Originally posted by nationwidepi:
I remembered more disadvantages:
If you happen to make an offer to a motivated seller that is below fair market value, as an agent, you MUST disclose this fact to the seller. Even if you do dislcose this fact, the seller could get angry for whatever reason known to man and come back to sue you. You may not lose, but if the court happens to feel your disclosure was not enough or feels you "took advantage" of the seller, you could also LOSE! I am not under these regulations and therefore do not have to worry about them.
As an investor I can door knock potential sellers and tell them "I am not an agent" giving them a more warm and fuzzy feeling rather than their usual feeling of "just another shark agent looking for a listing" - You can not.
There is also one other thing to realize.
Most Real Estate Commissions (not talking about the ones set up by the laws of the state) are there to protect their members. When you go there with questions you will get answers that are not necessarily based upon the laws of that state but based upon how the laws should be interpreted for the benefit of their members.
They are a powerful lobbing group that attempts to get laws passed that requires you to use their services. Such is the case in CA where a part of the law states that you are required to have an RE liscense if you do 8 or more deals per year because you are considered "in the business". But the actual interpretation of some of their courts of law state that any deal that was transacted through or with a RE broker involved is not considered toward that count of 8 or more deals. And I believe I read that a Real estate lawyer also qualifies in this area. This is a paraphrase of the laws as I remember them and things may now have changed.
This, of course, almost effectively almost requires that an re agent be involved in some phase of the deal even if you are not required to have a liscense.
All such liscensing questions should be verified by a qualified attorney in the area in question as those laws vary so widely from state to state.
All that being said I also agree that the monies spent on the RE liscense is some of the best education that you will ever pay for. And should probably be done by those who are starting out as it will help you in developing your actual business plan and or changing that business plan to what is going to work for your needs and desires.