Having said that, if you are still interested read on.

Yes, you can invest in real estate even if you are an agent. However, some agencies forbid it due to ethics and conflicts of interest.

The difference between a licensed agent and an individual is - know how (laws), connections (builders, contractors, interior designers), and experience. Savvy comes with the territory, so agents have the upper hand.

In the case of your friend, you asked, "there must be something I don’t understand." There is, he is lying!!!

The majority of agents are liars, friends or not. There are three reasons why they lie…

First, to impress others to make it seem as if they’re assets are worth more than they actually are.

The second reason an agent lies is to hide something. Weather it is mistakes or miscalculations.

The third and most common reason why agents lie is to dissuade others to go into the field.

When the market was booming, thousands of people started taking classes. Many took lessons and advice from underqualified staff. Anyway, that’s when agents bacame wary of the influx of new agents. More agents = more competition.

If I were you, do a little research on your friend. If he is giving you financial advice, check his bank statements first. See what he’s been up to. Then cross check the advice he gives you… see if it is sound. Then if you must, pull the trigger and invest!!!
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GOOD LUCK!

In most area of the U.S., housing price stopped going up as inventory continues to build up. It is normal to see a correction as a boom that lasted for several years.

If you are investing new money in to real estate, this may not be a good time as the potential return on investment is small compare to the high risk of lower home price.

If you are doing a side way move, meaning you are selling one to buy another one, then it is acceptable.

Nothing is absolute, but housing market is very likely undergoing a correction and this is only the beginning. Some say this would be a soft landing (0 to 10%). Some say a big crashing is coming (10 to 20%).

http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/24/news/economy/newhomes/index.htm
http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/23/news/economy/homesales/index.htm
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The other he is a realtor. He buys property, and then he sells it. everybody needs a house. Here is Stockton, the population has been swelling due to the jobs around, the Bay Area, and San Jose.
It’s the Silicon valley!! The work over there, but live in Stockton, Even they have to drive two hrs, every day one way, then 2 more hrs., coming back!
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With that being said as a real estate agent you can split the commision of some deals saving you a few percent which can add up.

As for your friend not closing the deal in his name, makes no difference except he will be in more trouble if something goes wrong as it indicates he knew he was doing something wrong. Unless it is for the reason listed in the previous post but in that case he would be the owner or officer of an LLC or Corporation which means it is in his name anyway and the protection could be pierced for fraud and similar illegal activites.

If you are not planning on doing something illegal don’t worry about it.
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can you invest in real estate when you are a real estate agent, are there any downs?

what is the difference if you are a real estate agent and invest and if you are not a real estate agent and invest?

the reason i ask this is because one of my friends is a real estate agent and he makes investments but the houses he buys are never under his name he tells me that’s the smart thing to do, but why? there must be something, i don’t understand, he has very good credit never married no kids and enough money for down payments 20% every time he buys,i don’t get it, im i missing something.

i asked in different ways because some people just don’t get it and i’m trying to avoid useless answers, it would be very helpful if you answer all the questions, thank you.

First of all you should go to the nearest book store, purchase several books on buying, fixing and flipping properties. There are several that you might be interested in.

Once or while you are doing this you should buy one of the TV guru’s distressed property programs. These programs will give you some legal forms you might use when writing an offer to purchase a property. You will also find several scripts to use in taking to your potential clients. The also give you tips and a formula on how to figure if you have a property that you can make money from before buying.

If you are without funds to accomplish this business, you will have to find some investors that will assist you. You will have to make a deal with them about a certain percentage of the profits made from the sale of the property.

Normally this is 50/50 however it could be more or less depending on how your relationship is with the investor.

Now you have to determine how you are gonna market yourself to get.

#1 You can purchase a pre-foreclosure list from a list broker (Join the crowd most do this and mail letters to the person that is in foreclosure)

#2 You can advertise in your local paper that you are in the business of purchasing foreclosures.

#3 You can do a direct mail to people in your city stating that you are now in the foreclosure business.

#4 You can do the research at the county recorders office yourself (time consuming and tedious-but workable. You should get enough leads for a least one days work.)

#5 You can select an area of your city that you want to work and target your that area with your energy. You can walk the area pass out flyers that you are now in the business of buying property distressed, divorced and foreclosures as well as probate property.

Pass out these flyers for at least 2-3 months after which you should go to a newsletter of some sort while still explaining that you purchase properties.

After passing out the flyers for 2-3 months you should follow that up with a newsletter to the same area. Check with the post office and inquire about a bulk mailing stamp. This is a more economical way of mailing business matter.

You will want to form a professional team to assist you in your new career field, which should be composed of but not limited to an attorney, cpa, tax preparer, notary public, title rep, real estate agent and others that you feel will make you successful.

They should pass out your business card to their clients that need your services and you should pass out their cards to your clients that need their services

I hope this has been of some use to you, good luck

"FIGHT ON"
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as far as Foreclosure auctions, I have been to a couple and they are relativly informal. there is a list of properties that were to come to auction that day
many of those properties are taken off the block prior to auction (due to countless reasons including paper work not turned in, property owner working to get current etc…)
once a property is auctioned, there is a minimum price (in my area seems to be about 3-5% above default rate)
if a property is not sold at auction it becomes bank owned real estate.

notes on auction, you have to have the $ or cashiers checks that can be endorsed over I think they prefer the checks so they do not have to walk around with a bunch of $

bank owned realestate I think is offered by one agent that represents the bank, so a regular agent might not know much about bank owned properties.

hope this helps.
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