Developing Your Unique Value Proposition to Do More Real Estate Deals

We all have a talent to bring to the world of real estate investing. For some, the investments are passive, others bring a far more active role to the mix.

Do you regularly ask yourself what your unique value proposition (UVP) is to the equation of the deals that you are working?

Contractors bring knowledge, skill and expertise to rehabbing a property. Real Estate agents can bring analysis of the market and upside potential along with their deal finds. Money guys bring, well, they bring Cash. Cash is king and that, for some deals, is their UVP. Time is an asset, seriously. Those that have time to spend finding deals can spend that time driving for dollars, going through dozens of foreclosures, etc. Time is money and money should be spent on someones’ time.

So ask yourself at the end of the day…what is your UVP?

Far too often, I have run into flippers that want to hire the process of finding deals, getting hard money to fund, hiring the contractors and still expecting a large return at the end of the project. They almost expect to put down and $1000 earnest deposit and receive 20-25% return on the sale. I ~~have~~ had some of these clients.

You need to have an expectation that the people that you associate with in your deals, whether they are contractors giving you a good product for the right price, or the banker willing to lend on your deal, or the real estate agent that brought that deal to you, that they are adding expert value to your deal.

What Are Your Bringing to the Table?

At that very same time, you also need to bring value to the equation.

Maybe you have specialized knowledge of the turnaround of a market area that you want to capitalize upon. Maybe you have a tenacious ability to work with tenants in a business like manner. Ultimately, do not be the partner that expects to hire all of this expertise out and consistently make 20+% on the deal.

Give your UVP some analysis, then determine how to capitalize on those skills. If you are a money guy, then associate yourself with a quality team that fills the rest of the functions. There is value in financing deals…smartly. If you are the Sherlock Holmes of the deal, then you understand that your duty is to find the diamond in the rough from the “haystack”.

Contractors can have expertise in resourcefulness. Having a solid contact list of subcontractors can save a tremendous amount of time and money on a job. Delivering a good product on time and on budget is their UVP.

If you’ve determined that you have a strong UVP and others have strong UVP’s in complimentary areas needed for a good, successful deal, then consider partnering up. Some of the more successful investors work in partnership bringing their own expertise to the deal to make a solid investment team. Look at any of the bigger investment companies. They have partners in respective areas of expert knowledge managing their part of the transactions.

Conclusion

There are roughly six weeks left in 2013. Find your UVP if you dont already know what it is. Then educate yourself, surround yourself with other experts in the field and share knowledge. Hey, you are already reading BiggerPockets! Start a meetup. Network. Utilize the tools that are before you and build a quality, replicable model for a more successful 2014 and beyond.

Have a solid UVP that your bring to a deal? Please share in the comments. Others have questions to ask and knowledge to share with you in return.

Photo: chris zerbes

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.