Hi there. I’m a marketing guy, and I provide online marketing services for a Houston, TX based real estate agent. I’ve been working with her for the past two months, and I’ve figured out that the largest influence on the Houston area’s current bull market is real estate investors.
Because of that, I joined this board to do some research. Specifically, I need to know more about what investors such as yourselves need from real estate agents.
I’d also appreciate it if you could share some of your pet peeves about real estate agents, as well as what you look for in an ideal agent.
If you could sit an agent down and tell her exactly what she could do to make you want to do business with her, what would you say to her?
Good questions. It is refreshing to see a real estate agent reaching out to investors
As an investor (I was also licensed as a real estate broker for over 20 years,) these are the main things I see an investor needing from a real estate agent: CMAs, researching high cash sales areas, researching properties that have sold for cash over the last 6 months (and corresponding cash buyers,) properties on the market with distressed keywords (“short sale possible”, “bring offers”, “motivated seller”, etc), properties that have been on the market for 90+ days (I have a good what I call “MLS strategy” to put these properties under contract.)
As far as what I would say to the agent is that it is a win-win situation. I need her help to grow my business as an investor - she helps me with the items as stated above, I will have no problem with loyalty. She can list my properties when I sell them using an agent, of course make commissions from me buying and selling, and I also pay a bonus after 3 deals that have successfully closed with her help.
As a recovering ‘agent burner’ before 1988 (wasting agent’s time with my ridiculous parameters), I can tell you that many agents are NOT interested in working with “creative” investors …for at least two major reasons.
They waste the agent’s time looking for ‘unicorn’ deals.
The investor doesn’t actually have any/enough money to do a deal (want ‘no down’ style deals) and thus won’t close on an actual ‘wholesale’ deal.
I’m talking about ‘creative’ investors, which are notoriously the most likely ‘investors’ to waste an agent’s time. Worse, these investors aren’t repeat buyers. Adding insult to that injury, these investors ask the agent for all sorts of favors, before/if they pull the trigger on a deal.
So, the more experienced agent’s eyes roll when any so-called, self-described “investor” calls and asks for help in finding “good deals.”
Here’s some questions I would want answered, if I was an agent, and got a call from an investor.
What do you want to buy? Can you describe the deal you’re looking for?
Why are you investing in real estate?
Are you actually ‘investing’ or are you actually merchandising real estate. Are you actually buying an investment property for yourself? Flipping, rehabbing, or buy-and-holding?
What have you bought before? How many? What won’t you buy?
What are your sources of funds? Cash, HML, EQLC, Grandma?
How many deals are you planning to close on this year, if I find you deals?
Are you willing to exclusively market/list all your deals through me, or will I be among several options for you?
How many properties are currently in your portfolio?
Why all these questions? Because there’s players and there’s unicorn chasers. I want to know which I’ve got on the line and act accordingly.
That covers what the agent should ask for. Now, let’s move to the investor’s needs and wants.
Does agent own/invests in the same thing I want to invest in?
Must answer “yes.”
Does agent ever develop pocket listings? Must answer “yes.”
This question would be redundant, because the reason I’m talking with this agent, is because he was advertising a pocket listing on craigslist.
Does the agent have a buyer’s list, and if so, how do I get on it, and become the first call?
Keep plowing through to the agents with pocket listings, and make sure I make friends with them, get on their list, and buy what I say I’m gonna buy. After the agents discover that I’m a buyer, all of the sudden I’m getting calls from agents with pocket listings out of the blue, without hunting down agents with pocket listings.
OK, I could write more, but that’s my take on what agent’s and investors need out of each other. Deals and Buyers of deals.
The only thing that I need from an agent is for them to cooperate. Sit down shut up and cooperate. If you have an agent that is all in your business trying to figure out what you have going on, etc… that can cause some confusion. All the agent needs to be cool with is that the investor is going to get them paid. :bobble
The agent has to trust the investor enough to give them access to the MLS. And they don’t have to have the code to login, all the agent has to do is print out what you want them to print out, and you get to work.
Just tell them if they are looking to profit off of expired listings in you area, then that is a good way to get the interest of both parties. The agent will get paid and the investor. :beer
Ofcourse the expired listing is not listed anymore and there will have to be some type of agreement on paper for the both of you to make sure you are not stiffing the agent. Its only fair. Your paper work, not theirs. :deal
