Real estate agent’s expectation from investors?

Question

As an real estate agent what types of investors do you like to work with? What are some questions that really annoys an agent coming from a newbie. And what are some good information to share to make it easier on finding deals.

What sort of arrangements works well if a investor needs help running comps every now and then, as well as needs help writing low ball offers before eventually closing on a deal. Is paying some monthly fee good enough for access to MLS data without being on a conflicting situation where it feels like investors are wasting your time?

Todd Dexheimer · Answer

As an investor that has spoken to a lot of RE brokers about this, it's all about communication, not being a pain in the butt and doing what you say.

Be prepared as an investor. Understand exactly what you are looking for and understand how to identify it. Be able to close transactions and not re-trade and always provide feedback.

Anson Young · Answer

As an agent, I really only work with house hackers and landlords.  These are the "easiest" deals to find, as buying for wholesalers or fix and flippers at those discounts off MLS in my market is a full time job in itself.

Ryan Evans · Answer

I get bombarded by newbies looking for help with buying rentals and the pet peeve of mine is that they usually just don't do their homework. Like, at all. They're looking for someone to tell them about neighborhoods, give all kinds of referrals to PM's, contractors, lawyers, etc., when they haven't even taken the time to get to know the market.

Asking questions that can easily be googled is another thing that will turn off agents from working with you.

The serious investors who I actually work with come in and know their neighborhoods, have a bank letter ready, know the general financials, and have an idea of what kind of rehab they are capable of taking on. They've also done some research on options for PMs, contractors, etc. to see what is out there. They don't have to have all the answers, but as an agent, I'm then able to help them refine their search, not do it all for them.

Good luck getting started!

Evan Polaski · Answer

As both an agent and an investor myself, I can say Todd has it right.  It also works in life in general, don't be a pain.  If you can tell that a property doesn't work for you, don't waste your time and your agent's just to "see".

And also know that throwing lowball offers is one thing, but, again, save everyone's time by making sure to only do that on deals that have been sitting a long time (in my market, I give it 30+ days).

Moral: be respectful of agent's time, and honest with them right away, and you will be good.

Charlotte Dunford · Answer

I am an investor, not an agent. I've worked with agents before and I would say you need to choose an "investor friendly" agent. The most important thing is to close the deal

Bishwash Aryal · Answer

@Evan Polaski I have now learned this the hard way, if you have a gut feeling that the property wont work for you don’t waste anyone else’s time.

Greg Dickerson · Answer

For the bigger deals you need to know what you're doing and be ready and able to close.

Christopher Sanchez · Answer

I think that it all depends on the situation. I have investors that are very detail oriented and organized that are starting out and can over analyze deals so much that they will never pull the trigger on a deal. I also have had new investors that don't know too much about any aspect of real estate investing, but have been able to get more deals done because they don't get analysis paralysis.

I think it comes down to the agent setting the expectations in the beginning to let the investor know how best to communicate and get the information they are looking for. The only way for a new investor to learn what they don't know is to ask questions and do some research on their own. I would never expect a new real estate investor to do all of their research on their own, as they don't have access to all of the data that an agent or broker does.

An agent looking to grow their pipeline of investors, should understand that it takes time and cultivating the clients that reach out to you is a very large part of getting referrals and having a repeat customer. As an investor just be conscientious of how much time you are demanding of the agent. I send my clients a very detailed spreadsheet that helps them to analyze properties on their own and if the numbers seem to look good, then they reach out to me for additional research and guidance.

I hope this helps and good luck!!

Joe Cassandra · Answer

Are landlords paying retail price? I know big co. like Open House Realty Co. buy up houses to rent here in ATL. They don't pay full retail but it's only around 85-90% ARV. Is that what landlords are doing that you mention? Not sure how they're cash flowing except in C-D class neighborhoods.

Real estate agent’s expectation from investors?

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