RE Agent? - Posted by David Kazi

import · July 26, 2003, 10:35pm

Posted by David Kazi on July 27, 2003 at 11:50:58:

Thanks for your comments Heath,I’ll have to reconsider my thoughts based on what I now know.
Good Luck in your Deals.

import · July 26, 2003, 10:35pm

Posted by David Kazi on July 26, 2003 at 22:35:30:

First and foremost,I give thumbs up to the Creonline community’s free invaluable information.
I am an Investor and just started about six months ago.I have read numerous publications regarding Real estate Investment from Rich Dad poor Dad(Robert Kiyosaki),Buy It Fix it Sell It (C. myers),Flipping Properties (Robert & William),Investing in Fixer Upper (DeCima),the list goes on and on.In addition I have subscribed to the Houston based Real Estate Investment Club (RICH) and attended a number of seminars.
In my previous archive searches, I have noted the importance of going out there and start performing which I havent done yet.At this point I was thinking of taking “RE Agent” classes so I may have an additional source of income while my rehab projects are underway.As a matter of fact,I’m an Immigrant(Legal)from Africa and I want to take advantage of my community in helping them to buy their dream properties,which I may not have in my portfolio.I dont know if this is the right thing to do at the moment or what!I will appreciate your comments.

Thanks in advance.

David Kazi.

import · July 27, 2003, 9:21am

Re: RE Agent? - Posted by Heath

Posted by Heath on July 27, 2003 at 09:21:34:

I was considering going the agent route too. I went to the broker and got the rosie sales pitch… “now is the best time… you’ll earn 60k first year… yata yata yata”. I spoke with a good friend who actually did it. She spent over $1500 just for licenses and fees. She said it was a tremendous amount of time showing properties, open houses etc, and very little real money. Her first commish was only $800 after expenses. If she had known what it was going to be like, she never would have done it, she said.

Get a regular job with steady predictable income while you get your investing machine started.

Personally I want the resources the agent has: MLS, market trends, training, without being forced play the “agent on the beat”. If I’m going to chase people on nights and weekends to get contracts signed it will be for a $10k flip deal, not an $800 commision. I may take the RE class just to learn everything the agent knows, but not take the lic test.

Find an agent to work for you. You will get all the info you want w/o the strings. Plus, I’m sure you’ve read on this board that you must disclose that you are an agent on any purchase contract. That puts you at a big disadvantage. The seller may feel you will use your superior position and take advantage of him/her. And if a deal went bad, went to court, you as a licensed agent are held to a much higher standard than the innocent homeowner.

In my area there is a growing push to punish investors who profit too much on a deal. If you buy low, resell high, the seller finds out and gets very upset. He thinks that profit should be his. We know that we spent the time to re-market the property, something he has too lazy to do. We earned the profit. Public opinion again looks at the poor seller as the victim.

Get a job that allows you time to make calls and visit properties.