The Ideal Real Estate Investing Team

There are several important things you need to do to be successful in real estate, one of which is building the ideal team to help you find and manage your investments. I’m going to talk briefly about who should be on any winning real estate investing team:

1. Your Mentor – Every successful entrepreneur needs a good mentor. A guide. By training under the watchful eye of one smarter then us, we can only get smarter. Start at your local investment club or on BiggerPockets and look for an active investor in your area who focuses on the strategy that you’re interested in.
2. Realtor – someone keeping an eye out for you
3. Mortgage Broker – You want someone who has the experience of working with other investors. They need to be creative and smart!
4. Real Estate Attorney – It is really important to have someone on the team who can go through contracts, and who knows the legalities of all your moves.
5. Escrow Officer or Title Rep – having a good one on the team helps to close deals that much quicker. You always want people looking out for YOUR interests.
6. Accountant – Preferably a CPA (Certified Public Accountant). Your numbers guy should also be well aware of the ins and outs of real estate and different entities. Come tax time, your accountant will also help you through the write-offs!
7. Insurance Agent – It is always better having an insurance rep that is looking out for you when things hit the fan or simply to make sure your interests are being looked after as you build your portfolio.
8. Contractor – The good contractor seems like the hardest one to find, but can often make or break your profit margin. You want someone who gets things done on time and under budget! Ask for references and when you get someone good, treat them like gold.
9. Supportive Family & Friends – Having the support and backing of loved ones is important in any endeavor.

Other Optional Real Estate Team Members:

10. Property Manager – Someone to watch over your investments, to find tenants, and to keep those you’ve already got in place is extremely helpful.  I strongly encourage new landlords to hire a professional property manager, but if you want to try going at it alone, make sure to account for the cost of the manager even if you don’t start with one.  You never know when you will grow tired of self-management and if you don’t work the numbers to include the 8%-12% of a PM, your good deal can quickly turn south.
    11. Great Handyman – Someone to take care of the little things that come up on a daily basis.

Assembling the team will not happen overnight, but once together, they will give you the backing and help you’ll need to make your real estate investing dreams come true.  If there are any other team members you use, please tell us about them!

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