Help! RE Agent/Investor Needs BP Community Adivse and Help.

[Joel Petersen]

Hi BP Family,

I am currently an in-active RE agent in Arizona ( AZ ). I want to hang my license again so that I can use it for my own investments.I recently interviewed a few brokers and expressed to them I want to focus on my own F&F and F&H, and some residential resale. (Some big names, others more local)

During the interviews I asked if they had anyone that was focused on their own investments and doing F&F. Most basically did not have anyone in the office that had this focus.I then asked since they do not have anyone there that could “teach” me, would I be allowed to “Learn” from an outside mentor (active investor) that may not even be an RE agent of any kind.Even though my intent was to only shadow this mentor and NOT have them actually write my deals, also I would have my broker review them before turning them in, I was told I am not allowed to “Learn” or shadow others outside of the brokerage.Now this seemed very odd to me, but from certain views I could understand why.

My questions:

What is your opinion on this situation? How should I proceed?

Since my objective is my personal F&F and F&H, should I stay away from standard brokerages like ReMax, West USA and so on?Should I be looking for a broker that only focuses on investments of their own, that is willing to bring on someone to mentor? Any help here is appreciated.

Can anyone suggest an active broker in Arizona (West Valley AZ) that fits this type of scenario?I do not want to hang my license at a brokerage that only focuses on resale of residential and commercials properties. If they are not able to help me learn and be active in my own investments, they will not be a good fit for me.This is the problem I keep running into.They all are just your everyday RE brokerage.

I am very eager to get started and have many abilities, but finding the right place to start as an Agent/Investor that want to learn has got me stuck.

I would be very grateful for any feedback the BP community can provide.

[Christina L.]

Hi Joel,

Being from the Phoenix market and wanting to do F&F's as well, I understand the frustration. It’s very competitive here so it’s tough to get your foot in the door. I've had funding ready to go for a while now but it’s taken time to get any traction in this market due to the good deals getting taken very quickly. I started with a realtor and the plan was for her to bring me deals to F&F but she hasn’t been able to find much given the current conditions in Phoenix. And by the way, she’s a realtor who not only works with investors, but is also a F&F investor herself.

That’s when I decided that if I wanted to make a go of RE investing, I would need to change my strategy and take a more active role. After about 3 months of continuous networking and just “getting out there” to talk to folks, I finally found an experienced fix and flip investor who’s willing to partner with me on a deal. He’s an active investor who does several F&F’s a month and he partners with individual investors a few times a year. This just happened recently so we haven’t started on a project yet. In fact, since he works with a few other partners as well I’ll have to get in line, so to speak, and wait my turn for the next available property in the pipeline. Still, it’s good progress and a testament to what persistence and good old fashioned networking can do! He’ll be leading the F&F project but I’ll be coming to all the meetings, shadowing him, etc. It should be a great way to learn.

In the meantime, I just started taking a wholesaling class in Phoenix. It’s three hours every Thursday night and packed with good information. I figured learning how to find deals can only help with my RE investing goals. In fact, I’ve found that there are active wholesalers in the class who are interested in working with others, which really helps as you’re getting up and running.

I’m still a newbie so while I can’t comment on all of your questions, I thought it might be helpful to share my experiences. All that to say, while it’s discouraging when you’re starting out, I noticed that if you’re persistent, eventually it starts paying off!

Christina