All Forum Posts by: Kathy Li

Hi all,

I had gotten my RE salesperson license in NY and would like to get reciprocity in PA for STR property investing. I'm looking for a sponsoring broker in Tunkhannock/Tobyhanna Township and have gathered some brokerages that have sold a home between November and October: KW, Century 21, Pocono Mountain Lakes Realty, Pocono Mountains Real Estate, and Re/Max of The Poconos. Do you have experience with these brokerages? What are their fee schedules and training like?

Kathy

Hello, I'm a licensed real estate agent in NYC looking to get reciprocity in PA. My current sponsor in NY does not have an office in PA, thus I'm looking for a brokerage in/near Tobyhanna, PA to hang my license. I'd like to work with a broker with short term rental experience as I'm only interested in using my license to be my own buyer's agent. Thanks in advance for your recommendations!

Thanks for the input.

@Joel Owens - Thanks for the input. What’re some key things you’d recommend doing as a new agent?

@George Hermann How did you get your start, did you transition from a different career? If you did, what are key things to do as a part-time real estate agent starting out? Thanks for the book recommendation.

@Eric Hrlbock - Residential multi-families refer to 4 units or less, anymore, they're classified as commercial properties.

@Catherine Emert - Hi Catherine, good advice! Will do. My brokerage did inform me that MLS memberships become cheaper the more you buy. Sort of like a bundle situation.

Hi BP,

I'm Kathy, new to the forum. Nice to meet you all.

I'm newly licensed, joined a brokerage in NYC about a month ago. I'm interested in residential multifamily buy-and-holds in Hudson Valley, NY, and specifically Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, and Beacon. I got my license to access the MLS and reinvest in commissions.

I'm trying to find a balance between being a new agent and programming as a freelancer. I've narrowed where I do my business as a real estate agent to the Upper West Side in New York, doing rentals and residential properties. I'm quickly realizing that prospecting for leads is a ton of work. Any advice on how to manage being a real estate agent on the side?

These are my next steps - Any suggestions? Should I narrow my focus somewhere?
- Use Symon He's Real Estate Analysis Foundations course on Lynda.com to do 'back of the envelope' analysis on each area
- Re-read BP's Rental Property Investing and Flipping Houses books
- Post 5-10 owner paid rental listings onto social media

Kathy

@Eric Hrlbock - I'm looking to buy residential multi-families.

@Christian Reyes - I got my license to access the MLS, and to reinvest the commission splits. When a listing agent puts a property up for sale, his/her commission could be split with you because you're a member of that MLS.

Likewise, J Scott's The Book on Flipping Houses (ed. 1) explains on pg. 57, "Many investors realize that every time they sell a house through another agent, they are spending about 6% of the sale price in agent commissions. What they don't realize is that when they buy property, their agent is also collecting up to 3% for facilitating that transaction.

"This means that on a typical purchase and sale of a property, an investor has access to up to about 7-8% of the total sale price of the property in extra profit, if he didn't have to give that money up to his agent. If you buy a property for $50K and sell it for $100K, that's $7500 in additional profit (assuming your buyer didn't have his own agent) you could have if you were your own agent on the purchase and sale of that deal!"

You have a good point, to start I could reach out to an agent with access to those MLS for deals since they'd know the areas better than me.

Would I be able to do a commission split with a member of HGAR/MHMLS if I were a member of NYSMLS?

Hi BP,

I'm newly licensed, joined R New York in the city about a month ago. My motivation for getting a license is to find multifamily deals in Hudson Valley, NY--Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, and Beacon--and to reinvest commissions. I went with R because it's close to home, easy to get to training and I prefer to pay a flat fee over a percentage on my commissions. By default, R doesn't come with the MLS I want and so startup-costs go up:

Poughkeepsie - Dutchess County - Mid Hudson MLS
Beacon - Dutchess County - Mid Hudson MLS - $300/year
Newburgh - Orange County - HGAR $150/year

For $450/year I'd get access to the three areas I want, but there's also the option of going with New York State MLS - $320/year. Would deals that show up on MHMLS and HGAR not show up on NYSMLS and vice versa? What're your thoughts and considerations?

Kathy