Should I finish getting licensed before I scout, or scout while the course runs

Question

I'm about two thirds through the pre-license coursework and I have four vacant houses on a street near me that nobody seems to be doing anything about. Two have notices taped in the window.

The case for waiting: a license changes what I'm allowed to do and what I have to disclose, and those rules are set by each state's commission separately. If I start collecting finder's fees now and then hold a license in three months, I don't want to be relitigating what I did in month one with a broker who has to sign off on my outside activity. Cleaner to just wait.

The case for going now: bird dogging is scouting, and the whole point of it is that you don't need a license to notice that a house is empty and tell somebody. Waiting three months means those four houses get found by someone else, which they will. I'd also rather learn what a real investor wants in a lead before I'm sitting in an office trying to build a client base from nothing.

A classmate told me the two roles collide the moment you're licensed and your broker's policy on referral fees kicks in. That may well be true and I'll ask, but it's an argument about after the license, not about the next twelve weeks.

Which way would you go.

ehernandez74 · Answer

I'd wait, though I lean slow on everything so discount accordingly. The specific thing I'd want settled first is what your future broker's written policy says about outside compensation, because you cannot find that out reliably from a classmate and it varies by brokerage as well as by state. Three months is nothing against a career. Those four houses are not the last four vacant houses on earth.

gregpowell66 · Answer

Go now, but write down everything. Dates you observed each house, what you saw, who you told, what you were paid. I came at this from construction and the habit that saved me was documenting jobs as they happened, and it turns out the same habit answers awkward questions later. Scouting and telling somebody what you saw is a different activity from representing a party, and the line between them is drawn state by state, so confirm yours with someone licensed there. What you don't want is to be reconstructing four months of activity from memory when a broker asks.

bmoreno23 · Answer

Started from zero last year and the thing I underrate least now is time spent talking to actual investors. Twelve weeks of that is worth more than twelve weeks of coursework you're going to finish anyway.

Should I finish getting licensed before I scout, or scout while the course runs

3 replies