Investor Fluent Realtors in Boston

[Andrew Sprague]

Hey everyone I’ve been on BP for a couple years now and I’ve noticed a huge gap between what investors want and what agents are taught. Maybe because the general public is the largest market but regardless we need investors for the Boston housing market!

I want to start a discussion about what the goals of an investor are and what Realtors can do to help.

So below comment what 3 things you want in an agent and why? I’m curious to see the trends and responses!

[Aaron Montague]

1. Learn what a deal means to an investor. Most of what we are looking for is a 2-step process. Buying is only step 1.

2. Understand that we aren't generally looking for finished places that look good. We want to add value someone. I.e. a $689k SFH house that rents for $2800 is not a deal, even if the price is "good" for the area. We do want the $400k house that will sell for $689k after I put 100k into it.

3. Investors need lots of information that no one will ever use again. We tend to be that customer that gets info on 30 places before even moving on one. Automate as much information sharing as you can.

[Jonathan Bombaci]

@Andrew Sprague. So when I reached FI I quit my 9-5 job and became an investor focused agent because I found it impossible to find an agent that “got it” when I was out looking at investment properties. I now run a team of investor focused agents out of the Northshore (Lowell / Haverhill). One of my requirements when someone joins the team is that the agent must already be an investor or commit to buying an investment property within 12 months. In my opinion understanding a deal from an investors point of view can’t be taught to real estate agents, they need to live through being an investor themselves to fully understand it.

The 3 biggest reasons people switch over to our team from a traditional real estate agent model are:

1. Help evaluating the properties or running the numbers.

2. Help narrowing down the geographic area they’re looking in which honestly normally involves getting the investor to be honest about their goals and focusing on 1 strategy. Shiny object syndrome can be a problem when starting out. Niche down and get specific. 

3. They had a bad experience with an agent trying to force a transaction to go through and felt the agent wasn’t acting in their best interest anymore. We’ve seen this a lot more in the last 12 months. 

I think investor focused agents are a huge gap in the current marketplace. If you find a good one stick with them! 

Best,

Jon

[Andrew Sprague]

@Jonathan Bombaci

You bring up a lot of great points, thank you for being so detailed. I agree and think many agents are in the business for the wrong reasons such as chasing commission checks with no regard for a clients interest.

As a Realtor who wants to get into investing and legitimately has a strategy but has not done a deal yet.

How can I make myself useful to investors and bring value?

And how can I start helping people to build relationships?

[Steve Bracero]

I would agree with the above statements. It is very difficult to understand buying investment property if the agent does not buy rentals own their own.  

The goal of an investor could be a 1031 exchange , house hack, or add an additional property to their portfolio.

Its very common to find buildings with under market tenants who have been there for years. The goal of the investor would be to stabilize the building within 12 months of ownership & increase the rents to market value. 

[Aaron Montague]

@Andrew Sprague

How can I make myself useful to investors and bring value? -Start finding deals that investors want. In this market in the eastern MA area you are going to want to find places that might typically be considered wholesaler territory. The 400k place that needs a TON of work is valuable now to investors. The beat up, old triplex that needs a bunch of work is something I want to look at. @Jonathan Bombaci makes an excellent point about understanding real estate investors through experience; bring us deals that you can't invest in because you don't have the money. If you do have the money, do it yourself :)

And how can I start helping people to build relationships? -Find me people that can help bring value to the purchase you are trying to get me to make. Get away from the money, I know how that game works. Find me a carpenter, roofer, and plumber who all have availability in the next 2 months to fix up the triplex you found. Put 2 investors together that can't afford the house you want to sell. Then let us figure out if a partnership is a good idea.

[Nia Pinto]

@Andrew Sprague

I heard of an agent who analyzes deals for his client and sends them the form containing all the info from the analysis (PITI, repairs/maintenance, cap ex, cash flow etc). It would be amazing to have an agent like that!

[Andrew Sprague]

@Nia Pinto

Thanks for responding!

This is something that I do on my own time because I have aspirations to invest. I always thought investors who are buying properties have already run their own numbers or have someone to do it for them. You think showing a prospective buyer an analysis and full comps for rents, ARV, and costs would be a higher level of service that other agents lack?

[Andrew Sprague]

@Aaron Montague

Thanks for responding Aaron!

That’s almost exactly the position I’m in right now because I have done all the research that I can possibly do and I’m at the point where I’m trying to make moves but I do not have the same capacity to close on deals as someone else does. My criteria for deals is much more narrow vs a seasoned investor or contractor who has connections and capital at their fingertips.

My question is how do I find the people that are searching for these deals and show them where they are?

[Nia Pinto]

@Andrew Sprague

Hey Andrew,

Yes, I feel like all investors should be able to run their own numbers. It's a skill fundamental t REI. Even if an agent showed me the numbers on paper I would trust (but verify) it. But yes, I do think running numbers for your client is definitely an appealing service!

[Aaron Montague]

@Andrew Sprague

"My question is how do I find the people that are searching for these deals and show them where they are?"

If you have a deal, bring it to everyone on your list. You build your list through straight up work. Take my name and number:
Aaron Montague
518-892-6471

And put it on the first line of an Excel sheet.  When you find that beat up Triplex, call me. If I pass, check to make sure my criteria are still the same, say a pleasant goodbye, then call the next person on that list. Repeat until someone wants the deal.

Note:

To @Nia Pinto's point about running numbers: Don't run numbers, run MY numbers. There are better ways to do this than Excel, but not too many. Find a way to collect numbers once, then distribute them to a bunch of other sheets so it looks the way I want them to. That shows me two things: you are doing research and you listen when I talk. 

I like to know cash flow, NOI is not a concern of mine :)

[John B Clark]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this - about to close on our first STR, but wanting to branch out from there. Been researching and reading a ton, and zeroing in on our niche.

For me, I can analyze numbers - that’s easy (because of the education I’ve gotten from these forums and books!). I need a realtor with knowledge of the towns and cities in MA that can point me to potential deals and then has a good team of inspectors, carpenters, painters, Reno folks, etc. who can help me bring the house up to market so I can make a profit.

I had a realtor help me find our first investment and he was key helping me make connections to a very thorough inspector, attorney, flooring guy, painter, etc., and our realtor’s estimates for Reno work have been spot on so far because he also has a construction background and owns his own investment properties.

So, basically, ditto what others are saying, but most help needed bringing me the potentials and then answering questions as I analyze the deal for myself.

Just my 2 cents that might not be relevant for a lot of these more seasoned investors.