me for $100,000 and we should be sold in 2-3 months or whatever timeframe. Here's what happens if you take $50,000....no inspection, no appraisal, no showings, no hassle, no repairs, no delays...you get your cash today, vs if we list, chances are we will get you more money, but you have 100 people coming thru your home, likely it will take 30-60 days to close, the buyer may want you to arrange for repairs and pay for them. We never know where appraisal will come out, so that could cause delays...sometimes people can't close, etc, so there can be frustrations. Which one do you want to do, option 1 or 2...and ask if there is anyone else that should be involved in the decision...so you have agreement and buy in from anyone and everyone that might have a concern. If you're not licensed, you maybe don't need to go thru all that.
I think it also depends on how many houses you will buy each year. If like many investors you buy one house every year or two...it does cost you lots of time and money to be a part time agent who is not busy....you're paying for lots of things....CE classes, classes, office dues, MLS dues, key card dues, forms software, license fees, renewal fees, and on and on....and for plenty of people not really active enough to be competent. If you're buying one a month and helping 2-3 other buyers/sellers/month then you're active and it's probably worth the time and effort.
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