All Forum Posts by: Kyle Kline

My thought is...just take the classes to get a better education, but you don't need a license if you're only going to do 1-2 deals a year.   It's expensive to maintain and if you're just doing a transaction here and there, most people probably are more dangerous with it, overthinking they're doing themselves a deal.  I mean you could go get your mortgage license, and and insurance license, and an inspectors license, right....but if you're only doing one or two home inspections a year instead of one or two a day, or a loan or two a year, verses 3-4 a week, you're probably not going to be that good at any of it.

I'd only get it if you plan to sell to other people....maybe 10 or more a year....that's probably the basics of staying competent.   To me real estate is a team sport...get people on your team who are the experts....and you're the conductor...or the GC....GCs do the same thing....they don't go get a master license in each discipline....electric, plumbing, HVAC, etc....they just run the show.

Do you want to sell real estate? Do you want to represent buyer and sellers in their transactions? If not, then a license may not be what you need. Have you looked into what it takes (education, fees, expenses) to obtain and maintain a license in your state? Weigh those costs against how much you want to do activities that require a license in your state. 

I got my license after doing 6-7 deals of my own. I was transitioning away from a career in public education, and got licensed so that I could help other people and earn commissions in between my deals. I honestly can't say that my license has helped me as an investor. I know for certain that my experience as an investor helps me represent my clients. 

@Kyle Kline hi there.  I'll chime in on why not to get your license.  Depending on your strategy for buying, it may be best to be able to say you are not licensed to sellers who feel they can't or don't want to pay commissions. In case you didn't know licensed agents must disclose the fact that they are licensed ASAP when meeting a new person and discussing their real estate transaction.  

I am licensed now but was not for the first 4-5 years I invested. I did pay for a mentor who taught me how to market and talk to motivated sellers (not in the MLS) and saying "no commissions" was invaluable. Now that I am licensed I say "I am licensed, However, no commissions will be paid because this is for/within my personal RE portfolio." Off market deals are usually a better buy, but not always.

You can always get to know a good agent who will want a long time relationship and who will be willing to reduce their commission bc of the volume. I bought and sold mostly HUD homes to flip at the time. Plus there are other sources for information about properties.

If you want to have your face on bus benches and sell retail (through the MLS) getting some experience under your belt with transactions is invaluable. I maintain my license but only work on referral and for my own deals.

@Kyle Kline - well, you have to wait long enough to have built up enough equity to borrow from the value of the house. If you don’t have enough equity in there, you won’t be able to do it. Example - I bought a house for $62k, with a loan for $50k. Several years later, I refinanced the loan to be a $90k loan and took out about $30k which I put down on another property purchase. Now, I still own the house and it is worth $175k. I could actually refi it and take money out again if I choose as the loan balance is about $88k now. You can generally refinance about every 6 mos.

Does that help?

Kevin - this is the place to ask questions you may be too embarrassed to ask elsewhere! Typically, you would refinance a property for a couple of reasons:

1. To get a better interest rate or better terms (like changing from a 30-year loan to a 20-year loan, for example).

2. To be able to access your equity in the house and "cash out" when you do the refinance. Essentially, if you bought a house for $200k, did some improvements to it so that it was worth $300k, you could then refinance it and pull out up to 70-80% of the Loan-to-Value amount. That means you look at being able to pull out most of the difference between your loan amount and the new appraised amount of the home.

Typically, in a BRRRR situation, refinancing to pull cash out allows you to then take that cash and put it down on a new purchase so you can increase your portfolio. Keep in mind that when you refinance a loan you do start the clock over on the loan, meaning you get a new 30-year term for example. However, if the numbers make sense and you can afford the new payment it can be a great way to finance future purchases.

Hope that made sense for you. If not, please ask more questions!

I recently received my license, which has been a game-changer.

Being an agent allows you interact with a lot of investors, expand your knowledge, make a little money, and grow your portfolio. (I'm a part-time agent.)

Think about it like this: a family may purchase a house and live there for a few years unless they are military. An investor will buy a property and once it's rehabbed, will look for another...and another...

As an investor, you can speak to the importance and power of real estate with all clients. Plus, investors are less likely to be concerned about the color of the walls. 😉 I can also search for my own deals on the MLS and use investor tools such as PropStream to help.

Becoming an agent has been a great experience. I wish I would have done it sooner honestly. I can thank my daughter for that one (she's 26). I wouldn't have done it without her encouragement.

I hope this helps. Let me know if I can help further.

I wish you all the best.

I completely agree with @Hamp Lee III getting my license was a massive help, and quite frankly I have no idea how some many investors get by without it. 

The biggest thing for me is the access to sold data. I can literally go through almost every flip that's happened in every neighborhood in my city and figure out what the spreads are, where the opportunity could be. 

Also when I receive calls from off market sellers I can have a good idea about what they could list for, what a direct offer would likely be, and then work through the options with them in real time. Most wholesalers I know that don't have their licenses have to wait hours before they get comps and many just go into offers blind with nothing but honestdoor or tax pricing for the house.