All Forum Posts by: Benjamin Von Blon

Good Morning!

I am currently taking the pre-licensing courses for my broker's license.  I will finish classes in July and I am looking for a brokerage.  I am in Raleigh, NC.

Does anyone have suggestions of agencies I should look into or are their any brokers in this community taking on provisional licensees?

Also, any suggestions on questions I should be asking brokers when I speak with them? (Splits, E&O, fees, ect.)

I have a background in property management and am willing to contribute to that side of the business if help is needed there as well as helping buyers/sellers with transactions.

Are you talking about getting a broker license or just classes on real estate topics? 

I am currently taking pre-licensing classes through HPW. It was less than $500 for class. I chose it because it was the fastest class I could find to finish requirements. It will take 5 weeks. I was surprised it took this long, I could finish class in two weeks in Ohio.

From the side of someone that just moved to Raleigh...

My wife and I left Ohio for warmer weather and easier access to outdoor activities - we can be to the beach or mountains within a couple hours. Makes day trips very easy.

I was under the impression that hard money lenders would qualify a property you are in contact for prior to closing to pay for closing? So if you have the cash for the down payment at the courthouse or the fees from an online auction, you could get into contract then qualify with a hard money lender? 

If you set your keywords with Raleigh you will get a notification about the bigger pockets meetup once a month... I'm not sure if it's the last Thursday or 4th Thursday if there are 5. I've been to two.

You could also Google TREIA. It's the local REIA. You can find a calendar on their website, they have more frequent meetings. I haven't been to one yet, but they are not directly advertised on here.

Just title insurance. I'm new to NC. In Ohio we had title agencies that performed the check, provided insurance, and facilitated the closing. 

Home insurance went through a separate company.

Thanks for the clarification Josh and John.  In Ohio we had a title agency that did the title check and provided the insurance, having an attorney handle it actually consolidates the people you need to know.

So I've been reading on here a lot that North Carolina is a state that uses attorneys at closing, but are there title agencies that perform the title check and insurance or does that go through the attorney? 

Thanks for the feedback Rick.  That makes sense to be scouting them out.  I just don't want to waste someones time if they are expecting me to have a property in contract before contacting them.

As it says, I have money for a down payment. Right now I want to do fix/flips.  I relocated about a month ago and am without a job.  I have talked with a couple of local lenders over the phone, but haven't found one that will fund a rehab project through conventional financing because I am not working.  I have been looking into HMLs and I think it is a route I would feel comfortable going.  From going through different websites it seems like I need to have a property in contract before pursuing the loan.  This is a little backwards from when we bought our primary residence a few years ago when the realtor wanted us to go through the mortgage broker first to determine how much we could finance.

A second question I have about transactions with HMLs is how do I receive the money?  Is it escrowed? Are there draws? Do I need to set up a separate bank account for it?  I am guessing some of these may vary on the amount and lender.