How to be Taken Seriously

Question

I’m young (23), newly married two years ago, and just coming out of the life of being a college student. Because of this, my work history is sporadic and in several different fields—making it difficult to get a conventional first-time homebuyers loan.

I’ve tried looking at properties in the past, but it’s felt like agents don’t take me seriously because I’m not pre-approved and I’m so young. I’m sure I can get creative with financing, however. I know plenty of older folks in my hometown who know and trust me and who have money and the willingness to invest, particularly in real estate.

Here’s the question: how can I help an agent be confident that I have the ability to purchase a home without a “pre-approval” from a bank? How can I help an agent feel like the time they invest in me will pay off for them?

Rick Pozos · Answer

First thing to be taken serious around here is to fill out your profile and put where you live. For all we know, you could be a 13 year old girl that lives in Bangladesh. Not that anything is wrong with a 13 year old from Bangladesh being on the forums, but lets just be up front and honest from the beginning.

I am not "in the box" kind of person. SO I would say that maybe you should not even use a realtor. This eliminates the need to prove to the agent that you have private funding. The first few deals (and many that I have done over the years) that I did were completely off market and no one ever asked me for a pre approval letter or bank statements that showed I had the money to complete the deal.

Find the deals on your own and help people who are stuck in a bad situation. Deals tend to be a little better, great satisfaction that you helped someone out of their bad spot AND you dont need to prove you have friends with money.

Will Fraser · Answer

Hi @Isaac Taylor, welcome to the BiggerPockets forums!  Great work pushing hard to grow and get your family started on a great path!

I want to shoot you as straight as possible here:  The key to being taken seriously in anything is to be serious is that thing.  You need to built trust and rapport.  Trust is a factor or 1. Character and 2. Competence.   You need to be growing as a man of character (in general) and you need to be growing in your competence (in the specific matter at hand).  (book to read as soon as you can:  The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey)

The way to show an agent that you have the competence needed to be taken seriously, you're either going to need to have the cash or have the qual(indication).  Why?  Because without the funds you can't buy.  And life experience has taught us that it is rare to have enough cash at 23 to buy a home outright, and if one did one would not be shy about sharing that with the agent.  So, if you don't have the cash, you need to be pre-qualified or have a plan that you are actively, seriously working on that will get you there. Otherwise, it IS a waste of time.

As I imagine myself getting a phone call (or even better, a text) from you asking for help buying a house, this is what would rock my world and show me that "this dude's got it together:  let's roll!"

- "Hey Will, I'm Isaac Taylor and I'm 23 years old and my recent learning has sold me on the value of buying a home.  My wife and I would love to buy something soon and we will need to secure financing to do that, so I'm working with a family friend to figure out what that would look like and what buying power that would give it.  I have two question for you:  1. do you have a savvy lender you would recommend for me to get in touch with and 2. would you help us find a home that could be a place to grow our family?"

That approach tells me that whoever is on the other end has worked to understand the process and they value my input.  Of course I'm going to invest time there!

Go out there and get it, Issac!  Good luck!

Isaac Taylor · Answer

Thanks for the advice @Rick Pozos!

Caleb Brown · Answer

To be taken seriously you need to prove you have the friends with money to back you up. There are many people that waste an agents time so you don't want to fall into that category. On the flip side you also want to find an agent that understands investors and works with many. Most agents don't understand that part of Real Estate. Try and be responsive and communicative with the agent.

Isaac Taylor · Answer

Thank you for the response and great advice @Will Fraser! Maybe a follow-up question... say I do have an agreement with a private lender, or I have already received the cash—how do I prove that to the lender? If I was pre-approved, I’d have a document to show the agent, correct? Is there something similar that I can do to prove cash or that I have an agreement with a lender?

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