Most agents don't realize they are starting a business where they are the CEO and employee. 

I certainly realize that this may be off.

But when I hit 40 I realized "Uh, I love doing this s**t -- why retire?".   

After buying this rental I've realized that I can't continue to buy rentals without building more capital, so now I'm going to do some flips.

I left a 25+ year career in IT to get into real estate, and while I'm doing ok (on track to close about 1.5 mil in sales volume my first year) it didn't take long to realize that just being an agent can quickly become a grind and feel just like a job. 

Although in the beginning I believed that hanging my license under a transaction only fee brokerage will be my best option I quickly realized that they usually offer no training at all and will suit more experienced agents better.

Don't give that up for real estate, perhaps use real estate to create it.You do realize that HELOCs can be revoked, right?

I realized the sales guys that want to do a bank loan for you will say almost anything to get your business, but if they are not used to working a certain type of situation it will be painful and expensive just to find out that they can not do what they said they could.

I've come too realize that I dont have the capital too start quite yet.

I bet he doesn't even realize he dodged a bullet on that one.