All Forum Posts by: Matt B.

Yes, that seems appropriate to me, assuming you are planning to use it within the next year. Be aware that you need to take Continuing Education (CE) courses every year if you wish to maintain your license, regardless of if your license is active or inactive. Figure about $100-200/year for CE courses depending on where you take them. 

I'm just going from memory, but you can find just about everything you need for certain on the IDFPR website. 

Your license can be "active" or it can be "inactive"

Active being you are using the license for licensed activities in IL this includes but is not limited to: Wholesaling, buying and selling RE, making referrals to other brokers and receiving a profit for it and maybe a few other things. When your license is active, you usually, but not always, have to pay some kind of annual fee/dues for the brokerage firm that is holding and sponsoring your licensed activities. To provide an example, maybe you'd pay $2000 annually, a portion of this would go to your brokerage and a portion would go to the IDFPR or Mainstreet (the two main organizations for realtors in IL). 

Your license can also be In-active. When it is in-active, you still maintain the license but cannot perform the listed licensed activities from above. you can place your license with a holding-company (I believe Mainstreet or the IDFPR can do this for you), in which case you will likely only have to pay maybe $25-50/month

Hope this helps.

i use My Real Estate Academy, I liked their classes and they had a very supportive staff. not sure about classes during this period however.

I'm just curious what makes you think you need to diversify with residential? I'm not opposed to residential, but with the cash flow you have you could diversify in a number of ways, some more active and some more passive than others. Things like Mortgage notes, Tax liens, Commercial properties, investing outside of the US, etc.

If I were in your position right now, I'd probably focus on 2 things:
1. Educating yourself before you make any rash investment decisions. If you are set on diversifying, choose a style that helps you reach your own goals. Compare the pros and cons of each style and do what makes sense for you.
2. Maintaining the portfolio you inherited (visiting these properties and learning why they've lost value and how you can improve them will teach you so much more than just reading a book. Not only that, but you will be making new relationships that may be able to assist in future ventures)

It always good to consult with a specialist on these matters. To my knowledge, you need to file all foreign owned bank accounts both business and personal when filing taxes as a US citizens. heres a link to IRS which discusses it in more detail. https://www.irs.gov/businesses...

Hi everybody, I'm looking to network with some contractors in the area. Planning to invest in Batavia, I grew up in the tri-city area myself and am very familiar with the marketplace. If you or someone you know is a quality contractor in this market, I welcome you to drop a message. Would love to learn about your business and how we may be able to work together on future deals. 

Thanks for reading & enjoy your weekend

I'm not a single female, but I'm in Shanghai. If you ever are in the area and wish to meet up for coffee and talk shop, just let me know.

Ive checked out Georgia as well, it looks like it has some potential. I'm still learning more about it though.

If you feel like you don't have value to add, I'd sugest learning more and figuring out what value you can add. Many RE investors have a 9-5, its a source of income none the less. Depending on what you are interested in doing, there are many jobs that you could obtain that are directly involved with real estate investing, in this way you still are working, but you are also learning and networking with similarly minded people. 

Another option would be volunteering to help a local investor in your area free of charge. Most people aren't going to deny free labor, and if you are truly motivated, I'm sure they will see this and will be happy to "mentor" you in one sense or another.

instead of focusing on what you CAN'T do because youre busy M-F 9-5, I'd focus more on what you CAN do with the remaining 128 hours in the week.

Best of Luck

Chicago REIA is a pretty active group in the area. Worth checking out.

Dual agency can be great. if you sign a dual agency agreement, then the agent is nothing more than the middle-man relaying messages between buyer and seller. . They basically have to step out of negotiations since they represent both parties. 

This means, if you want to make a low-ball offer, the agent just needs to relay your message, they can't (shouldnt be) advising the seller on whether or not its a good offer or not, because they wouldn't be representing your best interests. So for negotiating purposes it can be quite helpful.