real estate question

[stankybank]

I figure I can post this here:

Say I want to get a real estate license, where would I go?

Also, what do you need to do in order to buy and sell property? I've heard of people buying property and turning it around and selling it for profit like it's a piece of cake. Any help?

PS - assume I know nothing.

[natedogg]

Personally, I believe you missed the party. Wait 10 years or so.

But, if you really are interested, just cruise online for information about how to become an agent. Then dig deeper about property "flipping". There's more information than you can possibly read. Google is your friend.

I would focus on markets that are currently going insane such as South Florida, LA, SF, Boston. The mania has a momentum and you can probably still find properties to flip that will make money.

natedogg

[GeorgeF]

If flipping properties is what you want to do avoid getting a Realtor's licence. You will have no excuses if the buyer claims you did not properly disclose things.

I doubt making money flipping properties will be like a piece of cake. Either you will have to spend a great deal of time, have to have capital to invest, or have special skills (construction, legal ect).

You might consider going to your local court house(s) and see how foreclosures and tax auctions are handled. A smart/talkative title searcher might also clue you into things. I have heard of people putting down payments on new construction condos and flipping them.

[RobertHunter]

You should be able to go your local Community College or also a lot of the larger real estate offices have classes onsite that prepare you to take the state exam(the classes are usually about 6-8 dys if you go 8 hrs. a day.The classes at the real estate office will probably be by live interactive video with the instructor in another location.As to what the other poster said about having a license, it doesn't matter if you have a license to sell real estate or not you are bound by the same laws when it comes to most items(fair housing,lead based paint,defect disclosures etc...).The only drawback to having a license is that you must disclose that you are licensed on the contract to the buyer or seller when you enter into a transaction.And you also might want to check to see if you can take classes online(some states allow this now).As for flipping properties,yes there is a bunch of "easy" money to be made out there in almost every part of the country.IMO there are 3 things you must have to succeed at real estate flipping:initiative,resources and timing(and having market knowledge greatly helps).Also if you just want the knowledge from the class you could always just take the Pre-Licensing Course and just don't take the state exam-people do it all the time.The plus side of being a licensed real estate agent is that you get to know about good deals before anyone else a lot of times and also you get to keep the buyers side of the commission on anything you buy - not to mention possible commissions from any other transactions.Good Luck and sorry for no paragraphs /images/graemlins/blush.gif

[snowbank]

Personally, I believe you missed the party. Wait 10 years or so.

Very wrong

[snowbank]

what do you need to do in order to buy and sell property?

Money. I see your in California. Not sure which area, but chances are you probably need lots of it out there. This does not mean you can't do it. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to use your own money either. Also, I know of some people in CA who are making A LOT of money on their flips out there. They can't buy as many because of the prices, but when they do find a property to flip they are making massive amounts of money.

You can get money for these flips by using the banks money, but most banks will not finance you 100%. There are some lenders that will give 100% financing though. Flipping your best bet might be finding a hard money lender to start out. They have the money to do these deals, and you'd probably learn a lot going through the process with them. You could either split a deal with them, but your best bet would probably be getting a "birddogging fee." A birddogging fee is basically a finder's fee for finding a good deal for someone who has the money to do it. After you do a handful of these, you would be building capital and learning the business at the same time. You would be working towards building capital for when you can afford to do a deal without a hard money lender.

I've heard of people buying property and turning it around and selling it for profit like it's a piece of cake.

It's not a piece of cake when you first start. There is a lot to learn, and it takes time. There are definitely deals out there though. I'm just getting started in real estate, and have several people helping me get started, and it is a piece of cake to them now because they have a system set up. So, if you learn it, I believe it can become a piece of cake, but not in the beginning. You can definitely make a lot more money on real estate than almost any other investment if you know what you are doing.

Feel free to PM me. I'd be glad to help you out. Real estate is a funny business. A lot of people are shady, or just don't know the business. There are others who are extremely successful and will help you out without asking for anything in return. If I find a property where I need $500,000 and obviously can't put that up by myself, I would have no problem hooking up one of the guy's who have helped me without thinking twice about it. They'd give me a few grand for finding the deal, and maybe they'd make $50K on the flip.

Just be VERY careful with who you listen to. Most people DO NOT have a clue what they are talking about. I've talked to easily over 50 people since I started my research/learning in real estate.(realtors, investors, mortgage brokers, etc...) Only a few of them really knew the business, and most were out for themselves big time. Get hooked up with a good mentor if you are going to start in real estate. They will help weed out the bad people in the business for you, and make your start in real estate a lot easier.

Definitely PM me if I can help you out in any way. I'm still learning all about it, but if you have questions about the things I don't know, I can get you in touch with people who do. Good luck man.

[J-Lo]

Where does the margin come from flipping properties? How long do you hold each property? Do you invest alot in fixing it up? Do you sell it as is-- do you sell to other investors or residential clients who want to live there?

From what i understand, you can buy a property (make a downpayment and get a mortgage), rent it out. Make the rent higher than your mortgage. So, you have a cash inflow, and can sell the property for the apreciation after 8-10 years.

Flipping to me seems like holding it for 6 weeks and makin 50k after 6 weeks. Are u basically looking for undervalued properties?

[Rooster71]

[ QUOTE ]
I figure I can post this here:

Say I want to get a real estate license, where would I go?

Also, what do you need to do in order to buy and sell property? I've heard of people buying property and turning it around and selling it for profit like it's a piece of cake. Any help?

PS - assume I know nothing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Go to your state's Real Estate Commission. But if you are just wanting to buy and sell for yourself, you don't need a license. In fact a license would only be a liability.

I assume your knowledge of RE is pretty limited, so I would recommend that you first buy a book on the basics of real estate. You need a firm grasp of how the buying and selling process works, including title issues, appraisals, mortgages, etc.

[snowbank]

Where does the margin come from flipping properties? How long do you hold each property? Do you invest alot in fixing it up? Do you sell it as is-- do you sell to other investors or residential clients who want to live there?

The margin comes from buying for less than market value, or being able to find a property that can be fixed for less than the appreciation you would gain by paying to have it fixed. As far as the other questions, you can do as you choose. Some people hold for cashflow, and others flip.

From what i understand, you can buy a property (make a downpayment and get a mortgage), rent it out. Make the rent higher than your mortgage. So, you have a cash inflow, and can sell the property for the apreciation after 8-10 years.

Sure. There's deals all over. As far as 8-10 years, that seems like something someone said who "heard what to do." You can hold a cashflow property for as long as you'd like. If you need money for a bigger deal or something, you can keep a cashflow property for less than a year if you wanted, or if you wanted to hold you could keep it for 50 years. It all depends on what you want out of it. You don't need to sell to receive the benefits of appreciation, you can refinance and take the appreciation out of the property and leverage your money to help you build more wealth. If you were planning on only holding onto the property for a couple years, and wanted to have some cash coming in, you could do a 5 year interest only mortgage to increase your monthly cashflow, while still benefiting from the appreciation. You just wouldn't pay off any of the principle on the mortgage. It all depends on what your goals are. It looks like I may become a mortgage broker in the next month or so. I've been talking with a lot of people about the financing. If this is an area you are interested in learning more about, just shoot me a PM. If you work with the right person, you can get a property for 0-5% down no problem. The problem is, most mortgage brokers are just sales people who don't really know the business. If you need help getting in touch with someone, just lemme know.

Flipping to me seems like holding it for 6 weeks and makin 50k after 6 weeks. Are u basically looking for undervalued properties?

I have heard of some people who hold for less than a day, and others who hold for a couple months fixing it up or trying to get the most profit out of the flip. Most "flippers" are flipping to build capital though, so they try to flip as quickly as possible, which also leaves room for other flippers who can afford to wait and have the property sell for higher. So one flipper who wants to get rid of properties fast can sell to another flipper who doesn't mind waiting a few months to get rid of it, and both parties win.

[DWarrior]

I don't know anything about RE, but the closings seem to drag on for months. My parents were buying their house, it took them months to close. Now, it's gonna take them months to close again when they sell. Their condo took a month to close.

Are they doing something wrong? Based on my observations, I don't see how one can hold a property for a day.

[snowbank]

Based on my observations, I don't see how one can hold a property for a day.

You can close and sell within minutes with what you call a "double closing." This can happen when you can get a good deal on a property and you want to flip it quickly. You find an investor who likes the price you'd sell to him for, you close the deal with the seller, and could literally walk into the next room and sign it over to your buyer. This happens sometimes when flipping.