All Forum Posts by: JDee Moore

@JDee Moore

If you do your licensing education online, you can get your RE License including test cost for just under $1,000.  I think I spent $970 or so a few years ago, all in cost.  You have to pass it on the first try though lol otherwise it adds more cost obviously.

One word of caution if you're trying to get into real estate as a profession as opposed to an investor - It takes A LONG TIME to make money. I have a good friend that I used to work with in the car business that switched over into real estate and he had experienced this over the last year or so. He was by far the best salesperson I have come across in my years in sales, management and training. It took him 7 - 8 months to get his first sale and another 4 months or so to get his pipeline filled so he has monthly income coming in at a stable rate. He spent thousands of dollars advertising, paying for MLS access, paying for access to that communist organisation also known as the Association of Realtors (What a joke - it's pretty much required around here), errors and omissions insurance, etc. He had to pay for rent, living expenses, and all that while getting off the ground. If your wife is expecting you to make money within the next 12 months, then going retail RE sales is probably not going to work, at least not as a primary job.

I was very fortunate in that my line of work provided me with $100k+ per year right out of college.  I worked my butt off, no doubt about that BUT just because you work hard doesn't mean you deserve to make a lot of money.  You have to pick something that provides $100k+ worth of value.  For example, if I am making $100k in a year, then I have to be making $500k in profit for the person I am working for because that's the only way to justify my employment.  I worked in the car industry and made a ton of money because I was able to sell vehicles for a profit, generate millions in revenue per month for the owner, run a sales team, train the noobs, etc.

However, if I had to do it all over again, I would not have gone into the car business.  I eventually got into finance, which was a really cush job that made multiple six figures, but it was kind of soul crushing... (think of the worst car salesman stereotypes and multiply by 100x and throw in some illegal sales techniques, that's finance) lol.  In hindsight, I would have gone into mortgage origination at a call center.  Mortgage origination is where the money is at (assuming you aren't in a recession of course).  I worked for a company out of Irvine that did all of the advertising for us, we simply sat at our desks and waited for interested borrowers to be transferred to us.  It was the easiest sale of my life, actually benefitted the client and the pay was amazing.  My first month of doing mortgages, I originated 15 loans for over $4M in mortgages and if I recall correctly, brought home about $8k that month.  Had I hit the next tier (16 loans) my pay would have jumped up to about $14k lol and I only worked 5 days a week, 10 hours a day with ALL food paid for.  Most of the people there that weren't brain dead were making a consistent $15k - $20k per month...  When I worked in the car business, it was 7 days a week, 12+ hours per day, maybe 1 or 2 days off a month if I was lucky and the average sales person made $3k - $4k per month.  I was on my feet most of the day too.  Mortgages through a call center would be my preferred method if I had to do it all over again.

Kind of a longer post than I originally wanted, but to sum it all up: get a job.  Be smart about what job you take though... Careful with the advice you take from some people on here.  If you just take any old job, you will get any old paycheck and not learn squat about the things you need to learn.  Working in sales taught me so much that when it came time to transition into owning my own businesses, I was prepared.  Working in the mortgage industry taught me so much about real estate overall.  If you take a random job with subpar pay, then you need to ask yourself what the opportunity cost of YOUR TIME is.  What will this job teach you that will help with your real estate investing or owning a business of your own?  Any type of sales will teach you alot, certain kinds of sales will make you a ton of money along the way.

As others have suggested getting another job, why not kill 2 birds w/ 1 stone by driving for Uber and driving for dollars? Make use of both if you are open to that. I currently work for the City of Sacramento and drive around all day. I will write down addresses's of houses that looked distressed and may be potential leads to send yellow letters to. 

Funny. I'm sort of in a similar position, except I've had my license for over 3 years already. The agent business can take a long time to get going unless you have a huge sphere of influence (large groups, lot of connections, etc.) and/or you join a team that will give you lots of leads and/or you are a serious go getter and don't mind cold calling tons of people and door knocking and so forth.

I'm actually looking to wholesale and I already have my license. (I also have some rentals and have done a few rehab/flips.) So that might tell you something. Being an agent is NOT as easy at it might look. The work itself is easy but getting the business going can be tough, again, depending on how you approach it.

Jerry Moore , completing the sources and then registering for the exam and getting the license takes months . There are also other fees you must pay after getting the license that I'm pretty sure would put you over $1000 .

Then even if you do make a sale right away you'll have to wait more months for the first commission check .

Those on demand companies can let you bring in income pretty quick ... seems as long as you have a clean background they'll hire you .. but I've also heard from people that drive Uber that they often don't make much more than min wage after paying for gas and vehicle expenses . So you have to be pretty careful .You are also an independent contractor so not entitled to any benefits or anything .
The main advantage of these types of jobs or gigs is the schedule flexibility.

Regarding finding real estate related jobs have you searched on indeed.com before ? You can filter by full time part time , as entry level too .

Good luck .

-confer with the mrs.

-sign up with uber & lyft (to generate some income)

-after you've generated some funds, helped out around the house along with saving some cash and conferred with the mrs. do either or both licensee course/ wholesale/brrrrr  

my coin.

kudos,

Mary 

I would find another job.

RE takes a little bit of capital, and a lot of knowledge. You need both, get a job and learn during your off time. Save money like it's scorched earth. By the time you have a little saved up, maybe you'll have a better understanding of the strategy you want to implement.

Getting your license just means getting another job, albeit in sales. High stress, no short term results, and more overhead

Sending out 1000 in mailing campaign is a very unlikely-to-work hail Mary.

Don't throw money at a problem hoping it'll work, that's not investing. Find a strategy, implement, iterate.

If money is that tight.  I wouldn't use it for a course.  Especially, when you can get enough answers from the free sources that are available.  Yes, that includes Bigger Pockets.  The amount of money that you have is never enough or it's always enough.  

Forget about the money and focus on learning and taking action.  Normally, when someone doesn't have enough money.  They have time.  Use it wisely.