Should I get my real estate license to flip houses? Oh, my gosh. I get this
question all the time. You know that I have my license in 2 states. I used to
have 3. So, my answer in this video is totally going to shock you but I'm going to
give you all of the facts so that you can make the right decision. Alright,
let's go.
Welcome back. I am so excited to make this video as a licensed real estate
agent in the great state of Texas in the great state of Florida. And
formerly a licensed real estate agent in the state of Georgia. I have so many
opinions on this and I have so many facts to give you that you don't want to
miss this. Please stay to the end because I promise you what I'm going to tell you is
going to shock you. So, go ahead and take this opportunity to go ahead and
subscribe to my channel and click that little notification bell so that you do
not miss any content. I am one of the fastest growing channels on YouTube.
Thanks to you and I'm going to keep giving you free information so that you can be
successful. So, let's get into it. So, in this video, I'm going to give you a
quick checklist that you can just go through so you will know yea or nay.
"Should I get my license? Or shouldn't I?" Number 2, I'm going to tell you the exact
cost breakdown. Because obviously, getting real estate licenses has a fee and a
cost and so I want to just give you some of those numbers. So again, you can make
an informed decision. And then lastly, I'm going to share with you how I flip houses
with my real estate license now. How I flipped houses without my real estate
license. And I'm going to tell you which one worked the best.
So please, stay to the end because you do not want to miss this. It is hilarious. So,
let's talk about a real estate license. Because I got to share and tell you what
that is before even getting into it. So, a real estate license is a license that
you would get in a state by state, okay? You cannot have a national real estate
license. It's based on your state, okay? So, first thing that you need to know in
order to be a real estate agent which is what it is to get your real estate
license. You have to go to real estate school.
So, let's talk really quickly about real estate school. So, real estate school is
actually pretty inexpensive. You have to be 18 years of old in most states.
You have to go through a course. Sometimes it's 40 hours. Sometimes it's
80 hours. Sometimes is 120 hours. It really depends on which state that
you're in. And so, giving you an example, like I said, I have been licensed in
Georgia. Actually at one point I had 3 license. Georgia, Texas and Florida.
I gave up the Georgia license because I didn't really necessarily need it. I have
a lot of properties in Texas and Florida now. And so, those are where I have my
licenses. But I'm going to tell you I had to
go to real estate school and both states. I've been to real estate school at all
3 states. There's no way really to get around this. So, let's talk about real
estate school really quickly. It's not very expensive. I think it costs maybe
500 to a maybe 2,000 dollars depending on what state you're
in. And the course itself is actually a little difficult. I'm going to be honest
with you. And this is from someone that has 2 masters degrees. It actually is a
little bit challenging. You learn a lot of terms and you learn a lot of things
that are laws and how to deal with working with clients and having your
license under a brokerage. You know, like the Remax and the Keller Williams. You
learn a lot about the business and you learn a lot of old laws that you
probably won't use but you need to know that information in order to pass the
test. So, that brings me to the next part. After you go ahead and you go to real
estate school, you pay your fee. You sit through the course, you pass the course.
Then you have to take your real estate exam, okay? Every state has an exam. And
I'm being honest with you. It's not really that easy.
Obviously, I passed it. I'm not saying it's a rocket science. But it is
something that you have to study for it take seriously. And it costs a fee to
take the test, okay? So again, you have to pay for real estate school. You had to
pay for your books. You had to pay for the exam. So, all in, you're probably going to
spend a few thousand dollars to get your real estate license. So, let's talk about
all of this. Do you need that to flip houses? That is the real question. Let me
get into that with you. So now that you're taking your exam, you've gone to
the class, you've done all these things. But you really just want to flip houses.
You want that $65,520. That's the
average amount of a flip, the average profit. That's what most people want. So,
do you need a real estate license? Do you need to go to school and pass an exam
and do all of these things to flip a house? And the answer is no. There's some
pros and cons. But the actual answer of do you need a real estate license to
flip houses, the answer is unequivocally "you do not". And there are some pros and
cons to having your license and I'm going to get into that because it is major
pros and cons. So, let's talk about a real estate agent because we know what a real
estate agent does. They take you around. They show you properties that you may
want to buy. Or you may be a seller and you're like, "I want to sell this house."
Real estate agent comes in. They put the sign in front of the house. And
then they put the property in MLS and try to sell it. So, that's a real estate
agent. Let's talk about though what a real estate investor is because that is
a totally different side of the coin. That is someone that is trying to make a
profit off of properties. That's me. That's you probably. You want to get that
house that needs some repairs, fix it up and then sell it and make some
big money. Well, being a real estate agent does not prepare you to be a real estate
flipper. I'm going to tell you the truth. Nothing and I mean almost nothing they
teach you in real estate school is going to help you flip a house. I know. I know.
It's a little painful because I just said you're going to spend a few thousand
dollars getting that license. And then you're going to try to flip a house and
you're still not going to know what you're doing. Because the truth of the matter is
like I said, a real estate agent, what they go to school for is completely
different. You are learning how to be an agent, how to deal with the public, how to
be ethical when dealing with the public. And then how to support your broker in
the best way. Because again, your duty, your fiduciary responsibilities or in
other words who you have loyalty to. I'll use it that way. Who you have a loyalty
to is your broker. He is essentially like your employer. So, it's not really one
that's going to be about flipping. They're not really interested in you flipping
houses and making money. Your broker is like, "Go out. Find clients that want to
buy houses and find clients I want to sell houses. Get that Commission and give
me a piece of it." That's how that works. Real estate investor on the other side
is like, "Let me find a crappy house. Let me fix it up and then let me sell it for
a profit." Now, that's the side I like. Now, I have my
real estate license so I dabble on this side. But I going to be honest with you, people.
The money on the real estate investor side flipping houses that's where it's
at. So, when you flip a house... Again, I told
you, the average profit was $65,520.
Again, go to RealtyTrac. This is not Noelle making up anything. You could literally
Google this. Now, 65,000 average, 3% commission.
Hmm.. So, let's talk through this. You sell a house that's $200,000,
6%. What's that? That's $6,000. Yeah, but
that's not all your money. What did I say? You owe money to your broker. Usually,
it's a 60/40 split. 70/30, 80/20. Whatever. In many cases though, when you're new, it's
not that great of a split. I even know people that have to give half of their
commission to their broker. Plus play their broker a fee every single month.
Plus pay their MLS fees. Plus pay their fees to the National Association of
Realtors. Plus play their fees to the State Association of Realtors. So, let's
go through this. You started with a $200,000 house with
6 grand. And you paid all those people. So, you might get $2,500. Maybe. You drove
all around in your car, you showed them all these properties. You waited 30 days
for them to buy. You talk to them over and over. Kept them going. Talk to the
loan ups. I mean, you did a lot of work. Or on this side, find a crappy house, get me
a real estate contractor. Again, I'm not fixing new properties. Sorry, you just got
my nails done. And they fix the property and then I sell it and then lo and
behold, I show up to the closing and I get 65 grand.
Come on. This isn't really a tough decision. But it's a decision that you
have to make because there are risk with flipping houses. And there's risk with
being a real estate agent. It really just depends on you. And so unfortunately, I
can't answer that question whether you should or you should not. Because like I
said, I do both. I have my real estate license but I do not show anybody any
houses anymore. I'm not offering going anybody's house to sell it. I'm past that.
Honestly, I never really enjoyed it if I have to be honest with you. And as soon
as I started flipping houses and I got those checks, I not even
talking about fixing and flipping. You guys know I have tons of videos. I'm just
talking about even flipping contracts. I was flipping contracts and getting
20-30 thousand dollars. Meaning, I didn't fix anything on that property. No
contractor went out. I didn't put any any earnest money. I didn't put any down
payment. I didn't do anything but find someone with a property problem and then
find someone to buy that house for a higher price. And then I got the
difference. To me, that's a better deal. Now, when you have your real estate
license, this gets a little bit muddy though. So, this is the part that I want
to just warn you guys about. Talk to you guys about a little bit. As a real estate
person with a real estate license, you can't necessarily do everything. So,
there's times when I had to put my license on inactive status. Because I was
going hard in the paint. I'm trying to make some money. Kids got to go to college.
Got to get baby new shoes. Mommy need new wig. All different type of things. So, I
was like, "Hmm, let me go ahead and put this license up. And I'm just going to be
flipping some houses." And baby, it was a big difference in my pay, okay?
Flipping houses makes me so much more money. Flipping contracts is so much more
easier and less time-consuming than finding clients and showing them houses.
So again, I am not dissing real estate agents. I love them to death. Again, I'm a
licensed real estate agent. But it's a lot that goes into it. And the truth of
the matter is you got to just kind of pick which one you want to do or you're
going to be like Noelle. And you're going to keep putting your license back on inactive
status, back on active status. But it's what I do and it works for me. Alright. So,
that concludes this episode. Hopefully you absolutely love to everything that I
share with you. I told you so many secrets. So many things that you can do
right now. If you need more information or if you ever want to talk to anyone on
my team or to me, there is a link below where you can schedule a call. I have
free training for you. Go ahead and check it out at Noellesfreetraining. It will
teach you all of this and more and give you ways that you can make
of money so that she can be successful and start making the money with that you
want to make. Alright. To your success.