First and foremost, when you are a real estate agent, you have the opportunity of being able to access the MLS (multiple listing service). This is usually an online service, and will allow you to be able to survey the entire local market, list your own properties or client properties, and see what is available for sale by other agents/brokers. Not only that, but you’ll be able to analyze past data to see what other similar properties have sold for in the past.

This kind of information is priceless. Knowing what you can sell a property for before you even buy it is the real key to success in real estate investing.

Aside from the MLS, you’ll also be able to save the commission (at least part of it) on any deal that you do yourself. With the typical real estate agent fee being about 6%, that is quite a savings…

Let’s look at a quick example, let’s say that you sell your own house for $200,00. If you hired an agent, you would be looking at paying them a whopping $12,000. So if you could put that money in your own pocket, or use it in your negotiations with the buyer, wouldn’t that be great?

I sure thought so, that’s one of the reasons I got my own real estate license!

Now, let’s look at some of the costs. You are going to have to take some pre-qualified Virginia real estate courses in order to qualify for your license. At less than $200, this isn’t too bad. Next, you’ll have to fill out an application and pay a state fee of $170. Lastly is the test, and getting setup under a local broker. All in all, you get the whole thing done for about $400.

And taking our example above, and subtracting out these costs, you are looking a net gain of $11,600, on your very first deal!!

Sound good to you?

That’s exactly what I think, and now I’m a licensed real estate agent, making money!