What Good Questions to Ask When Searching for REI Friendly Agent

Question

When you're looking in your area or even another market (out of city/out of state) for a Real Estate Investor friendly agent, what questions do you ask and qualities you're looking for? There are a lot of options, agents here on BPs and even referrals. How do you differentiate to find the right one?

I would imagine if you're an investor, your needs may be different than if you're just buying your families home as a regular home buyer.

I'm sure the answer can depend on what your goals are, mine would be residential, single to 3-4 multiple family.

Joe Facenda · Answer

To me, ask questions that get at their experience both as a Realtor AND an investor.   You need an agent who understands both.

On the Realtor side, I would say a minimum of 3 years as a Realtor.  Lots of investors get their license and that is fine.  If they were an investor, they may have great intel on the market and the cost of repairs and a list of great contractors, etc.  But you want more than that from your Realtor.  You need someone who knows how to get a deal under contract and from contract to settlement.  Learning how work with different types of agents on the other side and being able to spot turbulence before it crashes the plane only comes from experience.

On the investor side, you must only work with Realtors who have personally invested.  It doesn't matter if you are a flipper and they are buy and hold or vice versa.  If they are in the game, they are probably students of all aspects of investing.  Get them to talk about their experiences as an investor and see if their philosophy works with yours.

For instance, I am an experienced Realtor and investor and when I speak with potential rehab investor clients, I let them know upfront that current market conditions are such that if you want to write 5 to 10 low ball offers a month, you are wasting your time and I am not the Realtor for you.  If you want to use a rifle approach instead of a shotgun approach, I am the right Realtor for you.  Maybe in your market things are different but know what you want to do and make sure they don't object to that strategy.

Last, I would ask them to tell you about some of the deals they put together for other investor clients.  You want to know that as a Realtor, they have worked with investors in the past.

If you feel good after the phone call (and please do this by phone - not email or text) start to work with them but resist signing any long term buyer agency until you see them in action on the street and feel it is a partnership worth finalizing.

Jerry Villa · Answer

Thats great advice @Joe Facenda...

I'm going to give that a try for sure.