Should I become a Real Estate Agent Then Investor ?

I was wondering should I become a Agent first. And take from that to help me with the investing side of it. I am thinking of getting my Real Estate license soon. Just wondering does anybody know what is the best path to take. Should I just go straight into investing ? And what are good places for me to go to get started. And also seek good information for each particular field.

there is an up side and down side. The upside is that you have access to all listed properties and you can usually negotiate the commission off the slaes price. The down sinde is that you can never but a property below market value without disclosing the actual value in writing to the seller. If you don't put that in writing the seller can come back and say the you violated section 890 Home Equity Theft.

Do both.............learn as you invest.

That is a good idea, becuase you could split the commissions when buying and / or selling the real estate. And in this volitale market, you will lucky to make 3 - 5% anyway.
If you're looking for advice, my advice is to stay away from real estate. Unless you purchase some real hardship homes on the brink of foreclosure, for really cheap prices, I wouldn'
t go near real estate right now. Prices have been dropping all accross the country, and they aren't done yet. Expect home values to go down, before they start to go back up again.

Based on market conditions I don't think it would be the best time to become a real estate agent, unless in fact your in a hot market such as Manhattan and a number of sections within Brooklyn. What it boils down to is how much capital do you have to truly invest.