"In the absence of value price becomes an issue."

[John Sprague]

In a previous thread a member had a question about how to compensate their Real Estate Agent & it inspired this post. 

I believe that Residential Real Estate Investors are one of the most underserved communities by the Real Estate community. This is evidenced by the fact that one of the top five reasons an Agent gets licensed is to service their own investment needs.  Think about that!  They are willing to go through all the headache of the licensing process, pay all the fees, & (most costly) dilute their focus.  For what reason? 

I can only deduce that their needs aren't being serviced to a standard acceptable to them. 

With your help I hope to change that.  What type of value would a real estate professional (licensed or not) have to deliver to earn your loyalty? The kind of loyalty where you only call one person, email one person, etc.  

If, together, we are able to bring clarity to that vision, imagine what your world would look like?  Imagine the increased results while the stress levels plummet.  

So, let's make that a reality together.  What specific value would your representative have to offer to earn that level of loyalty? I'm eager to hear your thoughts!

Onward,

John Sprague

[Daria B.]

This is an easy answer for me and may take quite a bit to express my experience so please bare with me. :) I don't have a license but if I did, the challenges would be a lot simpler to handle.

Simply, I am a buy and hold investor and without getting too much into what can be read in my profile, please do read my profile to get a glimpse of my goals.

The previous 2 properties were purchased with the assistance of an agent that does not work with investors. At that time I had no idea of the difference between one that does and one that doesn't (whose primary role is to find homes for people to live in rather than rent out).

The challenges that I faced were:

1-agent didn't know what rents could be charged for a particular area. I learned that I could turn to a PM to get this information rather than an agent. And even later in the process, found there "are" agents that could get this information to verify what I found on my own.

2-agent provided comps but did not understand my offer as I would have given to make my numbers work and make a good (defined by me) profit.

3-getting viable properties that I would consider verses the agent just sending me a listing of properties that would never cash flow.

The value I found:

1-agent was more than willing to show a property when I asked. Any property that I did ask to see, I had already done much property searching and area searching for rents and other sales (see #1 above as I did mention the agent also provided the comps). We didn't just "go" see a property since I can drive by myself to check out and learn the area where the property was located, I didn't find it necessary to go with my agent unless I felt it worth further investigating. And when we did go, it was a quick walk through to see the condition. So this is why having a license has value.

2-agent had resources that I've since added to my contacts list and found others through those contacts.

Finding a happy middle ground:

1-an investor should have their goals and a good understanding of them before investing the time of the agent.

2-an agent that is willing to sit with the investor to hear them out about what it means to them in offering what they offer for homes and what their goals are in investing.

3-an agent that is patient after getting an understanding of what the investors goals are and can effectively put a listing together of properties that come close to what the investor is looking for that may work.

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The challenges seem to be mitigated by those that have a license because they can access the MLS and find what they are looking for rather than "translate" that information to another party that may not get it right. Even if that 2nd party does get it right, they are not the investor and what better option is there but to look at something 1st hand - hence the investor having access to the MLS because they have their license.

The investor that has their license (seems as though they can since they have access) can also just let themselves into the property to see it. Correct me if I am not accurate with this statement, as I mentioned I am not licensed and don't know all the rules of an agent.

For investors that want to get their license to help themselves, I'm sure there are some that start out like that and then find it may also be fruitful and beneficial to give back and help other investors that don't have their license who seek the same thing.

I also have found that even though some agents have more time in working with investors and know better the investor mind, the agent themselves seem to have a particular niche. For instance, some seem to have better knowledge of how to work the foreclosure system when it's an REO and dealing with the REO listing agent. Others I've run across have no clue about the REO process.