Should I Acquire my Real Estate License in PA?

Question

Hello Everyone,

I am 25 years old and I will be leaping into the real estate market within the next year with the purchase of my first property. I was curious to know if it's a good idea to obtain my real estate license to aid in me buying/selling/ and renting properties personally. Should I spend the time and the money to obtain this license or is it not really necessary for renting properties on the side? And if I should get it, through what route would you recommend obtaining the necessary education?

Any advice would be great, thank you so much for your time.

Nick Carelli

Account Closed · Answer

I'm anxious to see responses on this myself.

Dillon Loomis · Answer

@Nicholas Carelli Hey! I'm in a similar boat myself. My research thus far is leading me towards NOT getting my RE license now. It can be somewhat costly and could severely eat into any profit margins you're able to earn on your first few rentals. If you don't plan to buy and sell frequently you won't save much money on transactions and if you don't plan to hustle and sell a few homes here and there that also limits the benefits of having it.

The biggest plus I've come across is the access to the MLS (you can go and look at listed properties whenever you want). Down the road, once you have some solid cash flow and may want to expand, I feel as though at that point it may make sense - especially because I'm sure you do learn some valuable information in the course. But to spend around $1,000 up front and then $1,000/year to maintain it doesn't make sense for rookie investors focusing on buy and hold rental properties IMO. Best of luck!

Also, here is a solid read on the topic...

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2010/02/24/should-you-get-your-real-estate-license-investors/