Become a real estate agent? Yea or nay?

General Real Estate Investing
1

Are there any drawbacks to becoming a real estate agent if your primary business is buying, fixing, and selling properties?

There is a local broker who will let me become an agent in the office and I would keep 100% of all commissions on my buys, less a $350 transaction fee. It seems like a good idea when buying a listed property as the 3% commission would come back to me. Also, I’d have full access to MLS/FMLS to get my own comps and market data. And finally, when it came time to sell, I could list the properties at no out of pocket expense on the front end.

But what is the downside to being an agent? I know I would have to disclose my agent status at all times, but are there any things that I can’t do as an agent that I would want to do as a pure investor?

2

Do a search in the forums. There are numerous posts on this subject and probably every possible pro and con has been addressed.

3

If you’re looking for the advantages of having the MLS, try this company’s product. I met one the reps at a local invvestor’s club meeting. www.haines.com The software is called criss-cross. I have a RE Sales license myself and the system looks very comparable to the MLS.