Where to hang my license?

[Joshua Hill]

I have been managing short term rentals with my partner who had a license (we have houses in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, and Gilbert). He went a different direction, so now I'm looking to get my license in Arizona to support my STR business. I will probably have maybe one or two sales per year, but I will mostly be using my license to support my STR business for the occasional 30+ day lease.

Now I need a brokerage to hang my license with. 

I'm looking 1st for who has low or zero monthly expenses, and second for maintaining as much of the commission is possible. Free education is always a plus.

On the other hand if the environment proved to be really helpful to growing my STR business either with referrals for single family homes to manage or the same with multifamily, I'd throw my other priorities out for the opportunity to be around the right people.

Any recommendations?

[Will Fraser]

Hi @Joshua Hill -- First and most importantly, I want to make sure that you are aware of the legal requirements surrounding PM - as a non-licensed person you can only manage properties that you have an ownership interest in OR if you are an employee of the entity that owns said property. This, and the followup caveat are doing to dictate my thoughts bouylow. The second caveat is that Property Management, like all real estate business, is done in the name and authority of the Broker. So, even when you get your license you may not be able to simply sign up new STR PM clients and scale your business.

You'll want to make sure that the broker or brokerage you join has a framework for allowing agents to bring in new management clients AND service those clients. This is not the case with all firms. 

Finally, with cheap brokerages you get cheap. As long as you are fine with that (cheap guidance, cheap systems, cheap all around) and have a plan to self-direct your growth and development then you're good!  However, have no misgivings about cheap brokerages - there are a million and one different claims that "for only $x or Y% of your sales you'll get the moon and stars" and the financials behind those claims show them to be false, every time.

Go out there and get it, Josh!