Newbie from Marietta, Georgia

[Malik McQuaige]

Hello everyone, My name is Malik and Im 27 years old coming to everyone today simply for guidance because I decided to start a new journey towards real estate. I’ll try to keep this as short as I can. I have decided to give up the typical 9-5 desk job which I was working at AT&T for the past 3 years handling escalation all day at a call center. So now I want to try something I always wanted to do. I been to tons of seminars all over the metro Atlanta area and they all sound so promising until they start talking money which I currently don’t have a lot of. I took the time to invest $200 in one seminar just to find out I need to invest $3,000 to really learn how to flip houses and how to get started. So it was back to goggle searches and I stumbled across Brandon Turner’s article from BiggerPockets on getting started and he has a book called “The Ultimate Beginner Guide to Real Estate Investing”, which I started reading. I clicked on BiggerPockets and I was stun on how much I learned already and how interactive this application is. So this is the beginning of my journey. Right now, I’m ubering until I make $450 to pay for the real estate class. Meanwhile, during my uber experience, I have met so many wonderful people. I met a realtor from Keller Williams that gave me a book from when he was in class getting his license (The Language of Real Estate) and just gave it to me when I dropped him off at his house. I met a broker that told me to read “The Millionaire Real Estate Agent” by Gary Keller and “The Millionaire Next Door”. So now I come to BiggerPockets for more advise and tips on getting started. I always stop at the library to read when I’m not ubering so any books you guys recommend or webinars to attend online. I’m all ears. My dream is to become a real estate investor, but from what I’m reading and hearing, you have to have money in order to do that. So that lead me to becoming a real estate agent for now. Now I had a few question because someone also told me, you don’t need your license to become an investor and you don’t need any money to get started. So I started thinking, is this true? Because I met someone that was a real estate investor and he told me “DO NOT get your license”, so I was really confused then. I have no experience and little to no knowledge about real estate. So I was thinking about learning as much as I can as a real estate agent for a few years then becoming a real estate investor later on when I have the funds to do so. I want to flip houses, get into commercial and residential real estate if possible and rent properties. I find an interest in all aspect of real estate. Now after obtaining my license, I know I have to hang my license with a broker and started doing research on different brokerages and I found that companies like Keller Williams take a huge commission split but they help you market your business. Now it’s other family owned business that gives you all your commission, but you literally work for it yourself. Any help on that as well will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading! I tried my best to keep it short, trust me. But I’m all ears!

[David Michael]

Malik McQuaige
Welcome to BP!!

I think your doing your self a great justice getting your feet wet by getting your license. I am an investor with my license and I cannot begin to express how much it is vital to real estate. Let me ask you if you wanted to drive a commercial vehicle wouldn’t you go get your license to drive and operate commercial vehicles ? This applies to real estate. Why would you go out to be an investor without some education. Being an agent you gain insight to how to interpret the market (which is important to buying and selling your own investments ) You also have access to the mls which is convenient. It is convenient because you don’t have to wait for someone to run comps for you or help you gain access to a home you might be interested in. Another reason getting your license is great you can learn what buyers in your area like.

Don’t leave your path. It will be great to have it.

As for your brokerage go with KW first. Unless you can get a similar split with another nationally recognized company don’t waste time.

Again congratulations and good luck !