I think it was Annie that got her real estate license a couple years ago. Anyway, does anyone else have one? Do you use it? Perks? Disadvantages? Yeah, I'm thinking of a career change. I love the kiddos and everything, but I've always said I didn't want to do it forever. You can post or email me. cathyliz at comcast dot net
Thanx

By Vicki on Tuesday, July 3, 2007 - 05:01 pm:

It is a very long story, but I was going to take the class a couple of years ago. But, then I got to thinking about the job and decided against it. To be honest, my dh works many hours, but mainly Monday through Friday. Real Estate agents work MANY hours on Saturday (and evenings showing homes)and then with open houses Sunday. They work when most others are off work. That is just not a schedule I want right now in my life. I just have to believe they work a ton of hours.

By Cat on Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - 06:17 pm:

You're right Vicki, and I've already thought about the hours. I'm going to meet with a realtor friend on Friday that's been in the business for over 30 years. I'm compiling a list of questions for him and his wife (she works with him). I'm sure he'll have some great insight for me.

By Conni on Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - 06:21 pm:

I would like to get my license when I get back home. I know this is not the best time to get into real estate but, I am addicted to looking at houses. lol I guess you have to sell them to actually pay your bills. (not just look at them)

Actually, if you want my honest opinion...I'd get into investing in real estate. Buy a foreclosed house for nothing, fix it up and resell it for $20,000 more than what you paid. Buy a lot at a bargain, hold on to it a year a sell it for more than you paid...Buy a couple of rental properties, etc...(eventually) I'd love to own rentals. Just havent seriously put enough time and effort into finding one at a bargain and not sure how I'd cough up the money to pay for it. But it's a nice thought!! lol This is my dream job...

By Yjja123 on Wednesday, July 4, 2007 - 10:03 pm:

Connie--Me Too
I would love to flip a house. I love working on home improvements!

By Cat on Thursday, July 5, 2007 - 10:20 pm:

My cousin's husband flipped houses in the Grand Rapids area years ago until the market got really bad. He made decent money for a while! I'm not really interested in doing that (unless I find a deal that's too good to pass up! lol).

By Reds9298 on Friday, July 6, 2007 - 07:35 am:

Conni -me, too! DH and I have talked about buying rental properties for quite some time. Right about the time we got serious was when I got pregnant with DD so we decided it was best not to get into it yet. After I return to work, rental properties sound like a great investment to us. I have an uncle who has been doing it so long he's now retired and just deals with his rentals. Makes a killing, but you have to be handy that's for sure. DH is very handy and I love home improvements. I think we would be a good team for it.

We looked at a home a few years ago, already at the top of our price range but very old and with tons of land. Needed flipping and we *almost* bought it. It would have been such a cool house to flip.

By Cat on Friday, July 6, 2007 - 09:49 am:

Okay, I have my list of questions. Any suggestions for questions I haven't thought of? I'm not going to post what I do have because I want as much insight as possible. What would you ask???

By Conni on Friday, July 6, 2007 - 10:25 pm:

ahhh, I was gone all day and didnt see this! What all did you ask the couple tonight??? How do you feel after talking with them?

OK, Yvonne, Deanna, we should start a *Flippin' Moms* show on TV!!! lol

By Annie2 on Saturday, July 7, 2007 - 09:49 am:

I took and past the class but waited too long to take my state license test and didn't pass that one. If you take the class make sure you schedule the state test as soon as possible, while everything is still fresh in your brain.

I did all of this a couple months after hurricane Ivan which devastated our area. The housing market was horrible. I never pursued it again.

I also was never comfortable with the idea of showing a house alone or sitting alone for an open house.

I do recommend taking a class if you own, want to buy property. I learned a great deal.

How did your meeting go with the realtors?

Conni, that's a great idea! LOL

By Cat on Saturday, July 7, 2007 - 09:47 pm:

We talked for over an hour! He was great. His wife wasn't there because she'd been off that day. He explained to me quite a bit about the business and how his company works (he works for one of the big franchises). He said not to go through one of the online schools, but to do a regular classroom because you get so much more out of it. He did say, however that they wouldn't teach you anything about real estate, but just how to pass the tests! lol We talked a lot about personality traits that make a good realtor and he thinks I have a very similar personality to him. He thinks I'd make a great realtor. He'd like to get together with my husband and his wife one day for the four of us to talk. He said having dh's full support is vital, and that his wife could help with any questions my dh may have. I looked up the school he recommended and it's $1099 for the classes, not including the exams. That and other start up costs would probably make it around $4000 to get everything I need to get started. Dh says we can't do that right now--not until we pay off some bills (we're still paying for our landscaping). So for now I'm just going to read up as much as I can about real estate and hopefully when I am able to take the classes it'll help. Oh, my realtor friend also said I'd always have a position with his office if I wanted it. I'd have to say it went well.

By Annie2 on Sunday, July 8, 2007 - 07:53 am:

That's great news! My class was only around $350. It was a two week all day class. Or I could have done it over a 6 week period of two evenings a week.

In my state I had to submit fingerprints before I could take the state test. That took a while, so I did it before I even took the class.

Let us know how it goes for you!

By Cat on Sunday, July 8, 2007 - 09:21 am:

Wow, Annie! I WISH it were that inexpensive! I'd go ahead and take it now if it were! lol This class is 168 hours in 6 different subjects, and then a test prep session. If I went full day during the week it would be 3 1/2 weeks. If I do evenings (4 nights a week) or weekends it takes about 9 weeks. I'd like to do the weekend classes because it'd save me on gas! I don't think all the subjects are available on weekends, though so I may have to do some weeknights. I can't afford to take 3 1/2 weeks off to do the day class. I wouldn't be able to quit my current job until I got my license and started with the company my friend works for (he's actually head broker for this office). I'd also need to get fingerprints done, but not to take tht class. That has to be done before I take the exam. The school I'm looking at takes care of that for us. They boast a 90% pass rate on the exam. That doesn't really worry me. I'm a classic overachiever and do well on tests.

I got a couple books from the library yesterday, but haven't gotten a chance to look at them yet. Dh thinks he can find me some stuff online, too. I'm sure if I asked my friend, he'd get me some reading/study material (he said the company he works with has an in-house library of resourse materials). I also need to make sure this is what I really want to do before I spend the time and money on it. It's a job with a great deal of potential, but it's also very time consuming and can get intense. My friend told me you pretty much have to "live the job", especially until you get established IF you want to do well at it. I don't want to neglect my kids and family to do that. I need to make sure they're all behind me on this, especially dh (who really isn't so dear right now! but that's another post I'm not ready to get into at the moment). We'll see.

By Karen~admin on Sunday, July 8, 2007 - 09:56 am:

To the flipper-wannabes-DH and I are *loosely* considering doing this. This is the deal - he and his sister have just listed his folks' place in FL. Unfortunately, in that area, due to the 4 storms that hit FL a few years ago, the place is worth HALF of what it was 5 years ago. But anyway..... we have been bouncing the idea around of putting the proceeds into a flip in New Orleans. There are some properties to be bought that are *steals*, and flipping them would definitely bring in some money - IF there were not a problem with people getting homeowners insurance since Katrina! I have a friend who lost everything in Katrina, he and his wife are rebuilding, and they have actually bought another house for what is basically the value of the land in their area, and they are going to flip it. They have lots of advantages though, his wife is a real estate agent, they know contractors, they know the area, they are rebuilding, and in her line of work, she is able to be present a lot. We have none of the above, we've never done anything like this, we both work full time, so probability is, we won't do it.

BUT - I think it would be so cool to do a flip!!!

Yvonne, YOU would be great at this - you know how to do most of the stuff yourself!!! You could save a bundle in labor. Your biggest concern would be the time constraints. I'd love to hear about it if any of you DO flip a house.

By Yjja123 on Sunday, July 8, 2007 - 10:09 am:

Thanks for the vote of confidence Karen
Time constraints are definitely one of the main reasons I could not do it. If I didn't homeschool, I would seriously consider it.
Oh well---plenty more projects to keep me busy here. I am working on plans to gut my bathroom next
Cat, check out a variety of schools in your area. I am told there can be huge price differences.

By Annie2 on Sunday, July 8, 2007 - 10:15 am:

Cat, what you can do before you decide to go forward is learn the terminology of real estate. What hindered me was many terms seemed like a foreign language to me. I'm very bright but I had to learn different definitions of words very quickly. I do have a cd I could send you so you could brush up on common terms.

By Karen~admin on Sunday, July 8, 2007 - 10:33 am:

Yvonne, next year we are hoping to do the same with our baths. Honestly, I am dreading it. They are very small, there is no way to make them larger, and I don't know what to do with them.

By Yjja123 on Sunday, July 8, 2007 - 10:57 am:

Ours is small too.
I am (mosaiac) tiling most of it. I am going to have a vanity made to fit like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Oak-Amish-Made-Hotel-Washstand-Bathroom-Vanity_W0QQitemZ140135939903QQihZ004QQcategoryZ63580QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

The tile will be slate and blue glass tiles. The color scheme will be browns and ice blue.

My main concept is to provide as much storage as possible in the vanity. We currently have a pedastal sink--so no storage at all.

Sorry Cat for this off topic conversation

By Cat on Sunday, July 8, 2007 - 09:27 pm:

Annie, that CD would be awesome! Email me, please! cathyliz at comcast dot net

Yvonne, I'll look at the different schools. This one is one of the best, though. But I guess if the whole point is to just pass the exam, being the best may not be the biggest consideration, huh?

Oh, and I'll forgive you and Karen for hijacking my post. Your conversation is interesting.