Is it worthwhile for agents to work with low-volume investors?

[Jessica G.]

Hello all!

I'm trying to figure out how investors are not a hassle for RE agents.

My husband and I own one investment property along with the home we live in. We are planning to do cash-out refinances, but before we approach the bank, we would like to get CMAs done on the properties to get a ballpark figure of our equity. I can sort of figure it out myself on Redfin, but I worry my emotional attachment to the houses makes me overvalue them.

We are totally willing to get appraisals, but they cost $400 each and we'll have to pay for that anyway as part of the refinancing. We don't want to start the refinancing wheels turning without being reasonably sure we have enough equity to cash out. I've had a drive-by appraisal done before, and it cost $300 and seemed to be nothing more than a paid-for CMA.

We might sell the investment property this spring, but we are leaning 90 percent toward keeping it. In this scenario, would an agent be willing to run these comps for me? Isn't it a poor use of his/her time and energy if I am not doing any immediate buying or selling?

Additionally, we plan to buy another investment property this year (probably in the fall or winter). But I imagine it will involve a lot of driving all over creation to look at a bunch of properties that won't work, then when we do find one, it won't exactly be a high-dollar transaction. Again, is this a good use of an agent's time/energy?

We do plan to increase our holdings over time, but it will be a slow process. We might try to buy two in 2015, etc.

Over our eight years of home ownership, we have used three agents. Two I liked (one traditional agent and one flat/reduced fee agent) and one was horrible. I wouldn't mind using either of the first two again, but they are established, full-time agents and I don't want to waste their time (or anyone else's, of course).

What are your thoughts? (I am NOT soliciting an agent here. Just asking for investors' and agents' thoughts.)