I am a semi-retired real estate investor and a former real estate agent. I have to come down on the side of getting a license is a waste of time and money.
If you go the license route, you will get an education about real estate laws which is valuable, but which you can get by reading a good book or taking a decent college class.
You learn a lot about selling - selling owners to allow you to list their home, marketing homes once they are listed, and working with buyers to sell them a house. So, as other posters have said, you do get a good education about how the retail side works.
There are two problems with this theory.
The first is it gives you no education - none - about the most important parts of being a real estate investor. The most important part of being a real estate investor is locating deals, analyzing them for their profitability, buying them and exiting per your exit strategy (wholesale, buy-and landlord, whatever). Investors will not fail as an investor because they don’t sell to sellers, or market properties to retail buyers, or work showing properties to retail buyers. They will suceed or fail on finding deals. Becoming a licensed real estate agent gives you zero education for the skills that are most important to you.
Second is the time. As an investor, you theoretically can make a profit today: Find a wholesale house, assign to a buyer and you made a cool fee. Real estate agents first must go through 1-3 months for the licensing process, at a fair expense. Then you have to go through your Broker’s training program. Then you will spend several weeks to a couple of months working with experienced realtors who will "mentor"you through the process, spending money on marketing as you go. Finally you sell a house and your commission will come 30-60 days later when closing is done. In other words, you will spend thousands of dolars and hundreds to thousands of hours of work and from 4-8 months before you see your first paycheck.
In 4-8 months, simply concentrating on being a real estate investor, you should be involved in deals that will make you much more money then you will ever earn your first year as a real estate agent.
Now this isn’t a bitter failure talking here. In my second year I was one of the top four producing agents in my office, and one of the top 15 producing agents in my city. I left because I realized I could make much more as an investor than as an agent.
Did I learn things as an agent that has helped me as an active investor? Some, but nothing critical. Did I get access to any inside information? Not really. Most of the “Inside Knowledge” I gained as an agent was simply because I was active on a daily basis - talking to agents - lenders- bankers - escrow agents and others. Going to meetings and reading the classifieds everyday - driving my marketing areas and talking to people and handing out my card. All of those things are what you should be doing as a real estate investor.
A lot of people think getting a license will make your job easier. it will, in a very small way. It will delay your education of the most important part of becoming an investor, and add 6-12 months to any meaningful success you may have. Is that worth it? Some may think so, I don’t.
You should note, that from what I can tell from the responses, about 100% of former real estate agents say don’t bother. That should tell you something.