How to Quit Your Job & Invest in Real Estate - Chad Carson

[Alex Sanfilippo]

This topic contains my questions after reading "How to Quit Your Job & Invest in Real Estate Full Time" by Chad Carson. (LINK1 & LINK2) Some of this is probably pretty basic, but I am very new to this!

1. "State Real Estate Licensing Course and Licensing Exam" - I am not sure what this is, does anyone know a good link that I could learn more about this?

2. "Join My Local Real Estate Group" - Does anyone know of a group like this in Jacksonville, Florida?

3. "Pay for time of successful, local Realtor & flipper/rehabber" - Does this mean to actually find someone to just have as a temporary mentor to shadow? I'm trying to understand this.

4. "Income: Wholesale real estate for small mark-ups to other investors & Refer traditional listings or buyers to well-chosen brokers for referral commissions" - Do you need to be a broker to do these items?

5. "Team Member #3: Broker & Expert Listing Agent" - Is it recommended to be a licensed realtor or just have a strong person on your team that handles that side of things? I'd appreciate a link to learn more about this topic because this is the most confusing part to me so far.

If you would like to help me out by answering any of the 5 questions above, just let me know which number you are commenting on s it says organized. Thanks in advance everyone!

[Chad Carson]

Hey @Alex Sanfilippo. Thanks for digging into the articles and asking questions here on the forum so that everyone can benefit.

#1 and #2, I don't have anything to add to @Steve G.'s good answers. 

#3 - Yes, I was suggesting a short-term shadowing session. I was suggesting that you pay, because you've got to break through the clutter with a busy, successful person.  If you're really sincere and show you're prepared, you may catch them on a good day and can just ride around with them.  If you also find someone to be your listing agent (#5), you may also be able to get this for free if they know you're serious.

The point is that you want to pick the brain of people who eat, breathe, and daily hustle in the arena where you want to fix and flip properties. You'll learn more in that 1-2 hour shadow session than any book or article can teach you.  And that knowledge will help you when you go to buy properties and make offers.

#4 - You will need a license to refer listings and earn a referral-commission.  That was one of the reasons I suggested getting your license. In this case, I advocated getting your license for the education, the connections, and the back-up income (referrals), but then not becoming a traditional agent. You're in the game to buy-sell.

#5 - You don't need to have a license in order to hire a top-notch listing agent. What I'm suggesting here is to hire someone with expertise in getting properties liquidated at retail price. This person, will then be able to help you during the entire process - from purchase to rehab to staging to listing. Especially early on, you will need this expert help, and it's a fairly cheap price at perhaps 6% since you'll likely have to pay money anyway to get it on the MLS.

Best of luck! I look forward to staying connected.

Chad