RE Broker Recommendations? (Greater Cincinnati Area)

[Joseph Cornwell]

Hello everyone!

I am still in the beginning stages of becoming a real estate investor. I have been educating myself as much as possible over the past 6 months, and my goal is to become a Realtor and a part-time buy and hold investor. As part of this educational process I have decided to obtain my Ohio Real Estate License for various reasons, but I feel it is a necessity for my success. Therefore, I am looking for Realtors who can recommend Brokers that would be a good fit for a new agent, and are investor friendly. I envision myself doing a limited number of deals per year, mainly for close friends and family, (I have a separate full-time job so any extra commission funds would be fed into my RE investments.) I would also be using my license to obtain my own rental properties. I have spoke with a few Brokers and would love some additional thoughts and opinions. I am signed up for the RE courses at the University of Cincinnati and will be finished in July, 2016. Thank you for any feedback!

[Sean Cole]

@Joseph Cornwell in my opinion, you have competing goals working here.  

1.  As a new agent, you want a broker to help you learn the business.  This means that a company like Sibcy, CB, etc. is a better fit.

2.  You want an investor friendly broker, which generally means more attractive splits for the agent.  This means something like Plum Tree (disclosure:  I'm a Plum Tree agent), OwnerLand, etc. are better fits.

The rub is that Plum Tree and OwnerLand aren't going to provide much/any training for a new agent.  At Plum Tree, however, I keep 100% of the commission dollars I generate.  Sibcy, CB, etc. are going to teach you how to be an agent, but the starting split at most of these brokerages is 50/50 or 60/40.

In addition to the above, the specific office you hold your license at matters, as the office manager has much more interaction with you as a training resource than the broker of record for Sibcy, CB, et al.

A final note, and one you'll likely hear repeated by the instructors at UC if they are licensed agents, is that we all think we're going to pick up friends and family deals before we get licensed.  As it turns out, most friends and family don't want us knowing all their personal financial details.  They'll ask you for free help while they're working with another agent.