The Relationship Game & Why It Matters in Real Estate

The older I get, the more I realize how truly important it is to build meaningful relationships with people in order to get where you want to go.

I write a lot about finances, but without the relationships, the financial side is harder to obtain. It’s also not as fulfilling to become financially free, but be standing all alone without the people that have supported you along the way.

Why Relationships?

Relationships are truly a currency—I believe one of the most important currencies of the world—because relationships can make you rich in your spirit, health, and finances.

Think about when you’re contacting sellers all day. The ones who truly need your help, have a problem, and need you to help solve that problem.

The transactions that you do where you take the time to know the seller’s true needs will result in the best deals you’ve ever done. They may not be the most profitable monetarily, but they will be the stories you remember because you helped change someone’s life.

The real estate world is all about relationships. No matter if you are buying at auction, online, or without ever interacting with a buyer, you more than likely will interact with a human being at some point if you sell the property or turn it into a rental.

Some of the best skills you can possibly learn are the arts of communication and empathy. To put yourself truly in another person’s shoes and see where they have come from and empathize with them is a skill that has to be built and refined over and over again.

I want to give you a couple of tips on how to build a relationship with anyone that you come into contact with, whether that be a seller, a buyer, a contractor, an agent, or anyone else you may encounter during your day.

Key Angles of Relationship Building

1. Think of Their Needs

This one point alone is where you can truly start helping people. The next time you meet (in person or virtually) with a seller, a buyer, or anyone really, stop and think, “What do they truly need, and how can I provide it?”

For example, if you are in a relationship, sometimes you know that your partner has a problem but just wants to talk about it and doesn’t want a solution right then and there. The best way to provide for their needs is to just listen.

2. Provide True Value

It is so easy to go into a situation thinking about what value you want or what price you need to acquire the house. But without thinking about how you can truly provide value to the other person, you will always come out behind.

Think about this. If you buy a house and make money, that’s really good for you. But think—if you had built a relationship with that seller, solved their problems, and kept in touch with them, as well as went above and beyond in providing value, you now have someone that will give you a testimonial, champion you, and tell others about you, which is far more valuable than buying one house one time.

When you provide true value to others, that value comes back to you in ways you might not even be thinking about.

3. Follow Up

For the people you have helped, you can continue providing them value by keeping in touch with them and seeing if there are any more needs they have. This can lead to a deeper relationship, more contacts, more houses bought, or a ton of other benefits that you will miss out on if you don’t have some way to keep in touch.

I’m writing these tips because, at the end of the day, your network is truly your net worth. If you want to make more money and keep more money, then you have to start providing more value to people. The money in your bank account is a direct correlation to the value that you provide to other people.

Go out today and start looking through the lens of serving others and provide value to them. It will be worth it.

How do you strengthen your relationships?

Tell us how to make friends in the comments.

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.