Road block with Realtor's NO PROBLEM!!!

Thanks for the encouraging words Makeba. I just talked to an agent who had some negative experiences with other investors he's dealt with in the past. And he seemed very bitter as I was trying to gauge his mindset to the DG concepts. And he was extremely cautious and was asking me questions about funding and backers. I did become discouraged at first, but as the conversation went on, I did gain some valuable information concerning the local market. He did say he would keep an open mind and that if I was serious, to give him a call. So the conversation wasn't a total wash. I just have to keep plugging away until I find that right match. Thanks again for the encouragement.

Hello Corey,

That is a great start. I would call more agents to see who you can add to your team. You want someone who wants to work with and for you. Keep trying and you will find a great one!

with gratitude,

makeba

most REA dont OWN real estate.....??????? WHAT???

So, they dont really understand REI.

They're just sales people.

Thank you makeba

Mike that is an interesting truth. Here is something more to add to that. Most agents are trained to Get the Listing!!! They are taught that the more listings you have the more money you will make. The key is finding an agent who is hungry and who can see the potential in working with you. Dealing with banks can be a pain in the rear. While an agent closes on one deal with financing they could potentially close on 4 with you and make way more then they would from that one listing. Also they have the potential of getting listings from you and your leads that don't work out. WIN WIN!!!

One of the things I like to say when qualifying a new agent is I let them know right away that I am looking for someone to be a part of my team and to work with me for the long haul. There are not always going to be winners but we will work it out together.

This was something I learned from Matt Larson. That helped me a lot when it came to agents. There are some great posts about getting an agent on the site. Check them out

with gratitude,

makeba

I have had realtors that say no flat out, but then I have had great ones knowing everything I do work right along with me. I have one such realtor now, and he now attends our REI meetings! You just have to keep looking!

Some great words from all of you, thanks Makeba for starting and continuing such a valuable string of posts.

There is an old saying among real estate investors that the term MLS applies to more than just Multiple Listing Service, it also means "Mostly Lazy Salespeople." This is not an attempt to slam the Realty industry, only those who deserve it.

I think sometimes our biggest challenges come from new investors who do not really know how to work cooperatively with agents forming relationships with agents who do not really understand investors. That's pretty much a recipe for an unsuccessful result. As we look for agents, it can save some challenges if they are familiar with working with investors--and not just the passive ones who buy a rental property every 2 years using conventional financing and then transfer the responsibility to a property manager. I mean hands on investors like us who make multiple offers every single week.

Beyond that, as Makeba mentioned, we need to recognize that they have to make a living to support their family, and we have to find ways to streamline our relationship with them and become very efficient in evaluating properties and making offers. They have other clients that they need to work with too, so we should expect them to work hard when they are working with us, and recognize that they also have these additional obligations.

Now, there is an approach to investing that many new investors use, that I refer to as Park and Pray. The park all their property finding responsibility with one agent, and pray that they will bring the deals to them. This limited approach will not make you rich. An agent, or even 3 or 4 agents, should be considered as a part of a larger marketing plan to find properties. The average successful business uses at least 25 methods to find new customers/clients. Our new clients are properties, and our marketing should be no different--we should be building to 25 or more methods of marketing to find properties that we employ on a daily basis--searching multiple websites, building relationships with wholesalers, finding bird dogs, calling on rentals or property managers, or for sale by owner properties, etc., etc., etc. I promise you that any frustration you feel toward your agent will begin to evaporate as you diversify your marketing and are less dependent on one solitary source of properties.
And, if doing the work of finding properties from other sources is too cumbersome for you, remember that "The Solution to Time is Team." You may need a virtual assistant to search and filter property leads for you, and the cost is not particularly high for this. There are multiple online dot coms that can help with this, such as virtualassistant, odesk, elance, fiverr, tenrr, etc.
Don't park your business success with a realtor and pray for success, diversify your marketing, find the properties that are less well known, and enhance your success.

I went through about 6 agents until I found my rock star agent that pretty much do anything I tell her to, not to sound cocky or anything. She goes to properties and look at them for me, takes pictures and send them to me. Networking with other agents to find me deals. Always answer my calls, emails and texts in the same day. She puts out my offers the same day I email them to her. She's the best. You have to keep sorting through as many realtors as is takes you to find you rock star agent.

Reynold, I hope that we have many people reading your post because negative comments about agents tend to be more common than positive ones.
Coincidentally, I just received a call from my real estate agent. I cannot wait to check the message and see what interesting new properties he has found for me. My outstanding agent is also an investor, and just seems to be tuned in to what I'm looking for.
The best news is that I've spent time traveling around the country, and met people who have these golden agents that they work with. It's a shame that there isn't a "superstar agents" website that we can go to, but if you call a real estate office and talk to the receptionist, often you will find that they know which agents are the best ones to refer you to. Ask them who they would select as an agent for an investor. Or call the contact person for a local real estate investors association and ask if they have any agents who attend their meetings who are looking to build business. The fact that they are attending investor group meetings is a pretty good sign that they are willing to be a good agent for an investor.

Rock on Reynold. Thats how powerful having a good agent on your team is:) Woo hoo!!!

The REA is 'trained' to get the listings and Sell to make $$$$, and Not discount the sale price because they're on commission = less price,= less pay!

10% of REA do 90% of the sales= paychecks.

90% of REA do 10% of the sales= little.

WHICH one you want?

Close deals = $$$$.

SELL for less, but sell MORE.

DON'T try to train them- just ORDER them to do this and that..period.

I demand rent rates for the area and properties. (if you dont have rates, you Don't have the #'s and CAN'T make an offer.)

You HAVE to have numbers!

DON'T try to make them understand What you do.

Then the results will show the profits and BOTH parties will profit while Helping ppl sell Faster!!

Carrying cost Add up Fast!!

I wholeheartedly concur with Mike's assessment above, put succinctly, and without any apology.
If you explain too much to your agent, you will confuse them, and I promise that you will open up a whole bunch of questions on their part. We don't want to have to answer a bunch of questions, we want answers to questions from them. In fact, the old rule is that he who asks the questions controls the conversation. So know what you want to accomplish with an agent, get to business, don't waste either of your time by telling them too much. The correct approach is: "I'm a real estate investor. I need an agent to help me make deals in this area. I have some very specific needs and criteria. If I send you a list, will you let me know if you can find properties that match the list. If you can, that's all I want you to focus on. And I want you to filter properties through my criteria. I'd rather have 5 well filtered properties than 50 random ones. I'm a cash buyer investor, I can send you a Proof of Funds for every property we need to make an offer on."

Isn't that basically everything they need to know? Create a list of criteria based on what your cash buyers have told you they will buy every single time. And send that over to them. Correct them when they send you properties that don't match your criteria. That's how you train an agent. Once again, thanks Mike for your directness.