Regardless of whether you’ve just gained your first Radford single-family rental property or are an experienced investor, you may have wished to know if you should obtain your real estate license. As an investor, your long-term success relies so much on reducing costs wheresoever you can. You’re also probably deciding in relation to the value of insider information, exactly needed in competitive markets. But that being said, if you’re believing in a real estate license to save you money and give you the access you want, you may need to do a lot of thinking first. There are both pros and cons to having a real estate license as an investor, all of which should be considered well to figure out whether it’s suitable for you or not.
Among the main reasons why investors want to get a real estate license is to save on commissions. In many cases, the concept of paying someone else a hefty percentage fee can be unpleasant. And, if you plan to sell a lot of properties (when flipping houses, as for instance), you may be able to keep for yourself some money.
But conceding that it’s true, those savings may well just be an illusion for Radford rental property investors who wish to procure and hold properties. This is related to the fact it is usually the seller who pays real estate agent fees, not the buyer. It’s, in like manner, very important to realize that real estate agents are mandated to work under a broker, all of whom will need either a flat fee or a percentage of your commission with any transaction. These fees will further decrease any deemed savings.
On top of saving money, a lot of investors fancy the idea of acquiring a real estate license to obtain a way to access the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). This particular service is highly coveted considering that it is such a valuable resource for properties on the market. There is a free version of the listing service, although it lacks the comprehensive data that makes the MLS so necessary for investors.
If having access to the MLS is your main reason for getting a real estate license, anyhow, you might have to stop and do a lot of thinking first. As a licensee, you may be subject to new laws in relation to your rental property that you are not subject to as a private investor. Even as a real estate agent, access to the MLS is not free. You will necessitate to pay for the required licensing course, pay to take the licensing test, and pay a fee actually to get the license itself. Additional outgoings encompass fingerprinting, brokerage fees, Association of Realtors dues, state fees, so on and so forth. And then you still have to pay for MLS access, at the same time. In short, acquiring your real estate license could cost you thousands of dollars. You may be able to get back that cost some time later, however, several of these expenditures are ongoing and must be factored into your plans.
One final matter, it’s crucial to ask yourself how much your time is worth. Can you afford to spend upwards of 100 hours taking a pre-licensing course and studying for the licensing exam? In lots of states, even the minimum number of hours required to certifycan take months to complete. If you are so far packed, schedule-wise, with your investing business or have some other demands on your time, engaging yourself to take a real estate license can be a really big challenge. More to the point, every hour you are spending on licensing is an hour not to spend growing your investment portfolio. If you are confident of the real benefits of taking your real estate license, it certainly might be worth the investment in the short term. Although, it’s principal to take time to crunch the numbers carefully and be true with regards to your motives before jumping into anything that might not give you the desired return.
Would you like to learn more about how to grow your Radford investment portfolio without a real estate license? Contact us online or give us a call at 540-998-6917.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
