Looking to start a property management company

[Brian Winders]

Hi All,

So I am an aspiring real estate entrepreneur, currently working in Fortune 500 Corporate Finance and have been leaning toward starting a PM company.  The reason for my interest is that my ultimate goal is to acquire and manage a large number of rental properties, and i figure that managing some third party investments could be a good source of cash flow to supplement rental income.

My question is - What types of licensing is required to operate a PM company in Louisiana?  I understand that every state has different laws but if anyone has any general information on how long it would take to obtain proper licensing to start my PM company it would be very helpful.  I currently do not have any real estate licensing but do have about a year of real estate experience (interning at a brokerage in college).  I believe i would have to obtain a brokers license which would take a few years.

Is there any way around this?  is it possible to just use an existing broker as your principal broker and still operate your own company?  I am just curious as to what the timing would be if I started obtaining a salesperson license now.  

Any insight would help!  I am extremely green in the industry and am very early in the learning process.

Thanks