Chapter 2: Should I get my real estate license or not for investing?
Fast forward a couple of months, not long after I bought my first deal using financial aid money. I was using a broker at the time, and every single weekend, I asked him to go see like 30 houses with me. He was fed up and simply told me to go get my real estate license because he could not keep up with me anymore. So that’s what I did! I went and got a real estate license simply so that I could make my own appointments and go at my own time without bothering anyone. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Although I am very pro about getting your real estate license to start investing, I also understand that there are two schools of thought on this subject, and I will try to be neutral here as much as I can to help you make your best decision. Should real estate investors get a real estate license?
So, should you, as a new real estate investor, get a real estate license to become a real estate agent?
There is always a yin and yang side to everything in life! Same with getting a real estate license. For me, getting a real estate license allows you to go look at your own deals, make your own offers, run your own comps, and move at your own time. I even make a commission here and there brokering deals for other people! If you had asked me 8 years ago, I would have said yes, go get it! Best thing you can do for your life.
If you ask me now, I would say, well… it depends. It depends on your goals. What do you want, and does it fit your business model? Since everybody is different, for me, one of the pitfalls of getting a real estate license is that you actually treat real estate like a job!! This is a big no-no, and unfortunately, many people, including me, fell into this trap.
You think you are saving money by working for yourself, but in reality, you’re not! You just create another job for yourself to do. As a real estate investor, your biggest activity should be studying and leveraging other people’s time. If you get a license, you will end up working as an agent and not an investor. In my opinion, if you have to contribute your own commission into the deal to make the deal work, then it’s not a deal.
So yes, go get your license, but use it wisely. There is a big difference between being a Real Estate Agent and a real estate Investor. As long as you can distinguish the two, you should be fine.
Looking back on this journey, I think if I had been given the chance again, I would focus more on being a real estate agent and not just 100% dialed in on being an investor. I do have to tell you that compound interest is a lie in my opinion, or it is just simply too slow for me. It only works when you have a lot of money. If you have $100 and you let it compound at 5% for 10 years, you have… nothing. But if you have 1 million and you let it compound at 5% over 10 years, well, you have something.
Instead of managing that dollar, just stack that dollar into the bank, broker another deal as an agent, increase your income, stack it up until you have great savings, then go invest it in real estate.
So yes, go get your license. There are doors that will just open up after you have it, and use it.