All Forum Posts by: Maya Clark

Have you found a PM (post was 2 months ago). If not, since you have a property in Oakland another resource may be to reach out to the East Bay Rental Housing Association (EBRHA) to get some recommendations. In all honesty, it is a little difficult currently to find "good" PMs who are still accepting properties in Oakland. Many PMs have stopped and those (of us) who still do are selective in the properties/owners/tenants we will accept. 

Best wishes.  

Maya Clark, Broker DRE#02081505

 I now use Peter Cooke, CPA w/office in El Cerrito. I previously used and recommend to most Richard Hart, Enrolled Agent with offices in So. CA and NV. But for many years we used Doris Foreman in Berkeley. All really good options. I will send their info. 

 Yes I will send you both a local contact as well as the one we have been referring most of our Clients to & also personally use. He has offices in both So Cal & NV but is super responsive and knowledgeable. 

We use Appfolio software to accept payments via ACH or debit/credit cards. However, approximately 35% of our tenants send their payments by check or money order to our office.  

Yep after being in the business on several different ends I have decided to accept that traditional sales has never been my "happy place." I do them here periodically because my father had a pretty big reputation in the community so I get referrals from time to time. The PM and Investor/Investment end has always been my "happy place" especially since I started in the business under my Dad and my parents owned a large portfolio growing up.  

My suggestion to other Brokers considering going off on their own would be to follow what James suggests...and go in with a clearer focus than I did. Knowing what area of real estate suits you will make you a much better Broker/Owner with or without agents.

By the way, our costs are also all over the place as we have been trying new services and programs. Currently we use...We have not been actively recruiting agents but have 2 new agents from BP and a few older agents that will likely be encouraged to move to another company during our annual meeting with each agent...

PropertyRadar - targeted prospecting; property information etc

Quickbooks - Accounting software

RealtyBackOffice-Brokerage Transaction Management & CRM - just starting with them so no feedback yet

G-Suite - company emails, shared docs, etc

Zip forms - contracts/forms

We also do Property Management so these are the resources we use now...

Buildium - Property Management software including tenant and owner portals, accounting etc

Planet Synergy - VA services for PM Admin

LeadSimple - CRM for PM

Wow @James Wise thank you for some awesome information. This is exactly where I am planning to be in 2020. I want to really have an investor/investment focused brokerage and continue to grow the PM side of the business (62 doors in 2019 and growing). I also want to get back to the Compliance Consulting and add some PM business consulting for CA here in 2020...Thank you for for sharing and providing me with some much needed “sound check.”

Congratulations on passing your exam and getting into Real Estate. You noted most of the questions that should be asked. To me, I think its important for you to know what the broker’s expectations are of you as an Agent...how many meetings do you need to attend, is there office/floor duty required (yes some still have this), are there sales quotas, etc. It’s also important to be honest with the broker about your expectations or needs as well as goals. Both franchise brokerages and independent brokerages have pros and cons so it really comes down to what you need/expect from the affiliation. Good luck! I hope you find a great fit.

@Lakeisha Baker Just my $.02...The question you want to ask is whether the Agent is licensed as a Salesperson or Broker to which the person has to answer honestly. I am a Broker but have several agents that have been actively selling real estate & licensed longer than I have (22 years) but never decided to get their broker's license. The better question, in my opinion, is whether the agent has experience and/or references working specifically with investors. 

Find out whether your state requires you to sign an agreement simply to work with an agent or if it is required only at the time an offer is presented.  All of the states I am or have been licensed in (4 states) require the Agent to provide a disclosure of Agency relationships but do not specifically require a Brokerage/Buyer Engagement Agreement.  

I personally do not require my investor clients to sign an agreement upfront because I work with a number of investors. Fortunately most of the investors are not looking for the same type of deals so I rarely run into a situation where I need to present a deal to more than one investor. I would caution against using the listing agent as a newbie agent because the listing agent already has an agreement in place to represent the seller. It is difficult to truly represent 2-3 different interests (seller, buyer, and agent).  

Finally, the only time an Agent is entitled to a commission on an off-market deal would be if the agent brought the deal to you and/or you used the agent to prepare the contract, terms, comps, negotiations, etc.  

Thanks Ramsin. My apologies for the delayed response. I have been out ill for the last 2 days... I will have Victor reach out to you asap.