Should I become a licensed agent/REALTOR?

Should I become a licensed agent/REALTOR?

It seems that the questions from new members never change on BP. The search feature is there, but the same questions keep rolling in. That is not a bad thing, as I am happy to answer them. So here are a few questions you should ask yourself first before you make a decision on if you want to become a licensed agent/REALTOR.

1. Do I have the money to establish and maintain a real estate license in my state?

There is a view out there that getting and maintaining a real estate license is easy and cheap. Here is the truth...it's not.

Here are some of the expenses to look up and consider.

1. Real estate school fee

2. Time off work to go to real estate school(If your state requires you to attend physical class)

3. Add on study materials (I paid an extra $100 for Kaplans online test prep material)

4. Testing fee

5. State Licensing Fee

6. State, and local Business licensing fees.

7. National, state, and local association dues

8. MLS fees

9. Sentrilock fees

10. Post-Licensing education fees

11. Continuing education fees.

12. Broker fees

I tried to put together a list of all the fees you will encounter to establish and maintain a license but I may have missed some. If you see I missed something add it in the comments.

2. Do I like interacting with the public?

It is my opinion that if you are going to get licensed you might as well close a couple of deals so that you can take care of your fees. To do this you will have to generate leads, follow up with those leads, and when they are ready to convert them to clients and help them buy or sell a home

3. Do I have the time to invest in becoming a real estate agent?

A lot of people are strapped for time as it is, and can't even progress as investors because they have no time to do what it takes to become successful investors, do you have enough time to pile on becoming a real estate agent to that? Real estate investor and Real estate agent are two different worlds. Are the time and money investment worth it just to have MLS access?

I could write pages and pages about this subject, but I want to keep this short. It is my opinion that you can avoid the time and money investment of becoming a realtor/real estate agent by simply establishing a relationship with an investor-friendly agent in your area.

If you do not know how to find an investor-friendly agent check out my blog post about evaluating potential agents by clicking here

I hope you found this post valuable if you did please take the time to share a thought or two in the comment section below.