Looking for a very lucrative business opportunity? Real estate brokering is the top choice for a lot of people. Real Estate Brokers and real estate agents are working throughout the nation. Not only are they making excellent incomes, they are also contributing to the economy in direct, as well as, indirect ways. By helping the sellers in selling their property and at the same time helping the buyers in buying a property these agents help satisfy their need for shelter. Creating this transaction often entails many other services to be ordered. So, can anyone start real estate brokering? Well, not really.

Possessing a Real estate license is a pre-requisite for becoming a real estate agent. However, obtaining a real estate license is not difficult. In most states, the qualifications for getting a real estate license are very minimal. So you should first check the eligibility criteria for obtaining a real estate license (rather pre-license) in your state. The real estate license eligibility criterion includes things like the minimum age limit (which is mostly 19 years) and educational qualifications (which is mostly high school). Most states do require a clean criminal record, sorry. Once you know that you satisfy those real estate license (pre-license) eligibility criteria, you can go ahead and enroll for a pre-license training. There a number of real estate schools that offer real estate license training. Some real estate schools offer online training for a real estate license. Choose a course that is spread over a sufficient duration of time e.g. 1 year so that you are able to grasp the concepts properly (after all you want to become a successful real estate agent and not just another real estate agent). You will be taught a number of topics as part of your real estate license training. All this will help you develop a basic understanding of real estate and various aspects related to real estate (e.g. real estate law, deeds, contracts, ownership transfer, etc) Once you have undergone this real estate license training, you will be required to undergo a state exam. After you pass this exam, you will generally need to undergo additional training on state approved courses. And that’s it, you can now get a real estate license which is worth that effort (as you will find in a couple of years of starting real state brokering). Most states also require you to go for continuous education after you have received your real estate license. However, this is a just a few hours every few years.

So a real estate license is what you need to start your career as a real estate agent. But your success after that will be dependent on how seriously, ethically and effectively you carry out your job. Unfortunately, eighty percent of new agents will have left the business within five years. Remember, this is a very competitive business and you will find that the top twenty percent of agents earn nearly eighty per cent of the money. Being average in the sales business will leave you hurting financially.

Most homeowner’s choose to buy homeowner’s insurance even after they’ve paid off their mortgage and are no longer forced to do so. The reason is obvious: for most people their house is their biggest investment and their most valuable asset and they want to do everything they can to protect it.

Of course that doesn’t mean that anyone wants to pay any more than they have to for their insurance. So how does a homeowner save money and get discount homeowner’s insurance in New Jersey?

Ultimately it comes down to getting online and comparing prices among the various insurance companies and then choosing the best price from a company that you trust to be around thirty years from now.

But before you can get online and compare prices, you need to have created a policy that you can compare at a variety of different insurance companies. To create that policy we need to look at some simple things you can do to keep the price of your insurance low to begin with.

Let’s start by making your property less attractive to would-be burglars. Adding motion-sensitive floodlights to your property is a fairly easy thing to do. Also easy is to trim all bushes back away from your windows so that burglars don’t have a safe place to hide while breaking into your home.

While we’re at it, let’s make certain that all exterior doors have a good, working deadbolt lock and that all windows, even those on upper stories, have a good, working lock.

Before heading indoors let’s make certain that all brush and all weeds are cleared for at least ten feet around all structures on your property. This will reduce the danger of fire to your property.

If you have any cement walkways that are cracked or buckled it’s time to replace them. If you have loose floorboards on a porch or deck, or you have wobbly railings you need to fix or replace them. Any potholes on your property need to be filled.

Inside you need to install the requisite number of fire and smoke alarms and you need to make certain that all of them are working. Don’t forget that batteries need to be changed twice yearly - many people change their batteries at the same time that they set their clock forward or backward an hour.

Buy a fire extinguisher for your kitchen (make sure it is a model specifically designed for kitchen fires).

Once you’ve done all of those things you are ready to put together a dream homeowner’s insurance policy that reflects all of the work you’ve done and then get online are compare the price of your dream policy at different insurance companies.

You’ll want to take out a policy that is large enough to cover the rebuilding of your home from the foundation up and large enough to replace all of your possessions. However, when figuring the cost of rebuilding your home do not add in the value of the land that your home sits on. The land isn’t going anywhere.

Be sure to take the time to make your comparisons on at least 3 different websites so that you’ll be sure to see the prices of all the insurance companies selling policies here in New Jersey. Then it is simply a matter of picking the best price from a company that you feel comfortable with - and then counting your savings month after month, year after year.

The slogan that the residents of Dallas live and work by is “live large, think big.� This same slogan can be applied to how investors are thinking about the prime Dallas commercial real estate. The city of Dallas is built upon blazed pioneer trails and the biggest of dreams. The residents of Dallas have a can-do attitude, where any dream is possible. It is because of this undying attitude and intense drive forward that Dallas has become a prosperous and thriving urban center. The city of Dallas is in a full real estate upswing, which is great news for investors.

Predictions for a Further Boom in Dallas Commercial Real Estate

Experts in the industry predict that the economy of Dallas will continue to grow and expand for the next two decades. This figure may even increase as the city continues to develop and to draw new businesses to the area. The Dallas office space market has grown tremendously in the past few years. This is a result of the expansion of the city’s high-tech and manufacturing sectors. Some of the strong companies that reside in Dallas include EDS, 7 Eleven, Texas Instruments, Blockbuster, and Southwest Airlines.

Dallas is also considered to be the cultural and business center for the twelve county Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington areas. The values for prime Dallas office space and lease property are affordably priced in the high two-hundred thousand ranges. Now, high-end office tower real estate property is well into the millions. However, this is to be expected in any successful city across the country.

Dallas commercial real estate is just at the beginning of its boom. Real estate, in the city of Dallas, has not experienced a downswing like most of the nation. In fact, Dallas real estate is selling at double the national rate. With the continued growth and dynamic economy, another wise investment for an investor to consider purchasing is Dallas industrial space. There are several new planned developments of industrial space in the city of Dallas that will continue to stimulate growth.

Why an Investor Should Purchase Dallas Commercial Real Estate

There are several reasons why an investor should consider purchasing Dallas commercial real estate. One of the biggest reasons is the fact that Dallas is the third largest city in the state of Texas and the ninth largest state in the country. The city of Dallas is considered to be an important hub, world-wide in the fields of computer technology, telecommunications, transportation, and banking. Dallas is a global center for international trade and foreign investment.

The rapidly developing city of Dallas has quickly become one of the most popular cities in the United States. More and more businesses and residents are relocating to the Dallas Texas area to call it headquarters and home. This is one of the reasons that the Dallas commercial real estate market is experiencing such an increase in demand. Each week in Dallas, new businesses, including shopping centers, restaurants, and entertainment options, are announcing their grand openings with great fanfare and success.

If you are looking for an investment with a high return, you should consider purchasing Dallas commercial real estate. The city of Dallas is profitably hot for office space, retail space, and industrial space. This is the best time to invest in this expanding city of prosperity.

You buy a property, you flip it, you profit. Does this require a real estate license? In most cases, the answer is “”no”".

Real estate brokerage is an activity regulated by states on their own terms, thus each state defines which activities require a license. There is a lot of vagueness and ambiguity in some of the state licensing codes, as well as “”gray areas”", which complicate the matter. Furthermore, if you vary the techniques and your business practices beyond the scope of what I teach in my course, it is not always clear how the state authorities might view your practices. Therefore, this discussion is limited to the simple activity of buying and flipping as follows:

1. Sign a contract with a seller, assign it to a third party

2. Sign a contract with a seller, sign another one with a third party, then double close

The large majority of states use the “”for another”" language in their state licensing statutes. The “”for another”" language means the law provides a laundry list of activities that require a license if you do it “”for another.”"

A good example is the Ohio Statute:

§ 4735.01 Definitions. As used in this chapter:

(A) “”Real estate broker”" includes any person, partnership, association, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or corporation, foreign or domestic, who for another, whether pursuant to a power of attorney or otherwise, and who for a fee, commission, or other valuable consideration, or with the intention, or in the expectation, or upon the promise of receiving or collecting a fee, commission, or other valuable consideration does any of the following:

The code then goes on to list all types of activity, such as buying, selling, offerings, leasing, negotiating, etc. This type of statute would clearly exempt you from doing any of the listed activity so long as you were doing it on your own behalf. The following court case clearly delineates the difference between acting on your own behalf and acting as a broker.

In XARIN REAL ESTATE v. GAMBOA, 715 S.W. 80 (TX 1986), an investor named XARIN entered into a purchase contract with the owner, GAMBOA, then assigned his purchase contract to a third party, BAKER. When the deal blew up, BAKER sued XARIN claiming, among other things, that XARIN was illegally acting as a real estate broker without a license.

The court ruled that, “”No evidence exists to show that XARIN was acting for anyone but itself when it sold its interest to Baker. XARIN was shown on the sales contract to be only the purchaser and was not shown in any agency capacity… There is also no evidence that XARIN acted for BAKER when XARIN acquired its interest in the property from the GAMBOAS. Generally, to establish that one person has acted for another in an normal agency relationship, there must be an agreement between two persons and one must exercise some control over the other.”"

Two important points are worth noting here. First, the court acknowledged that XARIN had “”an interest in the property”" when it signed a purchase contract with GAMBOA. As we will discuss later, having “”an interest”" in real estate allows you to sell your interest, which is specifically exempt from many state licensing laws. Second, the court made an important point that that the XARIN did not have a deal with BAKER in place when it made the deal with the owner of the property. This is important because the reverse can also be true; if you make a deal with a buyer first, then find him a property, a good argument can be made that activity is brokering on behalf of the buyer.

Other states that do not use the “”for another”" language clearly identify specific exemptions in their licensing statutes. A good example is the South Carolina statute, which reads:

“”This chapter does not apply to:

(1) the sale, lease, or rental of real estate by an unlicensed owner of real estate who owns any interest in the real estate if the interest being sold, leased, or rented is identical to the owner’s legal interest”"

However, you must have an interest in the property before you sell it. In general, a contract to purchase property gives the buyer an equitable interest in the land. 27A Am. Jur. 2d Equitable Conversion § 10. Thus, if you have an interest in the property, you are basically exempt from the licensing regulations in these states.

A few states limit the real estate activity of ANY persons, even if you are acting on your own behalf. SD, MN, WI, MI, MD & MN all have limitations on the number and frequency of real estate transactions you can do before you will need a real estate license. For example, Michigan law limits you to 4 transactions per year, although it is not clear whether using multiple corporate entities will be a workaround. William Bronchick’s Real Estate Success Library Volume 1 - Flipping Properties Course

There’s few, if any, reported cases of people being prosecuted anywhere in the Country for not having a real estate license. The issue of licensing is more relevant in the enforcement of your profit. For example, if you assign your contract prior to closing and expect the buyer to pay you at closing, he may stiff you and argue “”you don’t have a license”".

The bottom line is that if you don’t ACT like a real estate broker, the state agencies that license brokers will leave you alone. If you use the licensing exemptions to skirt the licensing laws, you will likely hear from the state licensing agencies. It is important that you make it very clear to all parties in the transaction that you are NOT a broker and are acting on your own behalf.