Multiple real estate agents-is this frowned upon?

Question

Hi,Have a couple question about using multiple real estate agents. I’m new to the idea of investing in a rental property and would like some professional feedback. I have purchased two homes in my life but never invested. Been thru multiple realtors but ultimately both time we found the property ourselves and felt like we were kinda shamed as they were showing us things that we were not interested in. I don’t want to be known as that guy. But i feel like an agent should be the one that shows me the property we want to purchase. I guess i just want to know if investors have multiple real estate agents looking for properties or do they usually just find one reliable one and stick with them. Any feed back is appreciated

Russell Brazil · Answer

99% of agents who are willing to work with you, if you are using multiple agents simply are not good agents and not worth working with. If they were good....why would they waste time with someone, when there is a distinct possibility you will close a deal with someone else instead of them.Here is also the problem......90% of agents who will only work with you exclusively are also not worth working with.Find an agent you like, that has the knowledge and skill set you are looking for, and use them. Get a referral from other investors in your area. But also, be prepared for the fact that good agents, are going to interview you and decide if they want to work with you as well. I get people a lot who get angry that I interview them to decide if I want them as a client. Top agents, with niche specialties, like working with investors, we are simply busy and have more business than we can handle, so we dont take on every one that calls us.

Christopher Butterstone · Answer

Thanks for the feedback. I suppose this is all a part of the process. I feel like being patient right now and actually talking to people is my best bet. I’m going to attend my first meetup next weekend and hopefully get the opportunity to talk to some investors face to face. Reading forums and books basically tells me to make sure I’m not doing it all myself. Which is where a great agent will come into play. As far as wholesaling goes. This isn’t something even know how to approach yet. Where to find them, how to find them. That will come with time i suppose. I’ll stick to my plan for now and that is putting enough cash together to be able to do it right when the time comes for whatever the best option for me at the time is. The good thing about that is I’ll also have enough time to really educate myself on real estate as a whole. As I’m finding out it’s a lot more than i could imagine. I feel like I’ll be leaning towards rental properties. I live in south Florida and just as a gut feeling cannot imagine properties in my area selling for much more than they are at. The thought of my tiny little townhouse selling for more than 200k, which it was appraised for, feels insane. Maybe I’m wrong but the market here feels expensive. the thought of someone paying my mortgage with even a limited cash flow feels right. That’s another reason why i feel like a great agent is what i need. They should be able to aid in this? Guys, thanks for the response. I can’t believe how much help this website really is.

Nick Rutkowski · Answer

@Christopher Butterstone think of agents like a girlfriend/boyfriend. You'll go through countless of them before finding the right one. 9.9/10 of RE agents are terrible at finding people houses but 9.9/10 of new investors/buyers have no clue what they want until it's right in their face. When people tell me they work with multiple agents I tell them go to go work with the other agent. I don't need someone's business if they're double dipping but that's my preference of clientele. Call it missed opportunities, I call it a waste of my time. However, you seem like you know what you want. Why have an agent in the first place? Seems like agents are a waste of your time and money too.

Brandon Sturgill · Answer

@Christopher Butterstone You're definitely not alone in your situation. The stark reality of it is that 90% of RE agents add zero value to the acquisition, stabilization and management process. That said, the 10% that can add value do it in a big way. As far as working with multiple agents, its fine, but be clear up front. Personally, I'm an investor first, but just happen to be licensed as well...we don't request any type of exclusivity agreement because a deal can come from many different sources. I won't be offended if someone else brings you a deal.There are a couple complications with MLS...so, if you work with multiple agents you'll be looking at the same database of properties...and if you are on multiple auto-feeds or have multiple portal accounts in the same MLS database, the system gets confused and it causes technical issues. I would focus on finding a bad-ass agent and start working wholesalers for off-market stuff...as well as ramp up your own marketing efforts to get a deal under contract...Good luck. Let me know if you want to chat further on this.