I was thinking about getting my real estate licence to help jump start my career of investing. Is this a good starting point? What are the pros and cons of having a licence when it comes to wholesaling? Thanks in advance.
There is nothing to prevent a licensed real estate agent from wholesaling a property or buying and reselling a property. The agent needs to make full disclosure, whether or not he/she is earning a commission.
The full disclosure and all of the other regulations over a licensure is what prevents alot of investors from getting a license, if they have a propensity to invest and plan to be active. I personally have chosen not to be licensed but have worked with many investors who made the choice to get licensed.
You need to examine what your intentions are with a license and how it fits into your goals and plans for investing. If I were to have made the choice to get a license in the past 20 years that I have invested, I would have used the MLS and other services to find and secure exceptional deals, tie them up under contract, and resell them to investors. I would have specialized in developing investors and had them lined up to bring my deals to so they could buy them as soon as they were found.
In retrospect, I really did the same thing, only as an investor, not an agent, and developed my buyers prior to putting deals together.
Hope this perspective helps.
Rob
If you’re thinking about getting a license for wholesaling, you can certainly do it without a license.
With a license, you are able to get into homes by yourself, get good comps, and when you are dealing with othe realtors, you get a better welcome from them since you are colleagues.
YOu just need to disclose on your contracts that you are a licensed realtor
Dennis
Don’t let full disclosure rules discourage you from getting a license. I would recommend getting the skills, education and experience working on commission as a realtor. Once you’re ready to wholesale and don’t want to disclose your background as a realtor, just cancel your license. You’re not scarred for life by getting a license. Who knows, you may even want to continue to be a realtor.
David
Realtor, Landlord, Investor
Thanks guys. You have answered my question
YOu got it Chris.
Having a license really does have it’s advantages. You can use your comission to make a deal go through that otherwise may have fallen through.
YOu can use your comission as a back up way to get paid on a wholesale deal (ie short sales or other flipping methods that discourage or wont’ allow assignments and such.
Please give us updates on what you’ve decided.
Dennis
Real estate license course will definitely help you a lot in enjoying a fruitful career. Do not hesitate, just go for it!
If all you plan to do is wholesale, getting a license has its advantages and can cut a lot of research corners but there is quite a lot of upfront and monthly expenses to keep the license.
If you picture yourself traditionally buying and selling (either for your self or someone else), I would definitely go for your license. Earning a commission on a property you are buying is just sweet. It really opens the door to endless possibilities.