Realtor License or NO?

[Youdo Thirakul]

I'm debating if I should go ahead and get my real estate license so I don't have to pay a commission fee to the selling agent, I know I would still have to pay the buying agent.  My agent said it would be 6% commission for the sellers which i think is crazy high.  I already took the required classes to take the exam but just haven't study.  My goal are to buy fix and flips and some fix and hold, and I don't want to have to show people houses or deal with all that stuff.  But a 6% commission fee is a lot, ideally i would want my brother to become a realtor so we can work together but he want to wait 3-5 years to save up money so we don't need to borrow or look for other partners.  What do you is the best way to become an investor and make the most money?

[Melissa Kirchhoff]

@Youdo Thirakul - I personally don't think it's worth it to go through all that, pay the annual dues, and be at a brokerage just to "save" the 6%. I'm sure you could do the math on that, but you'd have to sell quite a lot to make that adventageous for you.

On top of that, most big brokerages you'd have to work for (with real estate, your state may be slightly different, but you can't just have a license and do it, you need a company to "hold" your license with) are either big companies that charge a "desk fee" or similar (I'm with Coldwell banker and ours is $90/month) or you go with those "100%" companies and you're "on your own" (sorry, I know a lot of quotations here!) but then you have to buy your own stuff that's typically super expensive (like E&O insurance, the software for plat maps, etc). Plus, you have to figure out on your own everything you're doing and what paperwork is required in case you get audited. It's actually quite a lot of paperwork and legal tape.

On the other side, I think becoming an agent was one of my best moves ever (my reasons were different though, I wanted to make more money and my other job was very limited to what I could make -- very much trading hours for dollars and was limited on the amount of hours I could put in) and I don't regret even one difficult moment of it (and there were many!) just because working on the buying and selling end while I made the money to invest taught me so much! I learned what buyers are actually looking for (versus the perception people put out there -- it's not kitchens and bathrooms anymore people! Now people actually look at roofs and insulation more than kitchens and bathrooms!) and selling/pricing tactics. I also worked for many investors who made many poor moves and I got to learn how and why on their dime. It's pretty incredible and I'm super happy I did it and grateful for the experiences.

So, TL;DR - If you are going to be working with other buyer/sellers (even for a while!) and if you are interested in doing it and earning that extra money, go for it! If not, I'd encourage you to move on and just support a real estate agent with that 6% ;-)