New Member Intro and Questions concerning specialized real estate

[Jared L. Smith]

Hi everyone,

My name is Jared Smith, and I am currently a 21 year old junior at Virginia Tech. I am double majoring in Business Management and Real Estate. ( I know this is not necessarily needed for real estate professions, but due to academic scholarships and extenuating circumstances this is a free education.) Information pertaining to my question: I am a Virginia resident, I was in a car accident that resulted in a spinal cord injury and left me in a wheelchair (for the time being), my long term goal is to open a real estate brokerage that is very well versed in, but definitely not restricted to, handicap and elderly housing. Although I am a Va resident at the moment I am planning to live in and be certified in both northern Florida and southern George because the demographics of these areas fit my business model. This being said, I am currently trying to find the best path to becoming a certified broker. I understand that to become a certified broker you have to work as an agent for several years (depending on the state.) Being in a wheelchair working as an agent for a company that doesn’t specialize in wheelchair accessible housing would be nearly impossible, I assume. Is there a way to become certified as a broker without working as a an agent?

Also after graduation (w/ a Business and a Real estate degree), while I am working under a broker to become broker certified. I will be finishing an interior design degree w/ hopes of assisting in the process of designing wheelchair accessible properties for my brokerage which leaves one less thing to be out sourced. Does this make sense economically?

This is just the very beginning of my business model, and if anyone has any questions I would love to elaborate! Thank you in advance for any advice!

[Marcus Auerbach]

@Jared L. Smith - when I got licensed I had the idea to use my first language German as an inside edge to define a niche. In hindsight I have to chuckle a little about that. Never had a German speaking client, ever ;-) 

I also thought I will get my brokers license asap. Wrong again. I can literally give you no reason why that would help me with my business, while I can give you ten negatives. If you want to lead people, build a team within a brokerage.

About brokerage; obviously I am a little bias, but I am going to tell you what I think. My borkerage KW is hugly successful and became #1 in the US last year, by agent count, # of transactions and total $$s. For a good reason. 

KW is training centered and has an extreme focus on technology, at the same time very entrepreneurial and gives you a lot of freedem to do your thing. The main argument for you however, might be the culture. KW is very collaberative (instead of the competitiveness everywhere else) and team orientated. I could imagine you'd do well in that environment. If you want to get a taste, just call a KW office (called market center) and ask for an appointment with the team leader - they will be happy to meet with you and give you a much better idea about the business. (Spoiler alert: it is not easy, 90% drop out rate)

Pick a larger segement than wheel chair and elderly - for example the urban condo market - and then kick ***!!