I want to ask the age-old question of whether or not it makes sense for me to get a license to sell real estate in Georgia.  As always, I think I know the answer, but thought I'd share specifics of my situation.  I have an 8-year plan to build passive income through buy and hold rental properties.  I am still early on in the plan and still expect to purchase about 30 more single family homes over the next several years.  Tonight I got to thinking that if my plan involves buying so many houses, at about $1,200 in commission per sale (after split), why on earth would I willingly give over this commission to my agent? Why not just get a license on my own and take the commissions myself?  That's about $30k-$40k over a few years that I'm just throwing away.  This seems like a no-brainer to me and fits well into a vertical integration strategy (I'm also thinking about managing other people's rentals as even more vertical integration (aka side money).  This doesn't seem like it really requires much extra work except on the front end actually getting licensed.  Are there any downsides to this that I'm not thinking about?  Does the law require an agent/principal to do something over and above what you'd normally do if you were only principal?  Do I have to disclose extra?  Is there higher liability legally?  Can I manage my own rental properties if I'm an agent?  Can I buy/sell my own properties?  Maybe there are some licensed agents in Georgia who are also investors who can weigh in?

I have friends in Alabama who are brokers and investors and they tell me it's a no brainer to get your license for the access and real-time info it gives you... but just want to cover the bases for Georgia in case it's different over here.