BiggerPockets

Hi I am just getting started in real estate investing. I am now looking to find a real estate agent and would like to know the pros and cons of working with an investor who is an agent vs just a reg agent.
the one thing that comes up for me with working with an investor agent would be a plus for advice.
Which one is more likely to give me MLS access as well.
Thank you for your time.
And have a great day
Thomas

Hi Norm,Thanks for your post and for all your great feed back.i just found this site on Friday and you are right there is a lot of great info here to be had, I have been reading it for two days now. Thanks again Norm
Thomas

My job has nothing to do with 'the agent'

My obligation is to pay 'the agent' his/her commission for them 'doing their job'

I have to agree with cucaloco here, at least to some extent. Mike and I have been working up a short class for agents and investors on how to work together. So, I've been considering this question myself.

Investors act differently than retail buyers. Retail buyers ARE going to buy a house, provided they can find one they like and have their finances in order. This isn't true with investors. If an agent shows a retail buyer enough houses, they are very likely to buy one. The retail buyer doesn't know the process and the agent must hold their hand throughout the entire process.

An investor, OTOH, may know as much or more about the process than the agent. They will want more information about comps, inventory, and areas. An investor may look at 100 houses, make 50 offers and buy nothing.

Investors are often looking at lower priced houses than retail buyers. I'm not sure what the media home price is here right now, but I'm sure its higher than the $60-70K junkers I'm buying. Even at $250K, the agents going to pocket a much bigger commission than with my purchases. They're likely to do a lot more work than the retail agent. So, even if I close a deal, which Mike and I did back in May, their net proceeds are pretty small.

So, I think as an investor, you better help out. You need to do some of the leg work. Maybe that's pre-driving the properties and rejecting obvious duds. I like to use Google maps to make a map of the properties to make the viewings go quickly. When viewing, I try to take one quick look inside, and if its a dud, move on quickly. After viewing a batch of properties, we'll set down over lunch and discuss what we say. We agree on offers, if possible. If not, we'll figure out what comps we need for which properties. All offers are made electronically, so once the offers are decided, they can go in quickly. It still takes some tracking and followup.

Bottom line, I think investors and agents working together is a different relationship than agents and retail buyers. Investors are going to generate more work for a smaller payday than retail buyers. So, they have to put in some extra effort to make it worthwhile. Agents have to realize the investor is going to have much different buying criteria than a retail buyer, so many more "ridiculous" offers are going to be necessary. If they can divide the work, and can understand each other, they can have a profitable relationship.

My suggestion is to work w/ an investment experienced agent instead of your homeonwers' agent. There are such agents (I work with more than 20 such agents across the country). Their mind set is more financialy and investor objectives.

cucoloco is correct, your job is to make your agents work as easy as possible. You are not even an investor UNLESS you do your OWN research. Unless your agent has made money from you, why should he work for you? Once he/she has made a commission from you, then you can pull on them a little more. If you are going to invest heavily in one area, developing a relationship with a couple of agents will benefit you greatly, just don't ask them to detail your car and mow your yard.

Your job is to make the agents life as easy as possible,



What? You're joking right?

My job has nothing to do with 'the agent'

My obligation is to pay 'the agent' his/her commission for them 'doing their job'




Dear Agent, I am a beginner investor, I want you to drive me to look at hundreds of properties. Write really low offers, pull comps, tell me what to fix, put me into your best deals, teach me the market conditions... don't worry you will get paid 3% commission when/if I find a deal enough to make 15-20% profit.

I don't know very many agents that would be excited about this type of client.

When I say, make their life easy, I mean:

- Pull your own comps
- Attack the good deals quickly
- Follow through on your commitments
- Be email friendly (email signed offers, EMD checks, etc)
- Review properties without the agent going with you
- Eliminate the crap
- etc

The agent gets paid and has to do a lot of the work, but do not expect them to spend 4 hrs a day with you, everyday, especially if you're new.