Posted by Tim on December 15, 1999 at 14:09:52:
I am interested in getting licensed. I live in Maine. How would I start?
tdutil@mailbox.une.edu
Real Estate License - Posted by Anthony Griffin
Posted by Anthony Griffin on December 15, 1999 at 09:55:33:
I am preparing to start my own investment property business in January. I have taken all of the courses needed to become a licensed real estate salesperson in Mississippi. I am wondering if being a licensed realtor would hurt my business because of all the disclosures that have to be made. Thanks for your advice and keep the forum going. It has proved invaluable to all of us newbies.
Re: Real Estate License - Posted by Bill Gatten
Posted by Bill Gatten on December 16, 1999 at 21:00:56:
Anthony,
Mr. Ikiro (I think his first name was…) Honda, founder of the Honda Motor Co. in Japan, when interviewed by the press many years ago after the initial success of his company, was asked if it was trued that he’d flunked out of the Unviersity. Apparently there was no record of a degree after he attended four years (at either University of Washington or Oregon…one of those). His reply was: “No. I just finished my education and felt no need to hang around anymore. I didn’t enroll to get a diploma. I enrolled to learn how to build engines.”
Connection? If you’ve taken all the RE courses you need for a license, and if you continue to do so, you already have the major benefit of what a license can provide. This is true of course, unless you want to be a salesman: but never forget that you build wealth by owning your own real estate: not by selling someoneelse’s.
However, as was said below, having a license gets you in places where you might not go otherwise. And, too, you don’t have to activate it if you don’t want to. I keep mine current, but I don’t hang it unless I need to for a specific transaction. My biggest use for it is being able to tell people I have it (and being able to prove it) if I’m ever questioned.
Note though that if you’ve gotten your RE Basics out of way, there’s no reason not to get the license. It will definately prove useful in many ways, whether you hang it with a broker or not.
Good question.
Bill Gatten
Re: Real Estate License - Posted by Rob FL
Posted by Rob FL on December 16, 1999 at 08:34:29:
Disclosure is no big deal. I put a written disclosure in all my paperwork. In my contracts there is a blurb about me being a broker. In my leases there is another blurb about it. Any ads or letters that I use have the word “Broker” that is all. No big deal.
Access to MLS, 1/2 of the commission on all deals, lockbox keys, legal hotline, weekly legal updates, group health and life insurance, all the Realtor contracts and forms, etc. are well worth it IMHO.
Re: Real Estate License - Posted by Irwin
Posted by Irwin on December 16, 1999 at 07:39:49:
I have a broker’s license that I don’t use much, but when I do, I usually find an easy $2-6,000. to be made. The disclosure is just that. You disclose. The people you are dealing with don’t have a clue as to why you’re telling them you have a r/e license and couldn’t care less about it. That’s why r/e license disclosure is a joke.
Having the license opens doors that can’t get in without it. There’s little downside to it IMO.