All Forum Posts by: Ray Johnson

Joel Owens I definitely agree with the "puppy mills". It seems like that is what alot of the brokers are going for. Everything you said seems pretty spot on with the bigger brokerages around here. It must be a universal condition.

In Arkansas it's 2 years to become a broker, plus showing "evidence of being active in real estate".

Do you hold the licenses for any agents currently? Are you able to do your own deals and have agents under you?

Ed O. Thanks for the PM!

Don Konipol I am looking for a broker to hang my license under. Hopefully, I can find one that will work with investor agents.

In the school, we have brokers come in and recruit us (because we can fog a mirror, not because we are God's gift to real estate). Would it be better to be a motivated agent in a huge firm with a lot of not so motivated agents, or in a small firm where everyone is a go-getter?

So, after the Summit, I decided to get my real estate license here in Arkansas. Today ended my first week of school and it was eye-opening!

I am not a very experienced investor, (2 rentals), but I feel like I have always had an investor mindset. Back to back closings! subject to! owner financing! lease option! wrap around notes! submit 30 offers to get 1 accepted! whatever it takes to get it done!

No matter what I wanted to do, if it wasn't buy off the mls, 45 days to close and give them their commission, realtors always said it's illegal or unethical. I was always curious why they shut down like that.

Now I know.

At least in Arkansas, there are so many regulations and ways to get fined, lose your license, or even get put in jail. Everything has to go through your broker. For example, even in my personal investing, since I am licensed, my broker has to review all of my leases, keep them on file, and can choose to keep my security deposits in his escrow account. Also, brokers can choose to keep a commission off of my own personal real estate transactions.

I understand that it is to keep the public safe from a vulture like me (tic) but I feel like a criminal even though everything I do is legal and I have my customers best interests at heart, so they will keep giving me their business.

Sorry for the long intro. So how does an investor, becoming a real estate agent to supplement his investing, chose a broker? Is it worth it to be an active real estate agent?

Hi there William!

Welcome to BiggerPockets!

Fort Rucker, I presume? I was a pilot in the Air Force. I taught pilot training at Columbus AFB in MS and we used to go to Cairns (I think that's Fort Rucker, it was over 10 years ago) and Dothan to practice NDB approaches.

It's nice to see you getting started in REI at this point in your life. I only recently started investing myself, but I have learned a ton just reading the forums and posting questions when I have them. Everyone here is eager to help out others, so just ask! And thank you for your service.

Ray

Bill Gulley - Thanks for the post!

What types of "schools" are you referring to? Do you mean "guru" courses or any local community college course?

This was more along the lines of what I was thinking. Moving towards doing larger things in real estate and being able to take advantage of unseen trends. I too don't think I need 2000 hours just to comp a SFR. I was thinking in the broader terms of real estate. Also, a lot of the comments have been about not making any money as an appraiser. I wasn't really looking to make a living from being an appraiser, but using the experience in other aspects of investing. Thanks again for your post.

Any other former or current appraisers with two cents to add?

Thanks for the replies! So I think the polls are in and NO ONE likes the idea of me getting my appraisal license. :) I figured that would be the feedback I would get.

On a side note, how cool is it that I have sat down and talked with most of the guys that replied to this thread?

So it looks like Realtor School starts in 2 weeks. I will be signing up for that. Are there any other types of education (besides the school of hard knocks) that I should look into? Keep in mind, being a landlord is just part of what I want to do when I grow up. :)

At the summit, a lot of the presenters and people I talked to mentioned it would be a good idea to get my real estate license. Others mentioned taking some appraisal classes, which got me wondering. Would being a licensed appraiser help my investing business? Is it worth it?

In Arkansas it takes 2000 supervised hours to become a licensed appraiser. If I spent 20 hours a week, that would be two years. The time doesn't bother me. I am a new investor and only have 2 rentals so far. I don't have a day job and our other business supports me, my wife and kids. I could still put in 5 hours a day building my RE investing business and I think I would like to have the credentials in the future. I know there are a lot of hugely successful investors that aren't realtors or appraisers, but I thought it might be a good way for me to learn more about different sides of the business, keep up with new trends, and a way to make contacts.

What do you think?

Joshua Dorkin - 1st, Thanks so much for putting on this event. It was great to meet your wife and mother, and seeing how much work they put in gave me a glimpse of the hard work and sacrifice you must have put in to make the Summit and this site so successful. Another one of those "Overnight Successes" that was 7 years in the making!

2nd, Thank you to the presenters. They reinforced what I have known to be true in other walks of life - there is no magic bullet. Hard work and proper application of knowledge will get it done. No secrets. It also was great to see them all teach very similar techniques and processes even though most hadn't met or even talked before preparing for the Summit. I almost filled up an entire notebook in two days and have been writing out actionable to-do lists for the past 48 hours.

3rd, Thank you to the attendees! Many people have already mentioned it, but it was very energizing to be around so many postive, energetic, and like-minded people. I felt like I had found Ayn Rand's "Galt's Gulch" in the Colorado Mountains. The networking at all hours (although I had to call it quits at 2:00 am, I suspect some never stepped foot in their hotel room) felt like I was hanging out with 300 of my closest friends that I have known all my life. It solidified a core group of BPers that will only make this site that much more valuable of a resource and sounding board. I think (and know in my case) that there are 300+ folks that feel like we are all in this together, fighting along side each other. (hmm...Maybe a biggerpockets version of the film 300?)

And if you are still reading this...I think we should get DEPENDS to sponsor the next one. You know why.

Seriously, I can't find where to register for BiggerPockets Summit 2013. Better get on it Josh!
Oh, and thanks again for an outstanding 3 days! And it's still going at 10 pm Sat night!

3 days of straight networking
30 + people connected with
Over 20 hours of instruction
Awesome.