All Forum Posts by: Katy Hall

I'm a realtor in Houston and obtained by license at 24. If it's what you want to do, go for it. No need to wait simply because you're young. 

@Brian Ambrose brought up a good point in asking why you want to get your real estate license. You may not know the answers now but ask yourself what you hope to achieve as a realtor and separately as an investor. It's absolutely possible to be successful in both realms but you need to make sure you plan properly. You can't be an independent broker until you have what TREC considers to be the necessary amount of experience and education. I could go out on my own but prefer the setup I have. There are many brokerages to consider and they all have their own structure. You may find some of those get in the way of your investment goals. I could give tons of examples but here's one:

You want to buy a HUD owned foreclosure and flip it. Is your broker registered with HUD? If so, you may not be able to buy it. Are you able to list your own property? Does your commission split create a financial problem for you?

Careful relying on Zillow for comps. Texas is a non-disclosure State so sales prices are not readily available through public records. Zillow pulls from public records for their Zestimates. Some homeowners and agents do provide data to Zillow but it is not enough at this point. See below directly from their site. 

I recommend getting in touch with a realtor in the area that can guide you through this. The questions you've asked are very broad. I'd hate to see someone make a very expensive mistake by not having enough information before jumping in.