Thread: Has anyone taken an online real estate course to get a license?

Can I ask what your goal is?

I do real estate investing and too many times do I have people ask me about how difficult it was to get my license. Funny thing is I don't have a license. If you are looking to sell real estate under a broker then you'll need a license, but the truth of the matter is you don't need a real estate license to do real estate. In many ways selling as a licensed agent is probably the worst way to make money in real estate. It just depend on your goals and what you want to do.

There are several options for breaking into this market that do not require a license. I'm a wholesaler for example. I locate distressed properties or problem properties (properties people are desperate to get rid of), lock them up under my own contract, then assign that contract to some one from my investors list for several grand a pop. The last deal I did (closes in 2 weeks). I found a probate property just from an ad I put on craigslist (said Cash For Your House). A couple responded to my ad. Their mom passed away and they had an inherited property that was costing them money and it was an old piece of junk in a not so good neighborhood. Plus to settle the estate it needed sold. If it were up to par it would sell for $40K in this market. I locked it up on my contract for $8K knowing it needs $5-10K in repairs. I flipped that contract to an investor for $12.5K. I pocketed $4500 in a matter of a couple hrs and some gas when all is said and done. I used no cash and no credit. Everybody is happy. They got rid of their problem, investor has a sweet investment with instant equity and cashflow, I made a few thousand for my "troubles".

This is just one example of my latest deal. You can flip forclosures, rent to own, sandwich lease, wholesale, lease option, mortgage assign, etc all for little to no cash out of your pocket! I like these types of real estate better because I can do it on my own time and I make way better money. Not sure what it's like in NY but here the selling agent makes 3.5% and the closing agent makes 3.5%. That means if you sold this deal through traditional license you'd made $280. LOL. Not to mention all the money you pay to the brokerage you fly under. In our state you have to be under a broker for 2 years before you can work on your own!

If your goal is to become an agent and sell properties then by all means take the exam. They offer 2 day courses. If your goal is to actually make money in real estate and get to know the business for little out of your pocket then I would look at other options. I work strictly with investors because I know eventually I'll be buying and developing real estate. That's where the passive income is (do the work once it pays you forever). By wholesaling I can learn and earn at the same time. I really don't care about the money from the business. I care about the knowledge I get by working with millionaire investors on their deals. I send great deals like this their way and they send their friends my way asking for deals. Its the old saying. Pigs get fed... Hogs get slaughtered. I leave plenty of meat on the bone for my investors.

If you like I can send you a word document I put together for a couple older gentlemen I mentored for awhile in real estate. It outlines wholesaling. I can even point you to a guy on youtube that walked me through my first deals. With his videos alone and taking some action you can learn all you need to know to make money in real estate. I actually ended up using him as a mentor to get started after devouring tons of books. Speaking of, if you need book recommendations I can do that too.

Regardless of what I say, getting your license is taking action and I loudly applaud anyone who takes action toward their goals.

Own Your Situation,
Ben

I got my California real estate license by taking classes over the internet. I got my Minnesota real estate license by taking 60 hours of classroom at Kaplan.

It makes no difference at all, with the exception of having a live teacher to ask questions of in the classroom. Plus, its harder to fall asleep in the classroom with a teacher looking at you. I slept through most of the internet class.

Moral of the story. It really doesn't matter as the classes cover very limited, basic material and passing the exam is just basic memorization.

Take it, its good knowledge to have. I had my RE sales license in CT and worked as a RE agent for 18 months. Wouldn't trade it for anything, I now know that part of the business quite well.

I did let me license expire though since with what I do know it makes me easier to sue. IE as a license holder you are "professional" and held to higher standards than a normal person.

This all depends on how disciplined you are at self-study. My own experience: the first time I decided to pursue my license, I ordered the 75 hour broker self study course. The package arrived and truth be told, I hardly cracked opened the textbooks to read the material. Several months later I bit the bullet and enrolled in the local RE school.

I recommend taking classes with a live instructor. Why? A good instructor will help you cram for the licensing exam by giving you a mock-exam, pointing out what chapters of the text are particularly important to understand, as well as point out some of the "trickier" answers on the test. Instructors get graded on what percentage of their students pass the exam so it's in their interest to see you pass.

If at all possible, find a RE school that will allow you to take all the hours at once (M-F 8am-5pm) as opposed to spacing them out on weekends over the course of a month. Students who complete all the hours at once have a much higher success rate than those who spaced the course out over several weeks. Also make sure to schedule your exam for the first available date after class ends. That way all of the information is fresh in your mind for the exam.

Hope that helps...best of luck!

That's amazing. I'd be very interested in learning more about this aspect of the business.

My son get his license by taking an online class. He owns an apartment locating company in Austin TX and needed a license to do that.

You'll make a lot more money with real estate if you are a principal vs. working for a commission. Here's what I mean:

Let's say you sell a $500,000 house. There's a 6% commission or $30,000.
The listing agent will get 1/2 of the $30,000 or $15,000 and you'll have to split the other half with your broker which means you only get $7500 for selling the $500k house and it could take months, if not years, of work to make it happen.

Take the same house, You get an OPTION for $450,000 or $400,000 would be even better. You put up $100 to get the option for 30 days to find a buyer and another 30 days to close. You can get this great price because the seller might be desperate to sell fast and is willing to take a discount to make it happen instead of waiting 6 to 12 months with a traditional listing.

You sell to the same buyer for $500,000 -- because you are a principal ( with an option), you make $50,000 - $100,000 depending on your strike price. There is no splitting profits.

So, how many sellers are out there who are desperate to sell fast and will take a discount to make it happen? Literally millions. So you have a lot of opportunity.

Take it one step further.

Let's say the seller has a mortgage for $450,000 for their house that is worth $500,000 today ( probably $1,000,000 a few years ago)
They are moving next week for a new job in California. They just want someone to take over their house payments fast because they can't afford to make payments on the house in NY and one in CA.

Think that is a realistic situation?

So, you get an OPTION for $450,000 to buy the house subject to the existing mortgage BUT... you will only close once you find an end buyer ( the person who will buy from you)

You advertise Seller Will Finance, No Bank Financing Needed - house for sale for $520,000 - will be sold to the person with the most down payment and best credit.

you have a 1 day open house and the buyers are fighting over who will give you the most money.

Out of the 10 potential buyers, you select the one with $70,000 down.

The payments on the underlying loan are $2500 a month but you collect $3146 per month from your buyer
that's a $646 per month cash flow.

What else did you get -- you got 9 other buyers with money so you can go find a great deal from them and make even more money.

You'd have a very hard time doing any of this with a real estate license!!!

Your time and money would be much better spent learning how to do these kinds of deals.

we have some free training at cashflowdepot and if you decide you want to take it to the next level it's super affordable

RUN away from those high priced seminars and gurus, you don't need it.

The guru's who are really making their living DOING real estate deals don't charge thousands of dollars for seminars.

You can also start with wholesale deals. There's not as big of a paycheck but it is fast money and there's plenty of opportunity with that too.. Send me a PM with your email and I'll be glad to send you my 145 page ebook for free.

Jackie @ CashFlowDepot.com

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wholesaling real estate
wholesale houses for sale

Originally Posted by djs13

I'm thinking I could take the course online while doing my internship, but the online schools I've checked out so far don't look legit.

My question is a bit off topic but what specifically made then look non-legit? Is there anything that if you saw it (I'm thinking a partnership with a local college) would've removed your doubts about the online courses? I ask because courses like this (more or less) are in my future plans. Thanks for any additional I sight... John-Paul

Hi,
I would be very intereted in learning the real estate whole sale. please let me know the step by step process and the you tube link. in particular wish to know how to how to get the contacts of the investors.thank you. Shre

How do you go about becoming a wholesaler?

Originally Posted by CashFlowDepot

Take the same house, You get an OPTION for $450,000 or $400,000 would be even better. You put up $100 to get the option for 30 days to find a buyer and another 30 days to close. You can get this great price because the seller might be desperate to sell fast and is willing to take a discount to make it happen instead of waiting 6 to 12 months with a traditional listing.

hi
im very intersted about what you said this
but im not quite understand you put 100 in front for the option.
im a new real estate agent, as my experience , for a 500k deal, at least you need put 10k down as deposit money
how you convince the seller just allow you to put 100 down and get the 500k sales agreement?

i believe this is the way to make money, but it just need much more than 100 to put down.
i believe the first time i flip house, i saw a shell condition house asking for 45000, and i negotiate it and sigh the agreement with the 38000 sales price with 2000 dollar down as deposit money. because im the agent, so i didnt really hand him the 2000 dollar deposit, but at least i put it on the agreement , lol but i think if i didnt settle it in 30 days, he can sue me for 2000 without any problem.

but in 1 week, i find a cash buyer and sell it for 55000. happy ending .

Originally Posted by CashFlowDepot

So, you get an OPTION for $450,000 to buy the house subject to the existing mortgage BUT... you will only close once you find an end buyer ( the person who will buy from you)

You advertise Seller Will Finance, No Bank Financing Needed - house for sale for $520,000 - will be sold to the person with the most down payment and best credit.

you have a 1 day open house and the buyers are fighting over who will give you the most money.

Out of the 10 potential buyers, you select the one with $70,000 down.

The payments on the underlying loan are $2500 a month but you collect $3146 per month from your buyer
that's a $646 per month cash flow.

this is a very good idea, first time i read it is from rich dad poor dad book. i havent tried it myself yet
this is just like you find a 30 yrs long term tenant who pays your rent, and you pay rent to the bank, you makes the difference.

only one big issue in this idea, what if some year some day, the guy who can't afford the monthly mortgage?
that is biggest risk in this plan.\
if that happened, foreclosure takes up to a year to finish. during those time, since you hold the mortgage, then you are fucked up.

also, about those numbers, i dont quite follow how this works.
lets say the left over mortgage is 200k, and you bought the house as 450k plus the 200k mortgage.
now you sold it for 520k plus 200k mortgage, that sales price is 720k,
he paid you 70k down, and own your 650k.
you use his 70k pay back the first owner, but still own him 380k and 200k to the bank. you mean you get another mortgage from the bank for 380k and plus the old one 200k, total is 580k mortgage?

if it is like that, you first make the difference sales price, and a little bit intrest proift.
best thing is charge him higher interest than the bank charge you.