All Forum Posts by: Sam J Mrofcza

No problem, one thing to keep in mind, they have floor tile and they have wall tile, you can use floor tile on the wall but you cannot use wall tile on the floor.  I have seen more than a few people make this mistake.  

Let me start by saying that I am not from CA and I am only licensed in my home state of Illinois.  That being said some states do have reciprocity agreements with other states that would allow you to obtain a licence in another state without having to completely retake a course certified in the new state.  Basically its a streamlined process to allow you to get a license in another state faster.  You will still have to work for a local Managing Broker in the non resident state and you will only be able to work for one place at a time.  IE you can't work for several different real estate companies.  Below are just a few issues I see. 

1. Most real estate brokerages that do not charge monthly desk/service fees have a minimum sale quota you must hit in order for them to hold your licence.  If you're doing this out of state and only looking for your own investments this might be an issue after the first year.  My advice here is to get in with a smaller local broker that understands your goals.  Now he/she will take a bigger cut of the commission but at the end of the day you'll still be ahead. 
2.  Just a quick search on CA lead me to the this site, looks like you do not have reciprocity agreements with any other states, so getting licensed in CA might just be a waste of time. 
3. You're best to narrow it down to the states you want to invest in and then research the licensee requirements for that state.  A tip on that would be to look for the State agency that regulates real estate agents.  In Illinois is the IDFPR (Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation) in CA it looks like the Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Real Estate.  As you can see it will vary from state to state, so when you get to google make sure to type something like "Florida State agency real estate"  rather than "how to get my Florida Real Estate license" as this will probably yield a ton of websites trying to sell you the pre license course.  

As for the course it self, here in Illinois it was a 350 page book (75 hour self taught portion), a 2 day webinar (15 hour guided), then you took a test to pass the course and finally the state test.  The state exam was 100 questions, multiple choice.  When it comes to this a friend turned my onto this site, examsmart.com; I loved this site as a test prep tool and I have recommended it several agents.  

Good luck 

Sam 

@JD Martin is spot on.  I just bought a nice 12x18 porcelain tile for a smaller bathroom at an outlet supply house for $.99 a SF.  Lowes has a really good series on bathroom remodeling if you're looking to tackle it yourself.  If you rather pay someone, figure on between $3-$6 a SF for installation depending on how elaborate you want to get with your design (note that is not including the price of the tile).  

Good Luck  Anthony 

Well if you can't tell by the introduction I am a man of many hats.  I do Quality and Reliability Engineering for a Railroad (the day job) but my passion is Real Estate.  My wife and I purchased our first rental last year (5/2015) and I got my real estate license 11/2015.  I am hoping to grow our properties over the next several years to a point where I can permanently transition to Real Estate Agent/Landlord full time.  The plan for now was to use the proceeds from my real estate deals to finance future investments.  I would also be very interested in doing some flips as a way to get my cash up.  I have a mechanical background and enough fiance to get into trouble.  Im looking forward to learning more about this business and how I can make it work for me and the needs of my family.  Thank you