All Forum Posts by: Jose L Torres

@Cin Khai if you signed up a buyers agent as a single agent relationship, they have a fiduciary responsibility to look after your best interest.  Everything from Full disclosure, advising you on the transaction, and helping you coordinate all the activity Will part of their responsibilities. 

After you sign a contract, they will help you with coordination of the activity that needs to take place to get the deal from contract to closing.  You will still have to make decisions but the agent should give you options for things like title companies, inspection, repair companies and others for you to choose from. 

A good buyers agent will constantly communicate with you to keep you up to date on what is going on with the transaction.  He will also be following up with the seller’s agent to ensure everything is moving according to plan.

Please let me know if you need a referral for a good buyers agent in your area.

Best of luck!

@Chris Wan Hi Chris,

I am a Realtor with KW here in Sarasota-Brandenton.  I am also a Real Estate investor. Please feel free to contact me messaging.

First things first!  When you get into Real Estate you are officially an Entrepreneur and a Business Owner.  Which means that all the costs associated with starting your business fall on you. 

That said, you want to lead from Revenue. So you only spend what is absolutely necessary and the rest waits until you start closing on some deals.

So with that in mind, here are some of the “needed” items:

- Licensing Course

- Licensing Exam w State

- Fingerprinting and background check

- Once licensed, you will have to join the National/State/County realtor association to gain access to the MLS and other tools to help you get started.

- In most states you will be required to do post-licensing training and testing.  This could wait, but most agents get it done right away so they do not have to worry about it later. 

The above are needed costs.  Depending on your state they could run between $2000 - $3000 dollars.

- Your fuel bill in your car and maintenance will go up as you will be on the road a lot more.

Other costs that you could incur:

- Signage

- Dialers

- Additional specialty certifications

- Additional training

- Advertising

- Setting up you LLC,PA or PLLC

- Accounting softwares

- Others

You may be able to delay some of these by leveraging folks in your brokerage to lend you signs and help you market your Open Houses and such until you start getting your own listings. 

My recommendation is to save about $3000 to get you started.

I hopes this helps you.

Jose

@Anthony Cannizzaro Hi Anthony,

I attended Bob Hogue Real Estate School after researching several options.  They prepared me really well and I passed my test in the first sitting. I attended the live class which runs 7 days. 

Best of luck!

Jose

@Maura Colarelli Hi Maura,  if you are a member of the National Association or Realtors or you local one and meet their requirements you can use the designation Realtor.  If you are not a member you can use any of the other designations on your list. 

I use the Realtor on mine.

Hope that helps!

Jose

@Jonathan Killam. Hi Jonathan.  That is a question that only you can answer. 

While you are going throughout class is the best time to contact brokerages in your area and start interviewing them.  Unlike a regular job where they interview you.m,  this is a situation where you interview them. 

I went through this process recently.  Questions I asked included:

1. How many active agents in your brokerage?

2. Of those agents what percentages do full time work, vs work part-time vs work sometimes?

3 How do they help accelerate productivity for new agents?

4. What training do they provide?

5. Will they provide you with a coach or mentor?

6 What are the initial costs for a new agent?

7. What are the commission splits?

8. What will your first 90 days look like?

The above will give you a good feel for the organization.  The other is during the interview process decide whether these folks are people you would want to work with.  Are they high energy, motivated, do they like to work as a team and support each other.

Do not be afraid to talk to two different offices of the same brokerage.  Teams are different in every office. 

If you do the above you will find a great team to join. 

If you like PM me and I will share my personal experience and who did I join.

Best of luck !!

Congratulations in getting your license.

To be successful you need to become hyper-focused.  You should get familiar with school zones, art and entertainment venues, economic development in the area, in addition to types of homes by neighborhoods, and market conditions in your area. 

This is what sets you aside from the rest!

Best of luck!!

If you have not interviewed Brokerages you should do so.  You are interviewing them to see if they are a good fit for you.  Each one is different and have different things to offer. 

Once you select a Brokerage they will give you additional training on contracts, how to sell, and others. 

You also have to complete your 45 hour continuing education as part of your post licensing requirements.  Don’t forget to sign up and get that done right away. 

Getting through all of the about will take about a month.

After that start calling everybody you know, and I mean everybody! Let them know what you are doing and ask them for referrals or leads. Once you exhaust this list, then work on For Sale By Owner FSBO, expires listings, etc.

When you start with people you know you will get a solid lead or sale for every 12 people you reach.  That is a 12:1 ratio. Everybody else outside that circle is a 50:1

Best of luck to you!!

Hi Bernicha,

To become a real estate investor, you do not need a license.  You need to gain education through a place like Bigger Pockets so you learn what to how and how to do it.

To become a Real Estate Licensed Agent, you need to complete your state’s required education, background check, finger printing and examinations.  You then sign up with a Broker and they will provide additional education and tools.

To be an “accredited investor”, you need to earn more than $200k (depending on the state and the investment)  or $300k jointly for the past two years and expect to maintain that level of income in the future. You need to show that you have the experience and knowledge to invest in un-registered securities or investments.

Hope this answers your question.

Jose

@Joshua Rountree!

Thank you for the encouragement!  I really appreciate it. I am always happy to connect. I am sending you an invitation to connect.  Let's see if we can catch-up live in the next week or so!

Jose Torres