Hi everyone,
I am a Realtor in TX and am getting hooked up with some investors. I want to be able to intelligently talk and be a strong real estate agent for these investors. Any websites or books I can read to be more informed?
Thanks!
To be honest this is one of the best websites around. Take a look to your left. Articles, stories, recommended reading, e books, investing glossary, and plenty of post boards like this one on various subjects. Good luck!!
If I were to answer this I would be writting all night long! That is like me saying I am a investor and want to learn about realtor’s are there any questions I might be able to answer a little more general Like?
Keyword search on the mls?
“To be honest this is one of the best websites around. Take a look to your left. Articles, stories, recommended reading, e books, investing glossary, and plenty of post boards like this one on various subjects.”
I was thinking exactly the same thing.
Learn about the 3 methods of investing, and which one your potential client is currently interesting in utilizing as an investment vehicle.
-
Buy & Hold…riding the Equity Elevator
-
Cash Flow
-
Legal Flipping (a.k.a. Turn & Burns)
-Infowell
learn how to calculate cashflow on a property.
put that in a spreadsheet with 0,10% & 20% down and show it to your clients.
learn a little about property management and hook up with a few mgrs
so you can make recommendations
to your clients.
i like the books recommended here
http://realestatediaries.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the advice. Please keep it coming!
I know there is a lot to learn. The main thing I am interested in is finding out all I can to be a reliable source for my investors. When the posts say to ‘find a Realtor with investment property experience’. Well, what does that mean? It’s somewhat like the old adage of wanting a specific job but not having the right experience!
My investor is looking for lease options and not necessarily flipping but hanging on for a few years and then selling.
it basically helps if you have bought and sold investment property for yourself.
the team i work with in utah are investors themselves. this means we’re both on the same page. but if thats not your cup of tea, the least you can do is read up on it. who knows, maybe you’ll convince yourself that you should be investing!
Is there a local REI group you could join? Going to their meetings, listening and asking questions can give you tons of information.
'When the posts say to ‘find a Realtor with investment property experience’. Well, what does that mean? It’s somewhat like the old adage of wanting a specific job but not having the right experience!"
If you lack specific knowledge…consider paying someone to mentor you or refer the business out.
Mentoring will help you to learn the ropes. Referral will net you some $'s now, but you won’t learn anything.
-Infowell
Niravmd is absolutly right. If you needed an apendectomy, would you want the surgery done buy the person who read how to do it or from the guy who may have done a few successfully. This may be an extreme example, but you get the point. I’m an agent who works exclusively with investors and I think it’s critically important to be a real estate investor yourself. If you’re going through the learning curve, mentoring, as Infowell suggests, is a must. That was the approach I took and I owe much to my mentor and his team. In fact, I got started bird dogging properties for his core of investors. In the meantime, I was buying for me. It won’t take long, especially if you’re good at finding motivated sellers, to build your own core of investors.
Make it happen.
-housebroken
Hi, I am a real estate agent in California. I have a couple of investors that I work with. I am not in any way an expert in investment property since I just started doing this a year ago. But I look at my association with these investors as a partnership.
To be hones, the investors will tell you what they want and you go find it. You are in an unique position as you can help them with comps, financing, et al. So what you bring to the table initially is not so much your investment expertise but your access to MLS, bankers, other investors, property management people, etc.
In our office, you can find someone who does any and everything you need from property management companies, to rehab specialist. This is your contribution. As time goes on, you’ll learn the lingo and be able to talk the “investment talk”
Don’t try to fake it if you don’t know admit it but go find out.
Sounds like a good start. We’ve had success offering investors a one stop shop. We address the most common investor needs such as finding motivated sellers, money, tenants, market analysis, reliable rehabbers, and property management. Our team offers all this. We’ve been fortunate to have been able to bring some good people together. If you’ve got tenants, investors will find you. I advertise weekly for rent to buy. Quite often, when one of my investors is ready to pull the trigger, we already have a tenant lined up for a lease option.
I’d be very thankful for any success story you would be willing to share.
-housebroken
Where are you located? I don’t know if this is a success story or
a horror story… we haven’t gotten any “cash” for this one.
I have a friend who rents a house . I met Her landlord and he became my client. The house she lives in is worth $600,000. She has lived in this house for 4 years. He purchased the house for $240,000.
My friend refused to purchase the house so I may be put in the unique position of selling a house from under my friend.
This client also owns 3 other houses, 1 house is in an exclusive area
he purchased the house for 400,000 he wants to sell it for over $1Million
The third and 4th houses have approximately $300,000 each in equity.
One day when I was visiting my friend, her landlord talked about how broke he was. He had just returned from a trip out of the country and was two payment late on his credit card.
When we started talking about his equity in his property. he stated he was a real estate agent himself but he did not practice it.
One of his properties is being rented and the tenant is over 5 months behind (client doesn’t want to pay for property management).
We suggested he pull equity out of the houses, he wants to purchase a mall… (he wants to do a 1031 exchange?) We had to get an expert in 1031 exchanges to explain he probably could not get out
any money). By the way this client is only 25 years old.
We are probably going to list the $1M house but selling that house is not going to be a cakewalk and may take some months.
Client doesn’t want to refinance (doesn’t want to pay any points) Did ask about a HELOC on the 1M because he wants to upgrade the floor and put in granite counter tops? The possibilities of earning a lot of money but he kind of waffles on the information and solutions presented to him. I have experts talk to him about different solutions and ways to finance, refinance, 1031, etc.
Just in dealing with this client I have had to learn a lot about 1031 exchanges, HELOC, ARMS, capital gains, cash flow projections, and what I have found out is that sometimes the client doesn’t know as much as they think.
They sometimes throw out terms that they really don’t understand and it is your job to listen consult with a expert and then do a feasibility study and sometimes a cash flow analysis of what they are talking about to show them the numbers.
The last scenario that we offered to this client is pull out all your equity and put a good down payment on the strip mall.
We also suggested that he start a retirement plan with $100,000 to $200,000 dollars since he has a family member involved. Then we showed him a spread sheet with his proposed income from the mall, the compound interest on the $200,000 over a ten year period the projection showed where he would be financially and it sure wasn’t “broke”
We suggested that he keep three of the properties as rentals (his properties are all in great areas that will appeal to the Bay Area Movers)
We suggested that he get a property management company to collect his rents for the three properties and put the 1M house up for sales and wait for the right buyer.
The 1M house was a lease option??? but the tenant could not afford the $3,000/month and has moved so the house is vacant.
We’re just waiting to see if he approves our plan.
what would your suggestions be for this client?
I’m part of a 3 agent team. We average 2mil in sales in a bad month and as high as 3.5mil. I’m in Maryland and you can see our team at the top of the key in the North Potomac Gazette every month.
We have a friend who is an investor and works with us. She has purchased 9 houses in 2 years with our help.
I would say that the main point we make is to have the investor do a majority of the research so they understand on their own what they are looking at. It is not that we don’t do the research or we are lazy (you would not survive in Maryland DC and Virginia if you were lazy) it is just that an Investor has to be invloved in all aspects of the property buying.
Never be afraid to present the facts. There have been many times when what the investor was looking for was not available so we guided them to other options, (multi-unit, conversion) etc.
Suggestions? Sounds like he’s doing ok. Without a little more info, I’m afraid I can’t offer anything on a strategic level. Purely based on what you said, you should be addressing his cash flow and tenant issues. I wouldn’t present any ideas that didn’t provide solutions to those two issues. Show him how he can maximize his cash flow with his current holdings. Further, I would advise against the mall until he is on better financial footing and a little more experienced with property management. Perhaps you’ve already done this, but I’d go back to the drawing board with him to formulate both short term and long term investment goals. Does he have a plan? How is he doing so far? Do you even have him as a client yet? Cash flow crunch could present an opportunity to partner up with him. Know anyone who might be interested?
Finally, are you really thinking of selling your friends house from under her? How does this make sense?
Make it happen.
-housebroken
-housbroken - are reffering to me?
We are the agents that she uses for her transactions. She is an investor we are real estate agents.
I think he’s talking to ginasands, cma…
Keith
I am both a realtor and an investor in Texas myself. I think one of the things that investors need is an agressive realtor.
Investors don’t just buy the standard deal at the standard price, like a normal buyer. They are looking for deals, bargains, creativity etc. Many realtors, especially here in Austin are very nice, but just too laid back. Don’t want to "offend " the buyer or seller.
But it’s not only here. I just sold one of my own properties in another state which is in a very hot market right now. The agent I had kept wanting to take every offer that came in, didn’t want to negoitiate or start a bidding war. Hello ! I want a bidding war ! LOL I had to do a lot of babysitting and pushing with her, just so she could earn a higher commission !!!
“The agent I had kept wanting to take every offer that came in, didn’t want to negoitiate or start a bidding war. Hello ! I want a bidding war !”
You’re right…as a Listing Agent a bidding war is exactly what you want for your client. It’s a Listing Agent’s job to get the best price possible for their client.
If the property is priced competitively initially…this is the most likely scenario in a hot market (multiple offers). We even had competition on our last investment.
I think this is ONE reason some resent Real Estate Agents. They don’t get the property because, their’s was not the best offer & immediately look for someone to blame.
The last four properties we listed all sold inside of five days with multiple offers. The Seller’s love us. The Buyer & Buyer’s Agent who get the property love us. Those that don’t get the property sometimes look to cause trouble, and yet others (who know nothing about the deal) accuse you of leaving money on the table if there were multiple offers.
-Infowell
Well I’ll say this…We work with investors and advise to bid up on a porperty if they really want to get it (now this is within reason of course)…I deal in a hot market (DC MD VA)…there have been many times when the bidding war drives the price beyond the comps (way up) in the area…and we walk away with the investor we represent from the deal…
Most agents have a cotract deadline so I ask this first when calling on a property, then I ask if they have any offers most will tell you yes or now.
Now many of you will say “Of course they’ll say yes to make it look like you need to put an offer or loose the house” but rember they have to send me a copy of the first page of the contract to prove that someone else is bidding more.