Is it a good move or would it hurt down the road if we decide to buy a home ( which we are planning to but still couple years or so ) The reason we are not buying right now is i would like a decent home and then stay in that forever and at this point i guess i am just not ready to buy my own.thank you

I've always been interested in real estate, have sold a couple of my own homes by owner, owned and managed a 24-unit apartment building with partners and own a couple of small commercial rental properties in town.Here is where I need some opinions, advice or experiences from any seasoned agents & brokers...I've spoken to two local brokerages this week about their general operations, fee and commission structure.

Still trying to figure that one out :-)This point was really crystalized last year in a thread.. nice young couple in I think Slidel LA  .. they went on and on how they were getting leads but had not closed any deals because sellers would not come down. but they got their good friend the real estate broker a half a dozen listings.. so I am thinking man you spend all this money to get these leads then hand them to a broker.. and we all know brokers by law cant pay non licensed individuals referral fees.. 

I will be hiring an Architect to draw a couple concepts and schematics then we intend use these plans to determine Construction Costs.Thank you for your advice, here is my feedback to your questions:Who found the deal?

I just want a couple opinions on if going for this degree actually has any value for me or if it’s just a huge waste of my time and money which I personally think it is.

I'd probably want to keep it within a couple hours of where we live since I'd manage it myself, so places like Saint Cloud, Albert Lea, or Austin would be candidates.

Next week's NHREIA meeting in Manchester will be worth attending  - they're doing a couple of case studies on apartment buildings, actual deals that went down, this is a great group.

My wife and I did this a couple years ago. 

I might present my rock-bottom price and if no deal is made, then that's that...maybe try to come back in a couple weeks (zero showings and 90+ DOM).

This is a townhome, but even discounting for vacancy we're at -$470 CF per month...which maybe isn't as bad and could yield positive in a couple of years after some rent increase?