All Forum Posts by: Braden Smith

I would do the 1 month. That is what I did. It counts for the 90 hours.

Hi @Jeremy Mckenzie

Wholesaling is just the assigning of a contract in essence. Assigning a contract is perfectly legal in Louisiana. The issue many wholesalers run into is with the marketing of the property. By law you may not publicly market a property for sale that you do not own without a real estate license. To do it correctly, you should have a private buyer list that you market to. If you post properties for sale that you have under contract but do not own, you are then practicing real estate without a license. The Louisiana Real Estate Commission (LREC) is currently reviewing this situation in Louisiana and will be passing legislation related to this soon. Wholesaling is frowned upon by LREC, but if it is done correctly you have nothing to be concerned with.

You can read the actual law here:  http://www.lrec.state.la.us/pages/license-law-upda...

Here is a link to a newsletter from LREC regarding the subject:  http://www.lrec.state.la.us/files/March2015.pdf

The part of the newsletter related to wholesaling is as follows:

"According to Louisiana license law, real estate activity that requires licensure is defined as any activity relating to any portion of a real estate transaction performed for another by any person, for a fee commission or with the expectation to receive valuable consideration for services.

The LREC has recently received numerous inquiries regarding unlicensed real estate activity. Due to proliferation of different business models wherein a real estate license may not be required, the LREC's Strategic Plan Committee has directed the LREC staff to review all licensing laws and rules that relate to licensure requirements. The results of this review will be considered by the committee when finalizing the LREC's strategic plan.

Louisiana licensing law provides that a license is not required for any person or corporation who, individually or through an employee or representative, performs acts of ownership with reference to property they own. As an employee or representative of an owner, a person can act on their behalf without a license. However, if the employee or representative works for more than one owner or entity, they would then need to be licensed.

Attorneys must be licensed to receive a commission or fee except for payment of services on behalf of a client required in the normal course of other legal representation.

A person employed and supervised by a licensed real estate broker to conduct property management functions would not be required to be licensed. The salaried employee may receive lease applications, security deposits, rental payments, show rental units and execute leases. The execution of a management agreement must be conducted by a person who is licensed.

An individual may conduct auctions of real estate without a real estate license if he is properly licensed by the Louisiana Auctioneer Licensing Board.

The LREC has the authority, by law, to issue subpoenas, and may impose a civil penalty of no more than $5,000 upon any unlicensed person who, after a hearing is found to have engaged in real estate activity without the benefit of a currently valid license.

In addition, the LREC may assess costs and attorney fees against the unlicensed person found to have been engaged in real estate activity without a current license.

No person engaged in real estate activity without a currently valid license shall have the right to receive any compensation for services so rendered. In addition to any other penalties imposed under R.S. 37:1455 and 1458, the commission may require that any person engaged in real estate activity without a license return any fees collected for engaging in real estate activity."

Hope that helps and answers your question.

Hi @Brian Winders

I would recommend using Donaldson. I used them when I got my license and did the whole pre-licensing course online. Once that is done, then you just have to go take the exams at a testing center. 

You can see their website here: http://donaldsoneducation.com/html/frontpage.php

Kind regards,

Braden

I would check out NOREIA and attend their meetings.

See here:  http://neworleansreia.com/

Hi @Haider Hamoudi

There are plenty of people who wholesale in the Greater New Orleans Area. If anything there are too many people doing it or trying to do it these days. The number of wholesalers in our area has just about quadrupled in the last 2 years due to all the national real estate investing gurus coming here non-stop for the last couple of years doing their seminars. They all tell everyone to start off wholesaling so this has created an overabundance of wholesalers. 

Our market has become saturated with investors of all kinds and it is becoming harder and harder to find good deals. It has gotten to the point where you just can't find a good deal on the MLS anymore and even many of the wholesale deals out there are not that good of deals anymore because everyone is trying to squeeze as much as they can out of every deal and/or jumping on a daisy chain where everyone is trying to get a piece of the action.

I'm not trying to discourage you, but be ready for some stiff competition out there! It's gotten to the point where potential sellers are getting 10, 12, 15 pieces of mail or more every month... I've seen picture of mail spread out across a table from a one month period with this many mailers hitting the same house and they are all sending the same thing or something similar. So if you plan to do any direct mail marketing, you need to think outside the box and do things differently.

As far as what contracts to use... contact David Birdsong at Gulf South Title. He is an investor friendly title attorney and the president of NOREIA.

Hope this info helps!

Regards,

Braden

Hi @Jim Tiernan. I'm an investor friendly Realtor here in the New Orleans area. Our real estate market is extremely strong here and so is the competition, which is driving up prices. Our market has become saturated with investors and the national gurus having been coming here doing their seminars non-stop for the past year or two making the situation worse as many, many more wannabes enter the market. It is getting harder and harder to find a good deal and margins are being squeezed tighter and tighter. There are still areas where deals are to be found, but warehouse district, french quarter and marigny/bywater areas are at a premium. You won't find any good deals in those areas and if you want to invest in those areas be prepared to spend top dollar. Our rental market is seeing massive demand all over the city. More and more space is being built to keep up with demand, but rentals are at over 95% occupancy. They fill up as fast as they can be built. If you have any other questions or just want to chat feel free to reach out anytime.

Hi @Anthony H. and welcome to BP! I'm a local Realtor who works with several local investors and builders. I'm what you call and investor savvy Realtor. If I can be of assistance to you in your endeavors feel free to reach out, even if you just have some questions about the market. Good luck!

If you are looking for a good CPA I recommend:

Charles F. Muller, CPA

3912 North Labarre Rd.

Metairie, LA, 70002

Phone: (504) 957-3010

[email protected]

http://cmullercpa.com/

Let him know I referred you. He works with a number of real estate investors and has helped them save tremendous amounts of money.

If you are looking for a good real estate attorney I recommend:

David W. Birdsong, Attorney at Law

Gulf South Title

[email protected]

(504) 780-9202

Hope that helps! Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Get a good CPA if you don't already have one. They are an invaluable resource to all real estate professionals. I highly recommend NOT filing your taxes without the expert guidance of a CPA knowledgeable in all things real estate related. Since you are in Baton Rouge try Liz DeCuir. She is a great CPA and an investor herself so she definitely knows taxes for investors. Contact number -  (225) 610-6108  Email - [email protected]

You should also check out the investor group there in Baton Rouge if you have not - http://www.meetup.com/the-ring/ 

@Joseph Danehower I'm a local Realtor and investor in New Orleans who works with many local investors. You are right about the market being very competitive, especially on distressed properties. You can thank all the real estate investment "gurus" for that. They have been coming to Louisiana non-stop for the last couple of years with their seminars and have now created a plethora of wannabe investors who have no idea what they are doing. They are driving prices up by bidding with each other and paying too much for properties, and in turn ruining the investment game for those that do know what they are doing. It is pretty much impossible to find a good deal on the MLS at this point and very difficult to even find a good deal off market with all the so called wholesalers out there trying to make huge spreads and others jumping on the daisy chain with mark up after mark up. Im afraid our market has reached a point of complete saturation as far as investors are concerned. Too many people trying to make buck off the same people and properties.