New Licensee

[Joe Krevinghaus]

Hello everyone! I am newly licensed in SWFL. I wanted to start a new career in the same space as I want to invest in, multifamily rentals. So I'm looking for any advice on getting started as a multifamily agent. Thanks in advance!

[Maggie L.]

@Joe Krevinghaus congratulations!

As an investor-friendly agent I find the investor niche is very different than retail, and my  buy and hold investors are generally multifamily.  I started as a buy and hold investor and then decided to get my license to capitalize on my knowledge (and help other people find properties rather than take on too many projects myself) so I came in with a more investor-centric mindset.

There are a few things I would recommend to a new agent, which I hopefully tweaked enough to apply to your situation.

1) Figure out your niche, and find a broker that supports this.

This may be geographic as well as multifamily investing.  Make sure your broker knows what you plan to do, and find out what support (other agents, hopefully free classes) they can offer.  Also make sure their policies allow what you want to do - even if state law says it's ok it may be contrary to the policy of your broker.  

A few additional areas that jump to mind are short sales, REO, or vacation rentals. If you're too much of a generalist (especially early on) it will be hard to have the knowledge needed for clients to take you seriously. Unless you have a mentor or background granting a lot of knowledge in these areas I wouldn't recommend them for a new licensee, but a client will probably ask about them at some point. Know what you're going to say.

Are you considering property management as well?  This is a whole different area requiring different skills and resources, but some clients may want a "full-service" experience.  I'd definitely check with your broker on this one, since there are different liabilities that they may not be comfortable taking on.

2) What services are you providing

Your first clients will probably be people just getting started, so you need to consider their needs.  What services are you providing them - market expertise, the ability to "speak investor," discussing investment strategy, lenders, contractors?  Hopefully you or your broker have contacts here to help with what's outside your area of expertise.  When you go to meet with a prospective client, have this list ready.

3) Remember this is just a starting point - keep learning

You're going to learn a lot as you go, but try to prepare by reading, taking classes (broker, local Association of Realtors), attending REI meetings (networking and knowledge), and stay current on changing regulations that may impact on your investors. BP is a great place for a lot of this, but you need local knowledge that really comes from in-person meetings.

Hopefully that helps a bit, and feel free to ask questions or PM me.