@DuBeaux Dingle
Great question! I was an agent for Re/Max for a number of years in Atlanta... I had gotten hooked up with a very large property management company... over 300 houses under management... the property management company owner referred all his property owners that moved out of state and wanted to sell their rentals to me to list and rehab for them... I did this for a split on my commission because I was new and needed experience listing and marketing properties to advance my “agent” career... the property management company owner offered to teach me everything about investing... here is why I was not interested... at that time, all my time, energy and resources were focused on the retail market and succeeding as an agent... I was close minded due to my lack of desire to learn something that seemed so foreign and “out of the box”!
In retrospect, that was the worst real estate related decision I ever made... I highly recommend agents learn, pursue and become active investors for the reason you stated... also, in addition, it broadens your potential client pool as a “Realtor” to include Real Estate investors!