Real Estate Agent
Kenneth BentleyPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Weaver, AL · Member since 2016 · 24 posts · 13 votesReal Estate Agent
2 Replies
- Realtor · Oklahoma City · Member since 2020 · 258 posts · 139 votes6mo
Realtors can greatly increase the amount of prospective options you will have to make offers on to get deals. They should be advising you throughout the search, providing you with comparable market data on ARV sales, current condition value with your offers & factoring in potential scope of work to get to the ARV, leasing data & connections to name a few. If you work with someone that is also an investor, they can help your from the start, during the transaction, closing, during a project, refinancing, leasing it out for you, coordinating with you or a PM, inspections, etc.
Some questions could be :
- Are you an investor & currently investing?
- What is their level of experience (transactions, current clients), training, coaching, & skill in real estate investing?
- Do you require an exclusive agreement to work with you, if so how long? (Usually important, as they will go to work for you without getting paid for a while)
- Will you provide me with off market deals too?
- What's your level of leasing, construction, and property management experience?
- May you provide me a vendor list with all industry contacts that I'll most likely need, with multiple contacts per category?
These are quite a few good ones. Since I'm an investor myself & been investing since 2014, I've dove deep into structure, strategy tax/asset protection, estate planning, consistent biz/investing coaching, programs & attend multiple investor/biz meetups throughout the month. I like to let prospective clients know & reiterate to current clients that it will not cost anything from me since the sellers side will cover my compensation on purchases & they'll get free essential coaching throughout.
On the backend, helping with marketing, coordinating on leasing & sales is important. Seeing how they can differentiate themselves is good!
- 6moDrew SygitBusiness MemberProperty Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes
Quote from @Kenneth Bentley:
What are some questions that I should ask a potential agent? And how important are agents for long term rentals and flips? What should I expect from them?
Why does everyone want to start with an agent, when 95% of agents really only know how to work with owner-occupied properties?
Don't believe us? Ask several random agents what the Cap Rate, ROI or Cash-on-Cash is on a property they recommend you buy!
Owner-occupied transactions are mostly emotionally based transactions, whereas investor transactions SHOULD be analytic based.
So, most agents are NOT equipped to:
1) Identify potential rentals to make offers on
- They have no idea what makes a good rental location or property2) Analyze properties to determine how much to offer
- No clue how to calculate ROI, Cash-on-Cash, etc.
- They will not want to write lowball offers to make the numbers work!3) Properly handle a tenant-occupied purchase
- No clue on including proper clauses in a purchase offer!So, you will either have to figure all this out on your own and just use the agent for showings and writing offers or find an agent that actually knows how to work with investors.
You should be building a team to maximize your probability of success!
While building your team, it's important you understand the motivations of everyone on your team.
Property Management Company (PMC): No one else on your team should be as vested in a long-term relationship with you as a PMC. They will have to manage whatever you buy on a daily basis until you sell the property or terminate them. You need to find a good one though, that is honest & competent. An honest PMC's incompetency will still cost you.
Sourcing: whether agent, wholesaler, flipper, etc. many only have a vested interest in a transaction. You want to find ones that are vested in developing a long-term business relationship with you. Otherwise, they will screw you for their own compensation.
Inspector: You want an unbiased and competent professional that will properly do their job and document it.
Contractor: Finding contractors that don't cut corners and overcharge is EXTREMELY difficult. Even if they are referred, you really don't know until AFTER they've done a job. The other 3 above should be able to provide referrals, but don't blindly trust anyone!
Logical Property Management4.9451 Reviews
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