BiggerPockets

As for your professional team (attorney, accountant, etc), the key is asking lots of questions. Likely, you're going to want team members who specialize in real estate, and even more so, who have and/or do own investment property currently. For example, I've spoken to dozens of potential accountants over the past couple years, and consistently, the best ones are the ones who are investors themselves. They have had to prepare their own returns to deal with investment property, and when that's the case, they tend to have a better grasp than those who have just done it for others.

With attorneys, you probably want to have more than one you can turn to. For example, I have a real estate attorney who I use for any real estate specific issues (like evictions, creating mortgage docs, dealing with contract disputes, etc); and I also have a general contracts attorney who I use for things like operating agreements, partnership agreements, contractor contracts, etc.

As with any team members, talk to other successful investors and get referrals and references...

In terms of finding contractors, this is a long process, and even after several years and probably over 100 contractors, I still have issues on occasion. It took about 2 years to put together my core crew of contractors, but I still have the occasional issue that requires us to fire someone or hire someone new.

Here are some tips for finding great contractors:

- Consult other successful investors. While they may be hesitant to give you their core crew (for example, my guys are kept pretty busy on my projects so I don't want to spread them too thin), most successful investors have a "B team" that they can go to when necessary and who they are happy to refer out;

- Hang out at Home Depot at 6:30am. Great contractors don't sleep in until 10am, but instead are picking up materials first thing in the morning and getting to their job sites by 8am. These are the ones you want on your team. Get to HD early, and start collecting and handing out business cards.

- When you drive by a job site that looks well-run and organized, stop. Talk to the crew, ask questions, ask to see the work they're doing. If it looks good, get their card.

- Always check references. When a contractor gives a reference, don't just get a phone number, but an address also. Call the homeowner/investor and ask if you can stop by to see the work the contractor did. This will tell you more than just making a phone call (many homeowners won't be honest about the contractor anyway).

I've written a lot of blog posts here on BP about how to screen contractors, contracts, necessary documentation, etc if you want more info on how to avoid "horror stories"...

Jason makes some great points. I have found that general attorneys are of little value. Seek an attorney with RE experience. I also agree that finding a good attorney that does contracts and business organization is handy as well.

Many of your forms should be reviewed by a competent attorney and I suggest they should be reviewed again every couple of years because laws and needs change over time.

I would also agree that an accountant or CPA will be a better fit if they are a RE investor. There are many issues to consider when investing in RE and how you transact business can make a large difference in your tax bill.

Depending on your investing strategy, a great real estate agent could mean the difference between early success and failure...

Not absolutely necessary, but if you're new to investing, can be a great asset...

Yall have been so helpful. Thank you thank you! I'm so excited to start more investments!

i also found it best to get referrals from fellow investors. as a quick side note when starting out, i went through a few of each category (RE agents, attorneys, accountants, electricians, plumbers, so on and so on), until i realized what i was truly looking for in each person as well.

Do you mean having a good FICO? Or taking the loans out through a S or C Corp? Or just finding a great bank?

Thanks for clarification

Yeap...my small regional bank broker in Austin is one of my most important resources too. I have no idea how you find these folks in other locales.

I am happy to give you the contact information for my guy if you like. Maybe he can give you some pointers about how to find folks in your area. There is a remote chance he may know some other brokers in your area too!

bryan, will you pm me his info?? im' sure he wno't know of any banks in charlotte lending, but he may be able to point me in the right direction of where to find a guy like him...thanks