Out of State Investing Realtors

[Georges A.]

I am in the process of investing in out of state properties. doing my research on the forum 3 things are key. (1) a good PM and (2) a good trustworthy realtor and (3) a good RE attorney.

(1) and (3) are doable by reading reviews and doing some standard interviewing with them - however I have an issue with (2). Any one who's been doing out of state REI can recommend some questions to ask for the Realtor to see if they're a good fit?

Checking the reviews, most of the realtors bought houses for ppl locally which is a very different process from the one I am doing. I need them to go there, record videos, and pretty much act as myself on the ground - A LOT OF TRUST involved although I will personally go there and check out the property myself the day when i'll bring an inspector. How do I know the realtor is doing his job and taking my interest first and not having me buy a property that we could have gotten for cheaper just to make some extra bucks?

[Joel Owens]

Well I do commercial real estate and I am investor myself.

I do not mess with houses. I do know that out of state investors are typically searching for yield they can't get in their own backyards OR it's that they can get the same cap rate locally but prices where they live are 200k versus 60k in another market.

The out of state investors have a lot of lag time in making decisions. This can cut out many good deals as local investors are ready right away to put under contract when a property hits the market.

A seasoned broker/agent should be qualifying you the investor. If they are not then run away from them. The amount of work you are wanting to analyze properties being an out of state investor isn't all that unreasonable. I would think before a broker/agent committed to doing that they would need to see you are realistic in the price you want to buy at and that you had funds and financing in place. Proof of funds with your bank statement blackened out would suffice valid within the last 30 days.

Really I do not think agents will squeeze you over 1,000 sales price higher. It could happen but not often. If you are a one off type buyer and tapped out then maybe if they were unethical they would squeeze as much out of that one transaction as possible. If you represent ongoing business then say paying 5,000 more on a property equates to another 150 bucks on commission before a broker split so I do not seeing them risk the relationship for that.