THIS is why your Realtor is Ignoring you-DATA says they Should!

[James Wise]

If you spend any measurable amount of time browsing the BP forums you have probably come across a thread or two that was started by a new investor who's having a heck of a time getting a Realtor to work with them in an out of state market. As you can see by my post count under my dashingly handsome headshot, I've been on BP for quite some time, and I can tell you that I have personally read 100's of these types of threads.

So the question is, why is this? Why is it so hard for an out of state investor to create a mutually beneficial relationship with a Realtor in an out of state market? Is it because Realtors are bad at their jobs? Or is it because out of state investors are bad clients?

The simple answer is YES to both questions.

Yes it's hard for out of state investors to work with Realtors because Realtors suck at their jobs.

AND

Yes it's hard for out of state investors to work with Realtors because out of state investors are horrible clients.

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Now before all you out of state investors and Realtors start jumping down my throat, let me explain. Ya see this is not simply an opinion piece, I've got the data to back it up.

As for the Agents in the equation. Industry wide close to 9 out of 10 agents will leave the industry every single year. That's a nationwide statistic and it's been like that for decades. So if you are thinking it's the Agent's fault as to why investors and agents can't create a mutually beneficial relationship you'd be right about 90% of the time.

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Why do so many agents leave the business?

The 1st thing we need to look at is money. Most out of state investors are looking at properties in the "turnkey" space and the price points are sub $100k. Often times way less than that when investors want to do BRRRR deals and things of that nature. So if you're an investor and you are looking at doing these deals and are trying to connect with a Realtor to do them you've got to understand that the Realtor is looking at a commission that's going to fall anywhere in the $500 to $2,500 range. Myself I've sold over $200 Million worth of this type of property to investors and I can say the commission of an investor focused Realtor is roughly $1,250 when you average it all together. Having done 1,000's of sales I've got a good amount of data to say that's a very fair estimate.

Now as an investor you may be thinking that's a good chunk of money because you are going to buy several properties from this agent. You are probably thinking you are a heck of catch because of all that residual income they will be getting because you are a big bad investor. Surely if an agent meets you they will be the 1 out of 10 who are making good money and staying in the business. Right?

No. Not at all. In fact, you're probably the type of client who's going to earn them an hourly rage far below minimum wage. Burger flippers are actually going to pull down a much higher dollar per hour than agents working with out of state investors.

Many of you know that I run a show called The MLS Search & Analysis Show. What this is, is how I work with investor buyers to help them buy rentals from the MLS. This is a paid show. You must pay me up front to work with me. I will not work with you as an agent unless you pay up front. The reason behind this is simply math. I would not make enough money working with you if I didn't. This is why the agents working with investors often fall into the 90% that quit the industry.

Prior to this show I was selling investment properties but knew that the pay rate was not sustainable without an up front fee. With the show being a numbered episodic show it's become very easy for me to track the data and really hammer down exactly how little money these agents are making when they work with you guys.

Here is what the data says.

Over the last 10 months or so I have been hired by investors to analyze properties for them and submit an offer on said property if they were interested in buying it after my analysis answered all of the questions investors ask on everyone of these properties. Basic stuff but basic stuff that takes up an agents time to get to you such as current rent, market rent, mechanical ages and things like that.

Over the last 10 months gone over about 1,100 properties for investors. In going over 1,100 properties for these investors it's resulted in roughly 95 sales. With an average commission of $1,250 we are looking at $118,750 in gross commission or an average commission per property looked at of $107.96.

Now how long does it take to look at / go over a property with an investor? An hour? Two hours? Three? Are you an investor who wants to fly into town and drive around all day? If yes, let's call it 4 hours between 

• Driving to the house
• Touring the house
• Having "coffee" to get to know one another
• Writing the offer
• Negotiating the offer terms with the seller
• Setting up the appraisal
• Setting up the inspection
• Answering all the questions during escrow etc.
• Post closing questions and follow up etc.

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Effective Dollar Per Hour $26.99.

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Of course agents have to advertise to bring in clients. If nobody knows who you are how can they work with you after all? They can't. Lead generation is the most important part to an agent's success. So let's reinvest 20% of that revenue into lead generation. 

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New Effective Dollar Per Hour $21.60.

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But wait, we aren't done yet. No, ya see most Agents working with low commission properties like this haven't sold $200 Million in real estate. Most agents working these super low commission deals are new agents who have yet to move onto the high cost suburbs with owner occupants. Most agents don't have a sophisticated TV show with 10 Million+ views. Most agents aren't working with buyer's who are so committed to buying that they have paid money up front, many of their hours are spent combing through all of the tire kicker's endless questions so most agents working with investors aren't closing sales at the rate I am. They are probably at best able to close their deals at a about a third of the rate I am.

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New Effective Dollar Per Hour $7.20

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But wait, there is more. These agents are not business owners, no they are working for a Broker so guess what, they've got to pay a commission split. Let's call that 20%

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Final Effective Dollar Per Hour of an Investor Focused Agent is $5.76

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So there you have it folks. If you are wondering why you are having such a tough time getting an agent to be excited about working with an investor no you know why. You represent a pay rate of $5.76 an hour to these people. With an effective dollar per hour pay rate of $5.76 is it a surprise that 90% of the agents talking to investors are terrible at their jobs? What quality human being is going to work for $5.76 an hour? Working with you as an investor isn't this magical carrot that all of these agents are chasing. Nope, not even close.