I'm still fairly new to the world of investment properties but I realize the key to finding good investment properties, is having an experienced investment realtor on your team. Unfortunately the majority of realtors I've worked with that claim to have investment experience, have done little to nothing to help educate me and find properties. I typically have been the one searching for properties off the listings and truthfully it's becoming a full time job while my realtors have done minimal to even search let alone show me properties when it works for them. I work a full time job as it is and honestly I don't have time to do all the searching and researching. Please tell me this isn't the norm? I really would like to find a well-qualified agent that will help educate, guide me to find a good investment property.
To be frank with you, you're going about this the wrong way. You're passing the buck/blame to a realtor for you not doing your own homework. If something is important enough, you find the time to get it done.
I have spent time looking for deals for new investors and it was the biggest waste of time I've ever seen. I see so many people here looking for investor-friendly realtors when in reality, they are not realtor-friendly investors. It usually boils down to someone not doing their own research and relying on an agent to take their uncompensated time to be a mentor and find properties for them.
You need to be able to find your own deals and do your own research. Between BiggerPockets, YouTube, and the internet, there is no excuse to not have a general idea of what you're doing after a few weeks of studying.
My advice to you is to continue to study and learn. Go to meetups. Ask questions in the forum. Make yourself a more attractive client to work with. No agent worth their salt is going to spend their time doing all of the legwork for a buyer with no experience and that has put forth little-to-no effort on their own to learn the market.
There are 24 hours in a day and about 1/3 of that is spent at work for most people. That leaves about 16 hours a day for sleep and real estate. If you're hungry enough for it, you'll find the time.
I'm still fairly new to the world of investment properties but I realize the key to finding good investment properties, is having an experienced investment realtor on your team. Unfortunately the majority of realtors I've worked with that claim to have investment experience, have done little to nothing to help educate me and find properties. I typically have been the one searching for properties off the listings and truthfully it's becoming a full time job while my realtors have done minimal to even search let alone show me properties when it works for them. I work a full time job as it is and honestly I don't have time to do all the searching and researching. Please tell me this isn't the norm? I really would like to find a well-qualified agent that will help educate, guide me to find a good investment property.
I know, frustrating isn't it. Well, it's pretty typical. Why don't you DM me, tell me what you are looking for and I'll see if your expectatons are realistic. I am not a realtor, so no worries about being ignored. ;-)
To be frank with you, you're going about this the wrong way. You're passing the buck/blame to a realtor for you not doing your own homework. If something is important enough, you find the time to get it done.
I have spent time looking for deals for new investors and it was the biggest waste of time I've ever seen. I see so many people here looking for investor-friendly realtors when in reality, they are not realtor-friendly investors. It usually boils down to someone not doing their own research and relying on an agent to take their uncompensated time to be a mentor and find properties for them.
You need to be able to find your own deals and do your own research. Between BiggerPockets, YouTube, and the internet, there is no excuse to not have a general idea of what you're doing after a few weeks of studying.
My advice to you is to continue to study and learn. Go to meetups. Ask questions in the forum. Make yourself a more attractive client to work with. No agent worth their salt is going to spend their time doing all of the legwork for a buyer with no experience and that has put forth little-to-no effort on their own to learn the market.
There are 24 hours in a day and about 1/3 of that is spent at work for most people. That leaves about 16 hours a day for sleep and real estate. If you're hungry enough for it, you'll find the time.
I'm still fairly new to the world of investment properties but I realize the key to finding good investment properties, is having an experienced investment realtor on your team. Unfortunately the majority of realtors I've worked with that claim to have investment experience, have done little to nothing to help educate me and find properties. I typically have been the one searching for properties off the listings and truthfully it's becoming a full time job while my realtors have done minimal to even search let alone show me properties when it works for them. I work a full time job as it is and honestly I don't have time to do all the searching and researching. Please tell me this isn't the norm? I really would like to find a well-qualified agent that will help educate, guide me to find a good investment property.
This turned out way longer than I initially meant. Hope it helps in any way. Please feel free to reach out if you'd like to continue the conversation with an investor friendly agent. I look forward to it. TL:DR Investors are lots of work, typically very demanding, often do not know what they really want and are not often loyal back to their real estate agent.
Yep — I'd say that most of the agents I encounter are not happy working with investors unless they have a knowledgable investor who has defined their crystal clear criteria and is actively shopping, then it is a dream. When I tell them I love to help new investors, they think I'm a little off. Lol.
Most agents feel like investors are super high maintenance buyers. Buyers are already more work than sellers, some agents won't even take on buyer clients and define themselves as "Listing Agents" only. High maintenance comes out when the investor doesn't just want to see the property, but they want a detailed comparable analysis, they want an analysis of the previous rents if available and/or a rental comparable analysis and then they want to know the age-old question: Is this a good deal?
That is the thing though. The agent can't define a good deal for you. It might make 12% Cash on Cash Return, it might be projected to be worth 100% more after certain repairs/renovations are done, it might cash flow $200/mo... But none of that matters if you're looking for something else.
The next thing is volume. Investors want to see LOTS of properties before they are ready to buy. When I acquired the last two properties before becoming an agent, in 45 days (thanks to 1031 exchange rules): We looked at over 20 properties in person, my agent wrote 15 offers (not including responding to various counter offers), we had one escrow fall through during the inspection period as we decided the property wasn't for us and closed on two deals just days apart. Investors are a TON of work.
The final piece is loyalty. Most of the investors I know keep shopping for new agents when they do new deals. Agents hate to be ghosted as much as you do. It happens to agents too. Remember, unless we close a deal, we don't get paid. So when agents have invested a lot of time in providing analysis, etc, they are hoping to earn your business. When they get ghosted after they have invested lots of time, it makes them a little bit jaded. My advice here is that when you find an agent who you really click with, come back to them for future deals, refer your friends, family and other investors. They talk about this on the Podcast all the time: Provide value back to anyone you work with.
I'd take @Account Closed up on his offer to chat, he is incredibly knowledgeable. :)
Just telling the agent you are looking for investment properties isn't going to help either side. Biggest thing that helped me was having crystal clear criteria. Such as I'm looking for side by side duplex, triplex, in price range on $x-xx, and is turn key. This will help your agent narrow down exactly what you're looking for. No point in your agent sending you single family homes, or 8 unit buildings if that's not what you're looking for.
You should also be able to check numbers on that property within a few minutes to see if the property has potential. If so then its time to diver deeper and see if its a potential deal. The agent isn't going to know if the property meets your criteria.
Send feedback of the properties they are sending you. This will help give them a better understand of what you're looking for. Good luck on your search.
@Cami Gerbmak I think there a lot of agents out there that are not buyer focused nor investor focused. That causes a rift between buyers and agents. A referral from your friend who bought a house from someone or someone who says they work with buyers does not make them a good fit for you. To be fair, there are only a select few buyer agents that actually work with buyer investors on a regular basis as their core business. The good ones are the ones that really understand what you are looking for, provide feedback on options available, and continue to send you deals. Only you, though, as an investor, can provide quality feedback to the broker/agent. Saying "that doesn't work" with out providing the why, tells the agent that you are not a serious buyer. Their time as an agent is really valuable and they can spend that time with a thousand buyers. You could offer to pay an upfront fee to a really good buyer's broker and that fee comes off the commission at closing when they find you something. That would tie you two together and both be incentivized to work with each other? But, don't be sold on a agent telling you they work with buyers. Get referrals from other investors.