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Updated over 3 years ago on . Most recent reply

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Victor Menezes
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The Role of RE Agents?

Victor Menezes
Posted

Hi BP Forum!

I'm a first-time investor (already own a primary residence condo), and while I realize that getting great rentals would require buying off-market or doing some kind of value add (flipping) I'm buying off the MLS as a means to simply get started.

What do you think the role of RE agent in the buying process should be? 

I've been talking to a few realtors in my local area, and they simply seem interested in setting up a search on the MLS and sending me the results (something a Redfin/Zillow search does). I've pressed them on what their qualification process looks like (e.g. 1% rule or anything market-specific), but I'm getting a lot of "narrow it down, and we'll figure out the best." Is that normal, or am I not finding the right agent for my purchase.

Granted I'm looking for a 200k-ish condo (instead of a 500k-600k MF), so the commissions are lower, but I still think they should be qualifying what they send me somewhat.

What are your thoughts!?



 

Most Popular Reply

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Bob Okenwa
  • Real Estate Agent/Investor
  • Peoria, AZ
2,461
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Bob Okenwa
  • Real Estate Agent/Investor
  • Peoria, AZ
Replied

@Victor Menezes

There are two ways to look at it:

1) From the investor standpoint, it seems like the agent is doing the bare minimum and going about their business, not really caring about your investing needs.

2) From the realtor perspective, working with/for someone they do not know, has never closed a deal, and spending time analyzing properties on their behalf is more likely to end up as time wasted, so minimum effort is given until that investor proves themself.

I personally don't feel that it's the realtor's job to analyze deals/do the homework for the investor, although I will assist in double-checking the numbers on a property that my client is interested in. If someone brings me something they're interested in, then I will help them analyze that property. Investors need to remember that odds are you are not the only client that realtor has, and time is money, which means their time will go to people that bring them money.

When an investor I haven't worked with reaches out to me and asks for me to find them deals, a test I like to do is send 2 or 3 solid properties I find right off the MLS that seemingly meet their criteria and ask the investor for their thoughts on each. 90% of the time I get no response so these people weed themselves out and I don't have to waste my time with tire kickers.

Ultimately, it's your job to narrow things down and find a few properties that stick out as potential leads. I only set people up on drips if they request it, but the way it works is you're supposed to funnel things down by either finding properties in the drip, or having the drip adjusted with very specific parameters. I can't help you find properties if you don't know exactly what you're looking for. Once you prove yourself as a serious buyer, then an agent will work harder to find you deals both on and off market.

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