All Forum Posts by: Tanya S.

Being a great agent for others is incredibly time consuming when you already have a full-time job and family commitments. What are your goals? Are you looking to just try it out to see if you like it? Are you trying to transition away from your current position into ft real estate sales? 

If you are looking just to do your own deals, you might try Fairfax or Samson, both of which have very favorable commission splits for investors (generally 100% minus a flat fee). More traditional brokerages can vary in their commission splits (I found 70/30 or 60/40 for super newbies fairly standard when I was looking at brokerages to join). 

I never expected my brokerage to give me leads, as I was not planning to be a traditional agent. Since I had bought and sold quite a few of my own properties already and was comfortable with the contracts and the process, it wasn't too much of a stretch for me to help others buy properties. I've relied on both my broker and a good settlement attorney to help me with any sticky contract questions and take classes whenever when I can. NVAR has a bunch and most brokerages do too. 

Your best source of leads are within your own circle of influence - close family and friends already trust you and will ask you to help them. This has been my case, and it has worked out well, as with the full-time job and my own properties, I don't really want to handle more than a few clients at a time. Good luck!

Hi @Johnette B. I did my RE course at the KW in Arlington and really liked them, but decided to go with Fairfax Realty in Falls Church due to the better commission splits. It's a brokerage for the self-motivated. If you need the support and team atmosphere to help push you to that next level, then KW is probably more up your alley. Since I have a full-time job already and was primarily getting the license to buy and sell my own property, Fairfax was the best choice for me and I have been happy there.

Hey Brian! Missing you guys at the Saturday meetup in Fairfax now that I'm back in Italy. I imagine the group is slowly getting bigger?

If you PM me the address, I'll run some comps for you when I have a moment over the weekend. 

Welcome back @Dave Madden The best month to buy is when you find something you like on the market! Competition is already tough out there, since inventory is low. I offered on a place last week in Arlington only to be competing with 10 other offers. Put in an offer yesterday on a townhouse in the $600k range for a client and there were two other offers - seller went with the all cash offer. Be mentally prepared to move quickly on a property you like, otherwise you may lose it. Welcome to NoVA and good luck with the house hunt!

Hi @Charles Huang - I'm in town and should be able to stop by. Just double checking that the next meet up will be March 11 and the start time is 8:30 am, not pm?

Ha! Editing my post as I just saw your announcement at the top of the page. The early bird catches the worm...

@Yoram Aharony Curious if you got your administrative troubles sorted out with Cenlar? My loan was transferred to them shortly after I bought one property in 2014, and it has been a nightmare since. They did all of the loan calculations wrong, did not transfer money paid at closing to set up the escrow account, and then sold my loan to Suntrust, claiming I was in arrears when they had not properly credited  money I had paid at closing to set up the escrow account. I'm still fighting with them 6 months after the transfer - after they managed to close my online account so I can't see any of the paperwork online anymore. To add insult to injury, they didn't even mail me my 1098 int form for 2016. Sigh.... Hoping you were able to resolve your issues? If so, what worked for you? At this point, I will be filing a complaint with the CFPB, but not sure they will even respond to that. Worst servicing company ever.

$3100 for a 4br/2.5ba 1,800 sq ft SFH in N Arlington, VA.

I could probably charge up to $3800 if I renovated the house (esp bathrooms and the kitchen), since it's in a highly sought after school district.  I'll get around to it eventually, but it's a sweet deal for my millennial post-college tenants and low maintenance for me. Also, given the price of renovations in the DC area these days, it makes more sense for me to just buy another property. 

@Russell Brazil Curious where and what kind of property your $2800/mo rental is?

I was also considering doing an MBA at some point and found the cost-benefit analysis just didn't add up for me. For the exorbitant price of the degree and the corresponding costs associated with being out of the workforce, I felt I could get the same or better education through a combination of real world experience + taking real-estate focused classes through RE associations. Check out classes offered through www.naiop.org, www.ccim.com, or http://uli.org for example.  

Another option you might consider is an MA program in real estate. They are loads cheaper than an MBA and have much more flexible schedules for people with full-time jobs, so you don't need to quit your W2 income stream. During my research on degrees, I found a couple blogs that were very helpful in comparing MA real estate programs with an MBA. 

Both of these guys did their masters in real estate (one at NYU, the other at Cornell) and are now working in commercial RE:

https://www.adventuresincre.com/why-i-chose-a-mast...

http://astudentoftherealestategame.com/university-... (Reviews of MA programs are from 2009, but still interesting to read) Good luck!

Hi @Rob Halpert Cannot agree more with @Russell Brazil on this one. My very first home purchase in 2007, I used a federal credit union because of their low rates, and I almost lost the house because the credit union could not get the loan closed on time. It took numerous phone calls from my agent and myself to random people in some outsourced office halfway across the country and weeks of stress to finally get the loan closed (and only because the seller agreed to an extension at the last minute). In this competitive market, go with a local lender who can get the deal done. The best deals go quickly and fast, and you want a lender who will add to the strength of your offer, not detract from it. 

@Ryan S. Wish I could find more seller finance deals -- love them! -- but it's much more difficult when overseas :) will PM you with my attorney's info in a second. Thanks for the colleague request.