Real Estate Agent or Investor?

Question

I have a friend who's a savy realtor; someone who thinks out of the box and seems to have a good pulse on market. I've used him when I needed to see potential investment properties

He recently offered me to join his team the he's forming as he's getting very busy and needs more manpower.

QUESTION for you guys is, does it make any sence from an investor standpoint to get a RE licence and use that as a method to see houses for my own investment.

Jennifer Lee · Answer

I am an investor that got my license.  I didn't mind being an agent ;p

Like you I wanted to use the license as a TOOL.  The key to find a brokerage that fits u.

Here is my 2 cents. You can read my posts through my journey, BP was my catalyst. I am on my 4yr as realtor and 15 yrs in investing.

I will list the UNEXPECTED BENEFIT of my license:

1.  With BP and my License, I went from transacting 1 property every 2-5 yrs, to 1 a year and 3 last year. With more experience, come faster decision making and less fear.

2.  I am a cash buyer, so when I run out of funds, I used to have to discipline myself to STOP looking (Opportunity Cost).  But now with my license, if I can't do it myself, I try to pass it on to my investors.  And run the deal analysis with their eyes.

3. I am very conservative, but my investors runs the gambit.  So with my license I can be involved and see the decision making of investor with more risk tolerance, with bigger fund pools ;p  This is PRICELESS part of being an investor friendly agent.

4. I Became a Foreclosure Specialist and Commercial Agent.  My Network of vendors and specialist grew exponentially.

5.  I learnt to VET my investors, they are all different, so there isn't a lot of instances where they will bid the same property. OR even anaylsis the deal the same way.  IF they are interested in the same deal, it's usually a NO BRAINER, and ALL OF PITTSBURGH is bidding on it ;p