<prompt> Human: I want to get a real estate license to get access to MLS to find best deals and to learn some of the ins and outs of buying a house. Ive learned through the years that ignorance is not bliss. What you dont know will hurt you. I dont want to be a practicing real estate agent. I just dont want to be taken advantage of when buying my first house. Any tips or suggestions?Update: Thanks so much for the responses. They have been very helpful. The consensus seems to be that I need to make sure contract is contingent on home inspection. Also take a first time home owner course. And also learn how to find a great agent. Primary reason for floating around the idea of getting a license. Fear of swindle I still would like MLS access...no one knows my particular needs more than I do. Im hearing conflicting voices on whether or not MLS is that useful in light of companies like Trulia and Zillow providing similar information.  <response>: Recently obtained my real estate license, and I would not recommend getting it just to buy your first home. It isnt a significant cost to obtain a real estate license, however it does take a significant amount of time to study the materials. I would say roughly 85 of the material covered is all legal jargon, industry standards, whats generally acceptable, what isnt, etc. and the other 15 is beneficial for you the methods of appraisal and value determination. Also, having a real estate license and purchasing a home for yourself essentially, being your own agent is often looked at negatively in the real estate community. You must disclose that you have a real estate license at first contact with a seller, which can be looked at as a red flag and hurt your credibility as a buyer without having prior experience closing a real estate transaction. Unless you have a genuine interest in using the license outside of simply buying your first home, I would definitely not recommend getting your license. What you can do and is educate yourself regarding the 15 i mentioned and hold the broker you ultimately employ to a high standard and review the listings he presents with some basic knowledge of how the value of a given house youre looking at was determined. Essentially, you should just find an agent that knows the market well and has been in the business for several years have a friend refer you to somebody they worked with previously and did a good job for them. Its very unlikely youll be taken advantage of.Edit: Its also worth mentioning, that once you have your license, youre required to take annual continuing education courses 250yr minimum to keep the license active, which would be a complete waste of time for somebody not using the license outside of buying a house for themselves. 