Starting out in Virginia

[Micheal Waldrup]

Wow, so much information here! What a great resource! 

After doing much of my reading throughout the site, I feel like it might be a good idea to get my Real Estate License first. I'm still Active Duty military until January of 2015 and I'm on a great shore duty right now with plenty of 'off' time. 

So, a few questions in regards to this:

1.) Do you have any recommendations on schools and such for Virginia Real Estate Licensure? I'd prefer online since there are still those late days where the military demands my presence, and they never seem to be predictable which makes scheduling classes difficult. I live in Virginia Beach, if that helps.

2.) What is usually the process after Real Estate School? I read something here about having to be 'sponsored' by a broker before I can practice real estate. How likely are any sponsoring brokers to be willing to take on a 'brand new' agent? I heard also that there are some brokerages that will sponsor you as long as you'll pay the $3000 a year or whatever they ask, is this a common thing?

3.) What kind of company should I be looking to work at if I want to really focus on investing? I'd love to be as close to actual real estate investing as possible. It would be great to learn for a bit as an agent working with investors.

4.) What have the best 'investor friendly' real estate agents you've worked with done differently from your average agent? What can I do personally to ensure investors really want to work with me and make the relationship mutually beneficial? I am in no way selfish, and have an abundance mindset so I'd love to work with investors that are the same.

I think that's enough for now. Obviously more to follow. Thanks for reading, and taking the time to respond if you do!