Hello Everyone, 

I'm an agent on Long Island that's looking to work with investors, however being relatively new to the space I would like to know what kind of value an agent could possibly provide to an investor. 

IMO experienced investors who fix & flip, brrrr, wholesale, etc. on the regular probably aren't inclined to working with an agent since they're used to analyzing deals and have specific metrics they use to measure the viability of the investment. I could see newer investors who are buying their first property (or some of the first few) being inclined to use an agent for reassurance and guidance in different markets. 

So what's something (if anything) that an agent could do to provide value and build a working relationship with investors? 

Speed and communication are both big. But one value many don't think about it is a general knowledge of rehab and construction expenses. This is particularly good for new investors or out of state investors as they're inexperienced in estimating what needs to be done and the costs and it's not practical to get a contractor to look at each lead nor wise to accept the estimates of the seller. 

Some ways.... being knowledgeable on areas and upcoming ones, having a idea on rehab and costs, being able to analyze deals so you aren't sending junk out, having a list of vendors for reference(biggest is PM, lender, GC), being able to be quick on getting offers out, being a strong negotiator, using creative terms to win a deal, constantly sending deals on/off market, and taking video of properties for them. These are many ideas the list can go on.

For me, the biggest value that an agent can provide is being knowledgeable of the end-to-end process to achieve my goals. This is often shown by having achieved the goal themselves. For example, if my goal is to houshack and add a basement apartment to my townhouse, then having an agent who knows the purchase market, rental market, zoning laws, rental laws, contractors, and lenders needed to get the job done would provide the most value. Also, being able to think creatively is a huge plus. In this same example, if I want to turn a basement into an apartment and house hack, an agent that chooses to look for houses with unfinished space or value add opportunities would be providing a lot. 

@Brandon Keany Do you have experience investing? For me my greatest asset are the experiences I have had. I tell my story mistakes and successes with the intention of inspiring and help new investors. I have years of experience with MFR's, rehabbing, and live in flips. If you have no investing experience yet there are other options but like anything you want to master it takes time on task.

@Brandon Keany

Find investors bigger investments, go commercial. Most commercial properties aren't on the MLS and you'll always be working with investors.

@Andrew Syrios - That's a good point, I hadn't even considered the out of state investors aspect yet. How would you recommend going about getting that knowledge of rehab costs? The first thing that comes to mind is contacting local contractors and going to places like home depot to learn the costs of materials.

@Caleb Brown - You bring up a lot of good points and areas that one should be knowledgeable in. Two things stuck out to me though, analyzing the path of progress and then analyzing deals. The path if progress I can figure out but when it comes to analyzing deals are there any specific metrics you like to use? I'm sure they change based on what type of investing you're doing but are there general rules of thumb? 

@Joseph Ayoub - I appreciate the advice and will definitely work on developing the depth of knowledge of my markets. I do have another question based on that post though. You mentioned that having that end-to-end knowledge is usually shown by having done the process themselves. What if there was an agent that hadn't been through the process but was able to provide the knowledge and connections needed to make the deal go quicker and more smoothly? 

@David A. - I appreciate the insight, and I agree finding a good entry price for a market is critical when investing. 

@ Shawn Mcenteer - I don't have any experience currently and that's one of the many reasons I wanted to turn to this community. I could guess all day long about what I think would provide value and how I could help investors as an agent, but I wanted to get the insight from the investors themselves so that I could focus my efforts. If you don't mind me asking, what re the other options you were referring to? 

@Nick Rutkowski - Commercial, got it haha are you in the commercial space? 

Finding off market deals or sending pocket listings at a discount . The reality is if it’s on the mls the deal already sucks so your going to need to bring a lot more value to me if we can do business than fighting over the over price scraps that everybody and their brother is bidding on . Most real estate agents are pretty worthless in my type of buying . They lead you into the house and show you the different rooms and hand you some papers . I could train my black lab to do that ! You will need to be of value and that’s going to be finding stuff off market and orchestrating more of the deal .

Originally posted by @Brandon Keany :

@Andrew Syrios - That's a good point, I hadn't even considered the out of state investors aspect yet. How would you recommend going about getting that knowledge of rehab costs? The first thing that comes to mind is contacting local contractors and going to places like home depot to learn the costs of materials.

I think those are good ideas. I would also read J. Scott's book on Estimating Rehab Costs and see if you can get your hands on contractor bids they've given other investors. (make sure they are line item bids so you can look over each items costs.) And then just try to get the hang of what various items cost (it will always be a range). And then just getting experience and talking to people in the industry will help a lot.