What are you looking for in a real estate agent

What are you looking for in a real estate agent

Real Estate Broker · Hugo, MN · Member since 2016 · 688 posts · 596 votes
We are real estate agents in the Minneapolis/St Paul area. My question is what are you looking for in your real estate agent. Of course everyone wants their agent to be an investor themselves, we do that and manage properties, but the question is what value are you looking for in your agent? Is just providing quality mls leads enough? Do you want a breakdown of each properties financials? Quick response? Tell me what is most important to you. We are trying to give our customers better service and hope the BP community can help educate us from the investor side. We have learned that many investors want to manage their own properties so even though we do manage, we offer free management consultation to our investors that self manage.
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Real Estate Agent · Plano, TX · Member since 2015 · 734 posts · 511 votes
9y

@Amber Gonion We look for integrity. Be the kind of agent that tells their client "you don't want to buy this property because..." and not the kind of agent that just want to make a sale.

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  • Canton, OH · Member since 2016 · 5 posts · 0 votes
    9y
    Amber, my wife and I are new investors. We have a realtor who seems to be knowledgeable. I wish he were more proactively helping us. I get the daily MLS from him but if he were looking at some of these listings with us in mind it would be helpful. For instance, commenting on a listing letting us know a certain one looks good and we should look at it. He is a real estator himself which is why I chose him. Quick response and availability are important as well. As real eatate professionals we value your input and expertise. Best of luck.
  • Real Estate Agent · Plano, TX · Member since 2015 · 734 posts · 511 votes
    9y

    @Amber Gonion We look for integrity. Be the kind of agent that tells their client "you don't want to buy this property because..." and not the kind of agent that just want to make a sale.

  • Engineer · Portland, OR · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    9y
    An agent that knows the difference between an experienced investor and a fickle residential buyer. Who listens to what I'm telling them, not what Gary Keller or Mike Ferry told them to say. Responds quickly, if briefly to queries, and isn't always trying to close deals with every interaction. My belief is that the majority of experienced agents have one mode of operation called "close new residential buyer" and they can't seem change.
  • Mindy JensenPro Member
    BiggerPockets Money Podcast Host · Longmont, CO · Member since 2014 · 7k+ posts · 10k+ votes
    9y

    Check out  https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/08/24/real-estate-agents-working-with-investors/

    Every investor is different, but your being able to run those numbers for them will be helpful. Not everyone is going to ask you for this info, preferring to run the numbers themselves. 

  • Joel OwensBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
    9y

    The problem is some brokers and agents are on TEAMS and have splits with the brokerages and splits with the team.

    So on commercial instead of making 100,000 with commission on a sale they get 10,000 after splits. This causes many brokers and agents to sell their inventory to whoever whether the property makes sense or not.

    They have to sell 10 properties to make the same return I do in one sale as a principal broker. Actually they have to do more than that because of the time it takes them to do one sale and the hours involved for 10 sales versus what I make per hour on 1 sale time wise.

    The big difference is I do not have to sell my clients on crap properties. I can wait for the right investment for them. Now some are on 1031 exchanges so they have to give some on value  to meet time requirement goals. There are also serial lookers who never do anything even if you find them a deal. You have to weed those people out fast upfront as anytime spent with them is a loss of income with wasted time. 

  • Rental Property Investor · Toronto, Ontario · Member since 2012 · 538 posts · 298 votes
    9y

    As the saying goes: "time is money".

    As an investor oriented agent, you very quickly get to be at least a semi-expert in underwriting investments. You should be (or become) knowledgeable about how a bank (or other financing channel) will look at a property, neighborhood values and what the individuals investment criteria are. As well, you need to cultivate a network of service providers from inspectors to roofers and electricians to paving companies.

    If you 'just' send a 'MLS listing', that is minimal (I do not mean low) value. If you also send comparables and potential rents, that is more value. If you do some preliminary analysis (e.g. proforma NOI), that is higher value. If you present something which is 'pre-financied' (e.g. a broker / bank you have a relationship with that will fund subject to the investor), that is higher value. You see where this is going.

    Another way to add value is to provide insight that an investor (especially a remote one) may not have. For example; an area is gentrifying so while a deal may be marginal now, it will be a great deal if held for X months. Another example; They will be tearing up the street for sewer replacement over the next year so getting tenants will be more challenging.

    The general but not easy or simple rule is that the more analysis / filtering / insight you provide tailored to the investor upfront, the more of the investors time you are saving (but investing your time), the higher the quality of the deals you are presenting to the investor. They need to validate / confirm everything since at the end of the day, it their risk but as most people, after 2, 3, 5 times seeing that they get the same answer, they will trust you more and be able to act quickly which is in both your interests.

    Oren

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