Newbie Starting Out

[4Jay]

Im far Baltimore Md and I have a similar problem. I want a career in real estate. I have bad credit no funds to invest. I do work. My question is should I been my career starting out as a real estate agent who mostly deals with investors and to gain experience and knowledge from being a real estate investor. Is it a good idea to start as an agent or should I just focus on saving some cash and get started doing wholesale. My goal is to be able to buy a house and hold/keep for my family to live in and use it as leverage to be able to do other deals.

[pwoodruff]

That's similar to the way I started. I purchased a home to live in first and used it as leverage to buy others. Starting as an agent can build confidence, give you a better "sense" of the market, and make you more fimiliar with contracts; However, I think most of these things can be learned rather quickly without being an agent. On the other hand, being an agent will open up more opportunities. If you have the time, I would say do both. The more knowledge the better.....

[nsu1997]

Im far Baltimore Md and I have a similar problem. I want a career in real estate. I have bad credit no funds to invest. I do work. My question is should I been my career starting out as a real estate agent who mostly deals with investors and to gain experience and knowledge from being a real estate investor. Is it a good idea to start as an agent or should I just focus on saving some cash and get started doing wholesale. My goal is to be able to buy a house and hold/keep for my family to live in and use it as leverage to be able to do other deals.

Becoming an agent won't hurt (easy access to comps, REOs, junkers, etc). But in my opinion investing the time, effort, and expense required to get licensed all just for the sake of rubbing elbows with investors won't do much as for your real estate investing career. you can do that by simply attending your local REIA. besides, most deals aren't listed on the MLS anyway.

You don't need any credit whatsoever to become a wholesaler, and only a nominal amount of funds. Baltimore is junker heaven...you won't have a problem finding a ton of vacant abandoned houses to work in Baltimore. However it will most certainly take work just like anywhere else.