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Posted over 6 years ago

5 Tips to Find An Investor-Friendly Agent

I see you in the BP forums looking for that investor-friendly agent. You are in every state. Here are 5 Tips to Find an Investor-Friendly Agent in your area.

Normal 1502994911 5 Tips To Find An Investor Friendly Agent

1. Use a keyword search on Bigger Pockets (you should already be doing this) for the towns you want to buy in and see what agents offer real investment advice without any subterfuge.

2. Attend local REIA meetings and Bigger Pockets meetups and connect face-to-face with local agents. Ask them how they work with investors.

3. When you are driving for dollars, take a turn to look at some renovated properties that are for sale and see who is listing them. Much of the time, this agent could be investor-friendly.

4. Ask a prospective agent if he or she is willing to run comps for you. See what they send you. If you ask for rental comps for a multi-family unit and they send you apartment comps, they are not investor-friendly. If you ask for ARV comps and they send you as-is comps, they are not investor-friendly.

5. Ask them if they invest as well. If the answer is yes, this is a good sign, HOWEVER, you should ask them where they invest and how they decide who gets what deals. You don't want to always get their scraps.



Comments (4)

  1. I would add to #5 as well.  I would be asking the agent how long they've been investing.  That's critical in my opinion. If they only started just recently (say the past few years of the current run up) then they haven't been through downturns in the market.  They might think they know what they're doing but really they're just riding the wave of the run up like most of those who've only jumped in the last few years.


    1. I agree with that @Darren Sager - history is important in terms of being able to ride out multiple markets and to understand what a real long-term hold is. Thanks for adding!


  2. Great post, and I have one comment on #5. My first three agents had no idea about investing, I could have done so much better (and faster, and more confident) with an agent who is an investor. Eight years fast forward I have retired from corporate and became an agent. Naturally half of my clients are investors. Interestingly I have not yet competed with one of my clients, even more: non of my clients had ever competed on the same property (which would put me in a conflict of interest, I can represent only one). There are a number of reasons: most investors can handle only one or two deals at a time, so they are out of the market more times than in the market. Second, the investment goals are so different. I buy very distressed homes in higher priced neighborhoods, most of my clients buy either moderatly distressed mdeium priced areas, others buy turn key in high end areas. Some want old, some newer, some like brick, others ranch, SF, duplex, MF, etc.. there are simply too many ways to invest.


    1. Thanks for the comment @Marcus Auerbach . Yes, it depends on what your investors do versus what you do. For me, I will just pick one town to focus on for myself and I line up a priority list for my investors in other towns.