As a side note, here is a BP post I did about how expensive MLS access is in California and how time consuming a license is: https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/9561/55035-what-are-the-costs-and-steps-to-a-california-real-estate-license. 

I have been trying to get my wholesale business off the ground but I have been having issues with finding an investor friendly agent to help me, I know it's time consuming for the agent so I have been thinking of being my own agent so I could possibly do retail as well as wholesale , I guess my question is would this be a good idea or should I keep looking for that rare agent?

The goal is to protect consumers and the licensing laws provide some measure of oversight.  

Due to mortgage tightening, relative positive job growth, good consumer confidence, I don't think the bubble will burst in 2017 or 2018.    

I did the same thing my first few months, read lots of books, consumed all the podcasts I could, networked, etc.  

I have been fortunate to gain 3 multi millionaire mentors because I changed my thinking to, "hey what part of your business consumes the most amount of time and are there any simpler tasks I can do for free for you to learn more about your business to prove that I'm serious?"

If it's too time consuming and you want to buy a list, you can at least compare the results of your own work versus buying it.

He now has six figures in consumer debt and not much to show for it.

@Alan FaitelThat research is too time consuming in my opinion.

I don't currently have any properties but I have also been consuming as much information as possible over the last few months and now I am actively looking to purchase a multi-family property in Central PA.