Building the team - Questions to ask your Real Estate agent

[Lewis Colon]

As a new investor in Philadelphia I keep hearing your team is very important to help leverage your time and skills. Therefore, this evening I have my first meeting with my first Real Estate agent. It got bumped uo due to an opening in my schedule. I live in an apartment myself so I have not even used one to purchase a personal home yet. I know the basics of what to ask them such as the types of properties, locations I have deemed as my market and my financial limits, but I am not sure of the meat and potatoes of what to ask them. I've come up with a few more questions but would appreciate some feedback to make this a valuable meeting.

Additional Questions:

1) There experience working with other investors (How long and if the find it valuable)

2) Recommendations for other team members (contractors, lenders ,ect)

3) Market information such as ARVs, average rents, growing/declining markets

4) How available are they (ie. Are the hungry?)

Any other questions you had or how to tweak the ones I came up with would be appreciated. 

Thanks BP Family!

[Eric Dami]

Hey Lewis - 

1. Ask them for specific neighborhoods that are up and coming and provide data to back that up. 
2. Provide them with sample analysis and compare your ARV and rent comps to theirs. This can determine your delta.
3. Most agents are not familiar with real estate investing, so ensure you make the agent clear you're an investor.
4. A lot of investors will give you some contractor contacts, but the key people are so valuable they will not provide that information (FYI). 
5. Before you view any properties, you'll want to secure financing through conventional loan options, FHA, or HML. A pre-approval letter is all you would need. You cannot make offers (usually) without proof of funds.
6. Providing your agent with your defined criteria for investment properties, this will help you generate leads. 
7. Ask the agent if they involved in acquiring properties off-market, this can be used to see if they are involved in wholesaling or know of wholesalers.