Should I pursue a real estate salesperson license?

[Sean F.]

I'm new to Northern VA. I'm finishing up the Virginia salesperson licensing course through Moseley. I thought I'd do that course to get some knowledge, especially on the VA-specific stuff. If I'm interested in growing my investments in real estate, should I go ahead and pursue/maintain the license? Or should I just invest without? What are the upsides/downsides?

[James Hamling]

The only real upsides to NOT being licensed is if your doing shady business and want to keep in the shadows, or are not all that active. 

Being licensed is going to save $ on transactions, give better access and networking which brings deals you wouldn't have caught before, and gives more ways to monetize leads that don't pan out as good buys (can represent them). 

If your an investor in action and not just theory or talk, a license makes a lot of sense and dollars.