Real Estate Pre-licensing Courses to become a better investor?

[Shannon Glanton]

Greetings Bigger Pockets Family,

Recently I signed up for the Texas Sales Agent Real Estate pre-licensing course.  I have to know as much as I can about any topic prior to "jumping in".  I have high-achiever anxiety haha. I felt that although I read all the books and listened to all the podcasts, I still wasn't comfortable. Disclaimer, I am not for certain if I will ever sit for the exam. This was purely to get as familiar as I can to be comfortable as an investor. Though impossible to avoid, I am trying not learn anything major the "hard way". So I am here today to present myself to "the court of public opinion". Was this an intelligent idea? Despite the money, has anyone found genuine success with this route? 

Thanks in advance!

- Shannon

[Evan Polaski]

@Shannon Glanton, I certainly have a different background than many here, but the real estate license material (and exam for that matter) provided little to no help in my investing.  Granted, I took the courses and exam AFTER having been investing directly for many years.  

Things I remember learning from the course, and now forget: how many sq ft an acre is, what the "back 40" means, random information about where property rights end if you buy along a body of water (being in Ohio, this means lake or river).

Things I learned, that I have never used while investing: All the random legislation like Fair Housing Act, lending laws, etc, when these laws were enacted, which one covers religion and which covers age...  To be clear, knowing what can be considered discrimination is VERY important, especially if you self manage your rentals, or list your own flips, but my take is: be a decent human and you will stay out of trouble.

I am sure there are some pieces of the finance side that can help, but I knew this from various experiences.  

As an investor, you are putting together deals and hiring out the rest. More than anything you need to know how to determine cash flow or returns, and how to get deals together (network to find deals, how to find tenants, what market demand is, etc).  None of this is taught in the real estate courses that I took.