I think the question itself emerges from a belief that one either has to be an investor (and do creative investing) OR be an agent and focus all of their time and energy on traditional agent tasks.I see the license as just one of several tools we employ to monetize leads (which in our area are extremely expensive right now).My wife and I own a brokerage, but all of our 32 agents across Texas are first and foremost creative real estate investors, marketing to distressed sellers, wholesaling, flipping, taking properties down Sub2, etc.But when you do that kind of marketing to distressed sellers, sometimes you run across situations where the best solution for the seller (and best chance to monetize that lead) is to just list it.... either a traditional listing or a short sale listing (no, you don't have to call banks either)... or even an owner-finance listing.I think there a lot of myths about being an agent... some of which are more true if you are caught up in a more traditional brokerage where they stress getting a high volume of traditional closings.Common myths are:-- I'll have to show buyers around:  Not if you don't want to!

I was wondering if I could get the BP community's feedback on whether I should go with a traditional brokerage once I get my real estate license, or whether I should go for a discount brokerage that doesn't give me much overhead.As back ground,  I am hoping to use my license primarily for access to the MLS and for access to properties.

Be on the lookout for non traditional deals.

You may be in an area where many people work for the same company lets say that has in that area traditionally employed a great number of people and then suddenly laid off a high percentage of their work force and perhaps allot of people in your area will be motivated at that particular time to sell their house and move on with their lives.

Having an agent help you find  a buyer who will qualify for traditional financing may be the best way to go for you.

When you talk about buying a 2-3 unit in Logan, are you referring to a traditional sale?  

It isn't likely that you will get a traditional lender to take a chance on you with scores and report info like that.Try to improve your credit score.

I have a great attorney who is experienced with many of the "no-traditional" realty transactions.

@Aaron Pfeffer you traditionally wouldn't want to hold it as a wholesaler because that is not their desire.

Traditional advice is to never buy and hold real property in an S-corp.