Investor · Fremont, CA · Member since 2015 · 210 posts · 124 votes
I am a do it yourself investor. Mostly single family home, buy and hold as passive activity. I was considering getting a SalesPerson license, mostly to allow me flexibility to
1. Write my own offers
2. Flexibility of not calling another agent if i want to see homes.
3. Use depreciation losses to offset the income - overcome limits of passive activity.
Depending on where you hold your license, there can be monthly, quarterly, yearly dues that can cost hundreds of dollars to maintain.
I am in California. Any idea of the cost involved for maintain license? I think reporting to licensing authority will not be problem. Only problem can be prohibitive cost that outweighs benefits.
Bakersfield, CA · Member since 2016 · 378 posts · 307 votes
5y
There is a lot more to it than most people take into account. There is a cost to the initial education requirements. I can't remember how much it was to take the salesperson education requirements, I took mine over 10 years ago, but you should look into that. Then, the dues. My local association costs me a couple hundred bucks a quarter, so that's nearly a thousand each year. You can call your local association and ask them what their due costs are. Also, you want to be able to open lockboxes to show yourself properties, right? That's an additional monthly cost (at least with my association). Then, you have to hang your license under a broker in order to use your license. Most agree to a split of your commission when you work under their license, some agree to only a monthly desk fee. If you aren't actually practicing regularly, but only using your license for your own occasional investment purchase, you might end up where the only type of broker that will accept you will be a desk fee type, which is another cost you should account for.
I'm not trying to talk you out of it. Run the numbers and see if it makes sense to you. In fact, like @Nick C. said, you could use this as an opportunity to get into practicing RE as a part time gig, making it financially worth it. All I'm saying is 90% of the time, it doesn't make financial sense to do what you are describing.
There is a lot more to it than most people take into account. There is a cost to the initial education requirements. I can't remember how much it was to take the salesperson education requirements, I took mine over 10 years ago, but you should look into that. Then, the dues. My local association costs me a couple hundred bucks a quarter, so that's nearly a thousand each year. You can call your local association and ask them what their due costs are. Also, you want to be able to open lockboxes to show yourself properties, right? That's an additional monthly cost (at least with my association). Then, you have to hang your license under a broker in order to use your license. Most agree to a split of your commission when you work under their license, some agree to only a monthly desk fee. If you aren't actually practicing regularly, but only using your license for your own occasional investment purchase, you might end up where the only type of broker that will accept you will be a desk fee type, which is another cost you should account for.
I'm not trying to talk you out of it. Run the numbers and see if it makes sense to you. In fact, like @Nick C. said, you could use this as an opportunity to get into practicing RE as a part time gig, making it financially worth it. All I'm saying is 90% of the time, it doesn't make financial sense to do what you are describing.
Thanks for the input. I definitely would like to try and take this up as part time gig. Will see how this goes.