Investor looking to get brokers license & create a "company"

[Bob Johnson]

Long time lurker, second time poster, please be kind! :)

Back story - I own a number of SFR properties in California, and they cash flow to a point where it's my full time gig now and thus I am a full time real estate investor after a couple decades of getting beat up on Wall Street.

Being the entrepreneurial guy I am though, I'm looking to get my broker's license so I can freely buy, sell, and look at properties on my own rather than having to line up one of my agents to let me into a new to market property that usually gets sold before I can get in there to scope it out.  Saving commissions also on the benefits list, as most of what I'm looking at is over $1 million.

I already have an LLC for my investment holding company, no problem there, will probably use serial LLC's under that for the brokerage and individual future investments, which I am looking to expand to commercial and land/development.

Now, I took a couple real estate classes during my under/post-graduate years, will this usually enable me to bypass the agent exam and move straight to the brokerage one?

And if no luck there, I assume I have to take the agent classes, pass the CA. test, and wait it out 2 years? I would be using Allied, PrepAgent or License Solution for the classes probably (no real need for mentoring on how to sell/build the biz as this is for me and partners only), but I would need to find a brokerage on the same page as me - a low cost, low hassle solution with MLS access for a guy that might have 1 transaction a year tops until I get my broker's license.

Any suggestions/help would be appreciated, especially from investor/brokers, thank you!

[Derek Wheeler]

I'm not sure about CA, but here in Texas, in order to become a broker, you need to have your real estate license, which the exam can't be bypassed. You have to take enough schooling, pass the state exam, work enough deals that earn you points on your license, do more schooling... a lot more, and be an active agent for something like 3 years. The requirements to be a broker are strict, at least in Texas. I hear CA is easier to become an agent - I'm not sure about broker though.