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Can anyone recommend a tenant screening service? I only have a need to check 2 or 3 prospective tenants a year so I'm looking for somewhere I don't have to subscribe to. A quick phone call or e-mail with my prospective tenants information, give them my credit card number and get quick result.

Do you have to be a licensed realtor to subscribe to the MLS ? ...and how much does it cost to do so?

Yep...looking at attending the local real estate investment club later this month.

Thanks for your time! I appreciate the feedback.

Good points. I could see where some people may be turned off by the "appearance". Here's a few basic questions that will really determine if I need to get licensed :

My understanding is you must be a licensed realtor and a member of NAR to subscribe to the MLS ? I want to have direct access to the MLS myself so I can review properties on MY schedule and not rely on a realtor.

Are foreclosures even listed as such on the MLS? I am looking to find as close to a "one stop shop" for viewing foreclosures / distressed properties instead of having to view a half dozen, or more, bank web sites. I'm not afraid of some hard work, just trying to build the perfect beast and create a business plan where I work smart not hard. If there is nothing to indicate that they are "foreclosures" on the MLS, then I don't need direct access and that sort of kills one of my biggest reasons for getting my license.

Will I have ANY advantage being a realtor when approaching banks to discuss or bid on forclosures?

Lastly, do you see any benefits to attending the pre-licensing course simply for the knowledge? Or might I gain the same info from reading the course book or other related publications?

Thanks for the response.

I realize I don't HAVE to have my RE license - but for the reasons I mentioned I see benefits to going ahead and getting it.

I guess I should rephrase my question. Simply put - based on the business plan I outlined above - will having my RE license be a potential liability ?

After doing some reading on this forum and others I'm now on the fence as far as getting my real estate license. The arguments that most people seem to make is that as an invester there is far too much liability in being licensed. I consider my self an investor as I'm not interested in making a career out of just selling property but rather using the licensing process to gain more knowledge and have the OPTION to buy and sell for myself.

I'm looking to get some feedback on whether or not based on my business plan, I should get licensed...

In a nut shell I plan to seek out distressed properties thru various sources, (bank foreclosures, MLS, newspaper, networking, marketing, word of mouth etc etc) and then basically buy low, fix up..and sell high. Nothing new here.

My thinking WAS that by being licensed I would have a much better working knowledge of real estate transactions, easier access to property listings, and could market myself to all sellers as a legitimate, knowledgeable professionally licensed business owner. Not to mention the savings on realtor commissions.

But after reading some of the potential liability issues...now I wonder if I should just take the class for the knowledge and not open myself up to these risks.

Any thoughts ?

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