Education

[Arturo Martinez]

I am from DFW area and am having a difficult time deciding where and how to pursue my real estate education/license. I am making a carrier change and want to educate my self well in the real estate laws. I know that you really don't have to have your license to make money in real estate so do I really need my license? On the other hand the more education equals to more confidence for me. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Bill Gulley]

@Arturo Martinez

@Arturo Martinez

(Jorge, if you're about 50 years old, going to school to refresh your education and the go to law school, it may be a little late. Big mistake using your age or past education failures as an excuse not to advance and improve yourself. I'm sure you have plenty of time. )

I have a many stories about my high school years, I'll just say I was an extroverted jock with little inclination toward studies. I matured rather quickly in the Army and began attending college. My first RE deal was before I went in the service and later while in the service bought, leased and sold a few. I didn't have a clue about RE but honestly, I thought I knew a heck of a lot. It wasn't until I hit civilian life again and ended up doing estate planning with an attorney neighbor that I realized I didn't know squat.

Arturo, you need to take the RE class for agents, those who have never attended are in no position to advise otherwise as they don't know what is covered, they may think they do, but if you haven't been there how in the world can they say you don't need any of that? There was only one area of the basics taught I never used and that has to do with the structure of the state RE Commission and brokerages, that isn't needed to invest. It's still good to know the powers of the powers to be however.

75% of the questions asked on RE deals here wouldn't be asked if the poster had a basic understanding of RE. You can spend 2 weeks in a formal class and save yourself 5 years of trying to figure it out on your own. You don't have to sit for the state exam and get a license, you do need to know what agents know

Forums are great, but asking a "how do I" question will be answered but will always have limitations to answers. I skim the topic to answer specifics but I can't (nor does anyone) give any underlying reasons why or related ramifications. That's not to mention the poor advice given by many just having the urge to post. RE education is a real mess for investors. BP is an outstanding site but even Josh will tell you to do your due diligence concerning information found here.

I can't stress enough how important knowing local customs and state regulations are. I don't know anyone who can give specific advice on how to operate in every state, several seem to think what they do is good to go everywhere and it certainly isn't. Those RE classes will address state requirements as well as local customs.

The above post outlined the how we learn, not writing a book about this, but if people can't get it that you need to learn in progressive steps from the basics and build on that, there is no hope for them, they are either too lazy to put an effort in or they don't have the capacity to understand and either way, they are doomed to chase their tail.

I lay all the blame for making people think they can dive into some strategy and make money on the guru's. Mentors and coaches, many of them, aren't far behind, they are not educators. As long as their are naïve people who are looking for a quick buck that refuse to look at RE as a structured industry (that can be complex at times) these who claim to provide the path to wealth will thrive and feed on them. It really is pathetic. Then what you have are folks who learn junk who passes it along, it's much like an exercise many have seen; one whispers a few lines of information to someone, then that person whispers the information to another. By the time the information is passed all the way around the room the last person gets an entirely different story than originally given. You can see this in posts here where someone is so far off base in thinking they can do something in RE.

I recall one post where a member was wanting to do his marketing to people who had received a quit claim deed, I like to see imagination, thinking out of the box, but that is in another universe because he had misconception of what that deed actually is and when and why it is used. Is it possible to get a deal that way? Sure, so is handing out flyers at an intersection.

If you don't start with the basics, with information obtained from a formal education perspective, you're spinning your wheels. You don't know what you don't and if you don't know you certainly can't use or apply it. :)