Seeking advice on broker selection

[Wei Xie]

Dear fellow BPers, I just passed my California real estate salesperson exam and expect to receive my license soon. Now, I need to look for a broker to hang my license. I am primarily interested in using my license to find MLS deals as well as doing value/rent analysis. My focus for now is buy-and-hold on residential properties. So far, I have one SFR and am looking forward to more as I see fit. Of course, I would be happy to help my friends and family for their need but will not be actively soliciting retail clients as I still have a full-time job. Given my background, could you please share with me your thoughts: 1. What kind of brokers should I look for? I am thinking about brokers with low monthly expenses and reasonable commission split. Brokers with active RE investing experience will also be a plus. Do these thoughts make sense to you? Did I overlook any important characteristics? 2. I am living in Orange County, Southern California and I am interested in local properties, particularly in Riverside and San Bernardino counties as the propertie prices are not too high. Could you please suggest some brokers that I should talk to? Thank you all in advance! Wei

[Brandon Battle]

To be absolutely honest with you,it sounds like you wasted your time and money getting a license you have no intention of actually using at all.You don't wanna give up your full time job,don't wanna work on behalf of buyers,and you don't actually wanna sell real estate even if it's your own acquisitions,correct? It would be far easier and probably  cheaper to just establish a relationship with an investor savvy realtor who can locate the desired investment properties and do the work for you.Any brokerage you hang your license with is going to expect you to pay the office expenses and franchise fees just like every other agent and it's just not worth it.You might find an independent broker who is primarily an investor and is willing to let you pay as you go.You should attend real estate club meetings to find a few and see what they would charge you for it.