New Member from Tampa, Florida

[Kevin Dehlinger]

Hello Bigger Pockets Community!

My name is Kevin Dehlinger. Currently, I am in the process of getting licensed. I've lived in Florida my entire life (Panhandle ---> Tallahassee ---> Tampa). I have been interested in real estate investing since my time in Tallahassee, even going as far as doing some marketing and attempting to wholesale houses on my own, but to no avail. Alas, I had discovered a passion of mine in the process ... real estate!

After getting burnt out at a corporate job, I've decided to pursue real estate full-time. I felt like it was time to stop ignoring my true calling. I'm very excited to get started.

I look forward to meeting all of you in the forums! 

[Tom Parris]

Hi @Kevin Dehlinger,

Welcome to the community. A lot of good info on this site. I saw your other post about where you should hang your license, so I'll answer both questions here. 

Real estate takes a while to get going after you get your license, and the licensing test has nothing to do with the daily duties of a Realtor. So NAR puts out a statistic that most Realtors don't make a dime for the first 6 months. It look me 10 months to make my first sale. So you cannot take that risk, I recommend joining a team so they can feed you the business and teach you good habits, OR become a property manager. The property manager route would teach you the other side of investing and allow you to seem more knowledgable when talking with investors. I recommend working with whomever you can at the beginning before you claim a niche like working with investors. They honestly aren't the best to work for, since most of the time they aren't loyal, they undercut your commission, and most are unrealistic.

I recommend you interview with as many brokerages as possible, so you can really understand what's out there. Just make sure to understand what you receive from the fees you give, whether it's in the split or monthly. It's also a backwards experience from regular jobs, in that the broker or manager doesn't really interview you, but share with you all the things they can do for you in the brokerage to make you a great agent, which is all total BS. 

I chose my broker because I was actually interviewed, they gave me hands on training, a younger culture, and small in size.