Pro and Cons of pursuing a real estate license for my own use?

[Zac Burk]

Hello All! I guess I'll make a introduction here as I come out of months of lurking the forums. My names Zac and I am from the Detroit area. I just finished out my first year in REI with two units cash flowing and a purchase of a flip house that has yet to be started. I am currently self funded and struggling haha. (Calling all investors)

So, now the real reason I am posting. I've been researching and have had thoughts of pursuing a Real Estate license. It looks like the total cost after testing is about ~425$. Has anyone done this for their own use? What are the benefits? Maybe there are none from an investor's stand point? Maybe its a waste of time and money? I am looking at all opinions. I have a brother that is about to buy his first house too. One deal would be the ROI with the potential to save on commissions with my own flips. Shoot your shots!

[Trey Crusey]

@Zac Burk,

As a new licensee myself it's going to cost much more than $425. $425 is just for pre-liminary classes. I don't think my costs are nearly as much as Russell said but if i had to guess it's still easily over a grand for me when you add in the NAR dues, mls fees, continuing education and every little thing they nickle and dime out of you like lockboxes, lockbox set up fees not to mention monthly servicing fees just for the stupid box. It all adds up and pretty quickly might i add.

Not to discourage you but it's something I just went through at the beginning of this year and was pretty shocked with it all. It will definitely be worth it depending on how much you plan on using it though. In my area, if i just did one deal a year i will recoup my expenses so i went ahead and did it.