I plan on getting a real estate license for the education and qualification when managing my private real estate investment career.

Where/how do I deduct these costs on my taxes? Eventually I’ll set up a real estate company where I could deduct them, but that won’t be set up for a while.

Thanks.

I am in escrow on some property in which the seller and his real estate agent were not very forthcoming in their disclosure statements. Through a third party I found out some things about the property that are detriments (such as occassional flooding) but I am willing to overlook them and still purchase the property. I have released all my contingencies and we have a close date set.

My real estate agent happened to tell the seller’s real estate agent that we found out some of these things on the property – most importantly about the flooding – and now the selling real estate agent wants me to sign a bunch of documents listing out what I found out as if she had told me about them. I don’t want to do it – it took considerable effort for me to uncover these issues and I have already signed off on contingencies. I don’t think I need to also let her off the hook as if she had disclosed these things to me – she did not. Can the realtor force me to sign these?
I am asking if a real estate agent can legally force me to sign informal and misleading documents in order to progress with the purchase? The seller and I have already signed all legal documents as outlined in our legal contract.

I want to invest in real estate but want to protect my personal assets.

I’m considering joining a condo conversion firm in California, but am worried about the timing and how the business might fare given recent weakening in the housing market. Intuitively I’d think if real estate prices are dropping, fewer people will be converting into condos, so it might not be a good move for me. The guy who’s trying to hire me is saying that the condo conversion biz is market independent and is a generally strengthening trend. Does anyone out there with experience in real estate want to weigh in here? Please list your credentials as well, and i’ll give lots of points to the best, etc. Thanks.
This is in the northern california market…