Buy & Hold Real Estate Investor Considering Agent License

[Bruce Coleman]

Hello All,

I am a buy and hold single family real estate investor.  I am interested in obtaining my real estate license, and I was wondering if there were any disadvantages to doing so.

I plan to purchase 3 homes over the next year or two in addition to selling 2 homes.

I'm not interested in becoming a full time real estate agent.  My primary interest is increasing my knowledge base and saving on commissions.

I appreciate your thoughts, time, and helpful input.

Bruce

[Mike Oconnell]

In my area it costs around $1000 to $1500 per year to maintain your license and probably close to $2000 the first year, including the cost to obtain your license. You have to make sure the advantages outweigh the expense.

In addition to the advantages you noted, there are also several other advantages such as easier to do accurate market analysis, property searches, learn the market and your area, higher respect in the investor world, etc.

You will want to make sure you hang your license with an investor friendly brokerage also. Some brokerages may not let you save as much commission as you would like.

Good luck out there!