All Forum Posts by: Richie Thomas

@Anthony Blackburn sounds like a healthy margin with very little rehab effort.  Nicely done to you and your investor.

@Russell Brazil fair point.  Ideally I could eventually outsource the bulk of the property sourcing as well, once I establish myself in a certain market and get the experience I'm looking for.  In the meantime I'm happy to treat the first few years as an investment in my real estate education.

I'm an aspiring real estate investor and I just applied to take my real estate license exam. However, I'm not interested in becoming a salesperson, but rather in obtaining MLS and lockbox access. My thinking is that these two things will allow me to source and inspect properties at my own pace, since the activity I most want to focus on is filling my deal flow pipeline. I'm happy to give up the 3% that I would have saved being my own agent, and give that to an experienced realtor (especially one who often works with investors), so I can focus on the above.

However, I'm aware that this strategy will necessitate hanging my license with a real estate broker, and I assume that this broker will expect their licensees to meet sales targets. In lieu of personally closing sales, I'm happy to funnel all my buying / selling representation needs to the brokerage I hang my license with. If I do my job right, my pipeline will be full, and my broker would benefit from the resulting repeat business.  My goal is to make this a win-win for the broker, any buyers + sellers, and of course for myself.  My question is- does this arrangement raise any ethical or legal red flags that I don't foresee due to my inexperience?

I'm well aware that most folks on these boards aren't lawyers and I won't hold anyone to their opinion. I'm just looking for a 2nd opinion from someone who knows the lay of the land better than I do. I don't see any issues with this arrangement- since I'm not representing anyone, there's no agency created, therefore there's no risk of violating a fiduciary responsibility. Nor do I think I'm inducing the broker representing me to violate their fiduciary duties, as far as I can tell.

I would of course be careful not to give any potential buyers or sellers advice, so as not to create implied agency.  And it goes without saying that I'd abide by the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Realtors.  But other than this, I can't think of any danger zones. Am I missing anything?

@Don Alder-LaRue thanks for the thorough reply.  It's unfortunate that a buyer would have no other remedy apart from legal action in the above situation, but I agree it's unrealistic to expect inspectors or agents to perform heavy lifting / moving of furniture to uncover every last defect.

@James Gates the timeline you gave is helpful.  Also, I wasn't aware that an agent could wait til closing to pay for the report, that's a surprise.  All the above is useful, thanks for your input!

Thank you both, @Anthony Dooley and @Account Closed.

Thanks @Dennis Maynard.  Any idea how long the process takes once you place an order?

No worries, I understood that to be the case.

Roger that, Caleb.  Glad to hear a release form would do the trick.  Thanks again.

@Michael Driever thanks for sharing your experience.  Feedback like yours gives me useful data points as I attempt to find product-market fit in an industry which is new to me.