Calling All Realtors: How to Be an Ideal Client (Advice Needed)

[Angel G.]

Situation:

New investor decides they want to finally take action in their real estate journey. They've listened to countless amounts of podcasts, watched webinars and read a variety of real estate books. This investor has now reached out to you and wants to find a deal.

Here's My Question:

I'm safely assuming that realtors are constantly contacted by people who are ready to "invest" to find out later on that they were not really prepared to move forward. What then, can those who have genuinely done their homework, have lined up financing and are ready to go do to give you all the confidence that they are worth the extra effort to assist?

I'm sure there are things that you see from your clients that make you think "yup, they're ready and really serious about this."

Any advice that you could share, I'm sure, would be a great benefit to not only myself but to all those new investors ready to rock!

For the record, here's my approach when contacting a realtor to ensure that I'm mindful of their time:

1. I share my specific investing criteria

2. I line up financing and have it ready on standby

3. When setup on the automatic listing notification portal, I run the numbers on those properties that meet my criteria. I double check those numbers and then send my realtor a note when ready to move forward.

Thanks in advance for your time and advice!

[Anthony Dooley]

Realtors are going to limit their searches for your criteria to the MLS. MLS listings are by other Realtors who are marketing property at the absolute highest possible price based on recent comparable sales. This means that finding a "good deal" or a discounted property on the MLS is very slim. I have done it, but not in a while. It's a seller's market on the MLS and that is where 95% of sales happen. Investors need to look at the other 5% of sales. The ones off market by a distressed seller, a probate property, tired landlord, zombie houses, etc. Properties that cannot usually get traditional financing due to the amount of repairs needed will be your best value. Buying a property from the MLS at retail price with a traditional loan is not really investing, it's just buying.