Tips for New Investor Agent/Broker

[Tehane Gallimore]

I am an active real estate investor and I have recently acquired my NC license as a REALTOR/Broker with Sellstate Premier in the North Charlotte area. I would like to start taking on other investor clients to help with their buying and selling transactions, but I was wondering if anyone has any tips on starting out? I know what I personally look for in real estate agents we have personally worked with, but what are specific services that other investor clients would appreciate that goes beyond the average duties of a real estate agent. There isn't a whole lot of startup advice geared towards this topic, so I wanted to put this out there to hopefully get some good tid bits. Thanks in advance!

[Ujwal Velagapudi]

When I first started out my biggest issues with my agents were that they just simply wanted to make the deal and close. I get it, they've got residential clients who close quicker, analyze less or in a different way, and are simply less picky. The enthusiasm did not last beyond a couple of weeks and would wane. This is going to be tough as you want to make sure the client isn't just wasting your time. So if you you've done some vetting of their financials and can confirm they're actually looking to buy and have liquidity, then I would say just keep that enthusiasm up, especially for out of state clients that have their eyes in multiple markets. 

Also as someone who was 22 and just starting out, with no one experienced I could talk to about RE investments, I really did want an agent who I could talk to. I would analyse each property qualitatively, analyze the financials, etc. to only get little feedback from the agent. Some of these agents were also property owners, but they had been at it for decades or simply did not analyze a deal like I would. Some were inept, some just realized it would be too much work. Now I wouldn't say you need to analyze every deal, but if there is one that your client finds of interest after you've seen it, then I think this will truly go a long way in sitting down with them and analyzing it as if you were buying it. 

Facilitating the transaction. These are investors, and I'm sure you'll get some out of state folks too. Having a list of inspectors, rehab team, handyman list, lenders, property management companies, and other vendors within your network that you can personally vouch for will go such a long way. This will mean you have a turn-key investor friendly system that can get someone who simply has a thought that they want to invest, all the way through the finish line to actually investing with a solid team of people that you have already vetted out for them. 

One thing that had irritated me was the fact that my agent had failed on preliminary due diligence and showed me a condo that was not investor friendly. It had a wait list to rent out and required an owner occupant first prior to leasing it out as per their condo association rules. I found this out myself during due diligence, after a couple of weeks of spending (wasting) our time on it, negotiating, spending money for the inspection, etc. Simple slip ups like this will just waste everyone's time and ultimately lose a client. 

As for getting traffic for you, I've had dozens of people reach out to me over the years just by sharing some of my experiences here on BP, so here is a good place to start as well as your local RE meetups.