Tough Agent Decision
Hey Guys & Gals,
I am from Vancouver, Canada. I have been looking at investing in the Okanagan, which is a 3.5 hour drive away. Through my mom I met an agent from Vancouver who is also a very successful real estate investor. He has a ton of properties and could possibly be a mentor. He brought me along on a day at his agent job and talked with me for a while after.
I have told him that I wanted to invest in the Okanagan and he said he is a province/state wide agent (British Columbia). He set me up with automatic alerts for Vancouver but said he can't do alerts for Kamloops. He is also very busy as her is dealing with a lot of high net worth people (I'm 22 and am not high net worth). Not that it is his fault as maybe I haven't been super clear on some things but he hasn't brought any properties to me either. What I have been clear on was the type of properties I wanted to buy.
This is my dilemma: Should I use him as an agent for only the Vancouver area? Should I get a local agent in the Okanagan? Is there such a thing as a state/province wide investor?
I don't want to lose a great connection (who is also my mom's friend) but my gut tells me to go with someone who is actually in the city I am looking to buy and when I want to buy in Vancouver use him. We didn't sign any paperwork or anything like that. Having someone actually there to go check out properties for me in person, throw offers more often, bring me properties and know the area very well seems better but he is super experienced in investing as well.
What should I do and how would you approach this?