I want working with investors to be my niche
Real Estate Agent · Porter Ranch, CA · Member since 2022 · 48 posts · 28 votes
I want working with investors to be my niche
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Investor & Agent · Tulsa, OK · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
3yYeah that’s been a big part of what I do. I would say just focus on adding value, and finding really good deals. To be honest, most investor clients are not nearly as loyal as regular home owner occupant types. They will jump ship and switch to another person with the deal or whatever it is they need, it is just business. I’ve had to swallow that pill a lot. On the flip side, if you get good at finding deals you have to move them to “first come first serve” and can’t pick one investor to be perfectly loyal to, even if you try they often will pass on your deal and you need multiple buyers ALWAYS.
Another thing is finding less established investors, who need your connections with lending and contractors. If you don’t have those yet, get them, by whatever means necessary. Visit a lot of job sites and get to know who the more experienced investors use and then find a less experienced investor who needs that connection….you now are the one with the knowledge and all it took was a little bit of hustle.
Good luck.
56 Replies
- Investor & Agent · Tulsa, OK · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes3y
Yeah that’s been a big part of what I do. I would say just focus on adding value, and finding really good deals. To be honest, most investor clients are not nearly as loyal as regular home owner occupant types. They will jump ship and switch to another person with the deal or whatever it is they need, it is just business. I’ve had to swallow that pill a lot. On the flip side, if you get good at finding deals you have to move them to “first come first serve” and can’t pick one investor to be perfectly loyal to, even if you try they often will pass on your deal and you need multiple buyers ALWAYS.
Another thing is finding less established investors, who need your connections with lending and contractors. If you don’t have those yet, get them, by whatever means necessary. Visit a lot of job sites and get to know who the more experienced investors use and then find a less experienced investor who needs that connection….you now are the one with the knowledge and all it took was a little bit of hustle.
Good luck.
- 3yAndrew FreedBusiness MemberInvestor · Worcester, MA · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
@Sam Dorgalli - That is the strategy I have used (focused on working with only multifamily investors in the Worcester MA market) and it has been successful. In my first year as an agent, I closed 9 deals.
What I will mention is, as an investor, most of my clients and I personally would only work with an investor focused agent who owned investment property themselves. My clients utilize me primarily because of the resources I have available, e.g. contractors, fellow investors, systems for self management etc. If I was not an active investor in the market, not sure I would bring the same level of value that they seek.
- Member since 2022 · 77 posts · 47 votes3y
Sam
. I hear you, I'm in the same boat here in FL and want to gravitate towards investors as well exclusively. I've been an agent a little over a month and cant help but think what i have i got my self into? Ive doubled down on myself and decided it can be tough but some things i try self evaluate daily are; "am I educating my self? " "am I educating others?" IE social media. When i think of offering my services or helping anyone obtain an ROI or "grow wealth" i remember watching a BP episode on youtube with Amy Mahjoory, a few actually. In them i remember her talking about mastering your elevator pitch helping others get "double digit returns". Her approach was specifically about raising private capital but i think it can speak to investors all together and might help reinvigorate your "why". Both you and I could take her approach and tailor it to pitching to our clients whether they identify as investors or just people who don't want their money rotting in the banks thanks to inflation.
- Real Estate Agent · Worcester, MA · Member since 2018 · 518 posts · 410 votes3y
It is all about value add. Find out what rents are. Find out what repair costs are. Learn all the projects that are going on in your area. Familiarize yourself with zoning. Meet the people who are doing deals and learn from them.
- Property Manager · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes3y
Find them deals, and make clear that you will be the listing agent when they sell any deal you find them. I usually do this on a handshake, but you could always have them sign the listing agreement along with the contract.
Aside from that, be their go-to guy! Have a list of preferred contractors, lenders, hard money lenders, property managers, etc. Be the first person they think of when they need a referral to anything.
Lastly, I would encourage you to not focus 100% on investor transactions. The real estate market is cyclical - sometimes its more fruitful to work with investors, other times retail buyers. Don't pigeon hole yourself into being only an "investor agent". Some of my best retail referrals come from some of my loyal investor clients. A lot of times the investor's friends/family will come to them first when they're thinking of buying or selling and ask for a Realtor referral. Make sure your investor clients know you're working hard to find them deals, and ask them to provide value back to you in the form of retail referrals.
- Property Manager · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes3y
One more piece of advice: setup a f*ck ton of MLS auto-emails for yourself to alert you of potential deals. Find the ARV of a particular type of home in a particular neighborhood/block/zip code (whatever makes sense for your area) and create an auto email so you get an alert when something is listed at 60% of that ARV. Only 1 in 10 will be actually worth sending to your investors (which is why you need a "f*ck ton" of them, but when you find that one package it with comps and send it to your investor clients asking if anyone is interested.
- Realtor · San Antonio, TX · Member since 2021 · 150 posts · 107 votes3y
I made the switch and know exactly what you're feeling! In my opinion, to work with investors you must become an investor. You must know your market, operating costs, ROI, trends, and be able to speak intelligently to these things and more. Your network is just as important. Have you worked with established licensed and insured contractors, lenders, private and hard money lenders, title companies, property managers? How are your rentals performing? Is there a value add opportunity? In multiple offer situations what offer will stand out? These are just a few common conversation topics that you'll have with investors in or out of state. Keep learning and don't give up, the best teacher is experience, not some online guru :)
- Real Estate Agent · Chicago, IL · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes3y
Quote from @Sam Dorgalli:
I have been an agent for 9 months and have been networking and trying to close my first deal with home buyers and sellers but I don't really feel it and I really am more interested working with investors instead. I am in the process of acquiring all the knowledge I could on REI right now as my first step and network. If you've made the switch, 1. Can you please share your experience and 2. Any tips?
Thank You!!!
I'd recommend learning under an investor friendly agent in your local market that's already crushing it. Join their team primarily as a buyers agent and keep hustling.
Focus on having a "go giver" mentality and if possible start investing! You gain a lot more credibility as an investor friendly agent if you have multiple investment properties. I work with a lot of house hackers and naturally I have a lot more credibility and experience to share if I've already done it myself.
Provide information to people free of the expectation that you will receive anything in return. Build up your network of lenders, contractors, inspectors, etc and pay it forward by connecting people. Be a proactive agent by doing helpful things for your clients without them asking you to do it.
- Lender · Northwest Indiana · Member since 2021 · 55 posts · 26 votes3y
Hey @Sam Dorgalli, I think being investor focused is a great business plan. In my opinion being an active investor helps a ton. If you are not actively investing, you are not SOL. Just double down on education and networking (Property managers, contractors, and investors). Maybe hold an REI meet up!
Aside from that, what value add can you bring? Are you more prompt to respond than other agents? Can you put out stats on your local market more frequently? Can you be the knowledge broker in your market? Also Im not sure how affordable your market is for new investors so can you connect local investors with out of state agents? (Ive gotten a few referral checks this quarter by sending some of my clients out of state and I love em). I hope this helps man! Let's connect on social media.
@MitchRoadruckRealtor - Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2021 · 9k+ posts · 5k+ votes3y
Be an investor focused agent, but don't turn down retail. There is a lot of money to be made with retail buyers and seller, word of mouth gets you a lot of business
- Realtor · Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex, TX · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 925 votes3y
@Sam Dorgalli who do you hang your license with ? Any investors as realtors in tour brokerage ?
- Real Estate Agent · Porter Ranch, CA · Member since 2022 · 48 posts · 28 votes3y
@Andrew Freed How can I bring value to an investor if I don't have a big network (working on creating one) or haven't invested myself?
- Real Estate Agent · Porter Ranch, CA · Member since 2022 · 48 posts · 28 votes3y
@Paul De Luca My plan is to connect with investors and try to find them and analyze deals for them till I'm able to get a network going, I was planning on having an investor and an investor agent to take me under their wing and mentor me. Would that be a good start?
- Real Estate Agent · Porter Ranch, CA · Member since 2022 · 48 posts · 28 votes3y
@Mitchell Roadruck I do need to gain knowledge and get some mentorship from other agents and investors. I will work on learning my local market and what is happening. I definitely need to work on the local market knowledge aspect
- Real Estate Agent · Chicago, IL · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes3y
Quote from @Sam Dorgalli:
@Paul De Luca My plan is to connect with investors and try to find them and analyze deals for them till I'm able to get a network going, I was planning on having an investor and an investor agent to take me under their wing and mentor me. Would that be a good start?
Yep that's a good idea. It takes time but learning under someone (like an apprenticeship) shortens the learning curve.
- Real Estate Agent · Porter Ranch, CA · Member since 2022 · 48 posts · 28 votes3y
@Lucia Rushton I am currently with coldwell banker and unfortunately there isn't any investor friendly agents in my office. I did look into another firm that's all investor friendly and one of the agents have been very kind to teach me and guide me
- Real Estate Agent · Porter Ranch, CA · Member since 2022 · 48 posts · 28 votes3y
@Nate Sanow Great advice. I will increase my networking and knowledge power. As far as loyalty, I get what you're saying, I am planning on having multiple investors to work with and I do get the fact that it's just business and nothing personal, at the end of the day, the investor cares about the deal no matter who it comes from.
- Realtor · Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex, TX · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 925 votes3y
Quote from @Sam Dorgalli:
@Lucia Rushton I am currently with coldwell banker and unfortunately there isn't any investor friendly agents in my office. I did look into another firm that's all investor friendly and one of the agents have been very kind to teach me and guide me
that would be my vote. try and find a team that works with investors, it's a different language than retail buying. if you are not personally an investor, learning under someone would add value. Or find a PM that needs a Realtor on team. best wishes,
- Real Estate Agent · Porter Ranch, CA · Member since 2022 · 48 posts · 28 votes3y
@Lucia Rushton Thank you!! Definitely will look into it!
- 3yShawn McenteerBusiness MemberRealtor · Boonton Township, NJ · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
@Sam Dorgalli commitment and consistency. Mapping out what it takes to meet the goals you set for yourself is all about reverse engineering your RE career to fulling understand how many interactions per day get you to where you want to go. If you have been working 9 months and you are yet to close a deal with buyers or sellers I will let you know it only gets more challenging working with investors (unless you are investing yourself then it actually becomes much easier to close business). Regardless of what your niche is it all comes down to what are you doing each day to get to where you want to go and repeating until you get there. For myself working with investors was easy becuase I simply shared my past house hacking experiences so I new the math around generating more business was getting in front of the correct people and being a guide for them. Being able to add value allows me to close clients at much higher rate then most. This is what finding your niche is all about if I am in a room with 10 realtors I will win the house hacker at an alarming rate but I will lose the battle with "forever home agents" at a much higher rate so I simply find house hackers and help them meet their goals. You can do this for just about everything. When I am training a new agent I love asking questions and understanding more about them to find their unfair advantage. For example if you lived on the same street for 30 years you probably have a huge advantage over some of the top producing agents, they may have time on task of being a realtor but in many ways I am sure you are the expert of that street. Find your unfair advantage and show up in the fullest capacity representing it.
House Hacking New Jersey563 Reviews - Real Estate Agent · Porter Ranch, CA · Member since 2022 · 48 posts · 28 votes3y
@Shawn Mcenteer I agree, but here is the thing, I am not committed and consistent with working with seller and buyers but I love looking for deals and analyzing, I enjoy talking to investors and pick their brain and see what they do, how they do it and what their goal is and enjoying that makes me work harder and be more focused. I wasn't trying to stop working for buyers and seller because I'm not getting a deal, it's 100% my doing. I'm just more passionate about investing and working with investors and I believe I can bring more value to investors than to the other side.
- Real Estate Agent · Chicago, IL · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes3y
That's what I do and am now close to 40 million sold. BP is great and also local meetups. Once you get a few good clients you will sell them lots of properties over time so it kind of snowballs after few years or so.
- 3yShawn McenteerBusiness MemberRealtor · Boonton Township, NJ · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
@Sam Dorgalli that's fine. The way I look at it is what can you being doing that generates the greatest return. I am not kidding you, I do about 10- 15 hours per month of lead generation which produces about 25+ deals per year. When I first started I was doing a lot more but I know many agents doing 15-20 hours per week chasing after everything and barely scraping by. Find your unfair advantage and leverage it. If you want to work with investors just know you will likely have to work that much harder than if you can work another niche you are more familiar with or have experience doing. You 100% are capable and if investors are your jam then do it, just know I go up against this all the in my market and very few people will deny an agent did what they are looking to do.
House Hacking New Jersey563 Reviews - 3yWale LawalBusiness MemberReal Estate Broker · Houston | Dallas | Austin, TX · Member since 2018 · 5k+ posts · 2k+ votes
Just make sure to consume contents here as much as possible and feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help each other grow.
Get as much knowledge and experience as possible and find a mentor.
Join real estate investment clubs.
Get in touch with a local agent or investor and shorten your learning curve and save you a lot of headaches as they tend to understand the market better.
All the best!
NETWORTH BUILDERS5236 Reviews - Real Estate Broker · Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2011 · 5k+ posts · 6k+ votes3y
@Sam Dorgalli you have just made my day! This is a topic so SO many get absolutely WRONG.
To answer your question, my journey into being "The" REI Realtor was such a winding, un-planned path. It never really hit me the thought of it all until I found myself chairing a KW multi-brokerage training seminar on how to invest and work with investors and after being introduced, my GCI and all that houplah and then asked to tell about my "flash" rocketing success, because in their eyes I had, out performing 98% of agents in my first yr of agency.
Now here is lesson #1, when I got the mic I CORRECTLY introduced myself as an over-night success, 20+ years in the making. See, I didn't wake up one day and decided i was going to be an agent, spend weeks/ months sorting out REI, and then just cash fat checks. I started in the housing industry, oh man gonna date myself here, in '92'. I worked my way through the trades, not just on average effort but laser focused on mastery, for years on end. Then once jumping into launching my own companies, many more years as GC. It took the '08' collapse to force my movement because I was kinda stuck in my success point, I was killing it in MFH development so even though I kept poking around edges of REI as an interest, I was too busy doing what I knew and made the $ happen. After collapse I was head-hunted by an investment group who had flopped on their flips, which lead to being head-hunted by a big MFH group and where I mastered the 28 day flip on mass volume scale, best year was just over 4K units. And then commercial collapsed. So after a week of self-pity I made a choice, out of frustration at the world wallowing in it, and I told EVERYONE "I refuse to participate in a down economy". Everyone thought I lost my mind because I would repeat this as a response at least 50 times a day.
From there the direction was simple, I'm gonna launce my own flipping biz. I figured, if I'm gonna fail, I'm gonna do it in grand manner, no whimpering off quietly for me oh-no, I was ok to risk it all and I gotta say in '09'/'10' that's exactly what was said of any idiot looking to flip homes, that your gonna loose it all.
I just kept swinging for the fences, problems happened and i just made solutions and turned problems into profits. I just kept moving forward. Next thing you know I had spent years blazing through a dozen plus strategies, survived the mistakes, and found myself in ownership of a remodeling firm again, a lumber yard, 2 home improvement product lines, consulted to hedge funds, worked in syndications, and it was like a blur.
The companies I built to service my REI business's took on a life of there own, and had some way some how sucked me in like a black-hole until i woke up one day finding I had shelved everything REI to spend all my time running these business's I didn't have a passion for, didn't even like, actually kind of hated. So one day the wife looked at me and said "do you even like anything of what your doing anymore" and I couldn't find 1 thing. So it was done, the boss lady said "you know what you gotta do, just do it". It was decided and I spent '19' selling the companies, all the assets, and answering what I was going to do that wasn't misery.
And as chance had it a friend called, who was really interested at getting into REI but just having a nightmare of a time with all these "damn basic agents" as he put it, so I said sure I'd help. After a short few weeks, i helped get an acquisition strategy going, specific to him, his goals, his resources, market etc., paired with broker and agents but even then had to direct every action and thought the agents had, and after the 3rd deal done he said "man, your like The REI Realtor, there should really be some Realtors like that". And I thought, yeah, it is rather messed up how there is specialist agents for everything EXCEPT REI, because I can tell you as an Investor the whole "Investor Friendly" BS tag-line is well known as that, just BS, agents using catchy phrases to get our (investors) commissions.
So I started putting together my foundation to launch, and then the co sales finalized, 2 days before my state issued a covid lockdown. yeah, I got a call within hours from the buyer asking if I would stay on and help. I told him, if this wasn't a sign from god i don't know what is, I am out and so glad to be out.
And at the same time it was absolute pandemonic from investors not knowing what to do with moratoriums. Thinking they had no recourse, not understanding how any lease is 2 separate contracts, possession AND financial, moratoriums ONLY address possession, NOT anything of financial responsibility.
Every investor I helped, every broker I answered questions to, lead to more and more and more hearing of my performance in delivering results, and seeking similar help because it was true, in an ocean of agents near to none are actual proficient as REI professionals, and most who are do it for themselves, not in a manner dedicated to clients.
Each brokerage i have spoken at and worked with has purported the same lie to agents, telling the newer agents to start with investors because it's "easy", a quick "simple" way to get some clients and commissions going. REI is the #1 most neglected segment of the Real Estate Agency world, it is. A select few really "get it" and are rock-stars of REI Agency (@James Wise is my super-hero in this aspect). So I ran with it, and i am damn good at it to. Probably because I legit LOVE what I do, I really do.
Now, a very key point, I'm not a Top-Producer because I specialize in REI and that's extremally unique itself to be one of the legit few, I slay because I have a passion for what I do, I get jacked-up about negotiating DOWN a great buy to make it a ridiculously awesome buy even though it cut's my commissions down, because I'm a sick-twisted addict who can't stop my thrill of the hunt, lol. But most importantly, I have literally decades of experience. I have decades of network building. I bring value on epic scale.
When it comes to working Specialized in REI, your only as good as your last deal. You gotta DELIVER. No BS, no pitch, just legit advisory actions. Strategy on grand scale, problem solving at mastery level. And if you have limited experience, how can you give what you don't have?
I give and give and give. Many talk about helping to buy a good deal but say squat about defining WHAT makes a deal, a GOOD deal. Is it a good strategy? Is it a good deal for this market cycle and that clients situation?
For some a flip is great and others a flip could ruin them. A house-hack isnt for all. How to sell a property at it's maximum potential? Terms deals? Sandwich? You gotta be able to know what best fit's a person, a property, a market cycle.
In simplest form a REI Agent is a Match-Maker, we match strategies, assets, people and resources, and ya gotta get the combination exactly right.
I would argue it's the most detailed segment of real estate, that retail is the lazy segment and investment is for adrenaline junkies like me!
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