How can a real estate agent most help you? Where do real estate agents fall down on the job for you?

Question

Hi. I'm a new member. I'm marketing guy who lives in Simsbury, CT, and I provide online marketing services for a real estate agent based in the Houston, TX area.

In the course of helping her over the past two months, I've begun to realize that the Houston market is currently driven by a number of factors, the biggest of which is real estate investors. Houston is in a sellers' market, and my client told me that there's a lot of new people moving into the area. While I'm sure that's true, I'm now convinced that it's the investor community that currently plays the biggest role in driving Houston-area exchanges of real estate, particularly over the past two years.

So I need to know more about real estate investors and their needs. That's why I joined this forum.

If you're so inclined, please reply with any input you care to share about:

...your experience with real estate agents
...where you find that real estate agents fall down on the job
...where you find that real estate agents are most helpful to you
...any other suggestions you can make that might help me understand the needs of RE investors.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@Karen Margrave I remember as a new agent in the late 70's in my little town in Northern CA I was living in at the time ( lakeport) I would routinely go to the office and put the big office open agent on duty sign out on Sunday afternoons.. I was literally the only agent in town working that day... I made a lot of sales with walk in's in those.. Days in fact I sold the most expensive home ever to be sold in the county in the 70's with a walk in from Hillsborough. Now you can't even get agents to pick up the phone more than half the time its really crazy how the industry has gone.. its all text messaging LOL

Karen Margrave · Answer

@Walt Thiessen Welcome to BP. It's like Rich Dad Poor Dad with agents. I got my start working in a real estate office as an Executive Assistant. I scheduled floor time for both residential and commercial agents, and did all the advertising, and tracked all escrows, etc. The successful agents stayed in contact with their buyers/sellers on a regular basis, worked with me making sure their properties were getting advertised, were knowledgeable on the market, finishes, etc. and how they compared to their properties. They made sure that the title company and anyone else had what they needed to close their deals. The successful agents came to meetings and made sure they knew what other agents were doing, what they needed, and made sure they knew about their properties, etc. The lazy agents, that didn't last, did the bare minimum. They would refuse floor time and Open House opportunities, they didn't stay in contact with buyers/sellers, etc. If they did take floor time they acted as if it were an imposition when an ad call came in, and rarely converted it to a showing.The title company or others had to call and beg for information, etc. Summing it up, Exceptional Customer Service is what sets Great agents apart from unemployed agents. Hope this helps you.

Brandon Turner · Answer

Hey @Walt Thiessen thanks for jumping in and introducing yourself! If you haven't yet- be sure to setup some "Keyword Alerts" to get into conversation in your target area. Seeya around!

Elizabeth Colegrove · Answer

Welcome to Biggerpockets!The key is to define your goals and the means you wanted to do. We got started through personal properties. We wanted put as little down as possible while still being able to invest into rentals. We use a realtor but buy distressed properties (short sales and foreclosures) . Some needed more work than others! This is an awesome place to meet fellow investors . Another great place is to look around the blogs, forums and listen to the podcasts. If you see a post you enjoy check out the persons signature. Many of us including myself talk about our strategies, styles, niches and business model on our website. So definitely check that out as it is an amazing additional resource. For example, my blog is about while working full time, buy and hold investing, 0% Down Rentals, Personal Properties turned rentals, Long distancing investing, self-managing 3,000+ miles away. Definitely list your blog or website in your signature, if you have one. Its a great additional networking source.Look forward to seeing you around! Let me know if I can help!

Mehran K. · Answer

Welcome to BP @Walt Thiessen! You might find this article a great read: The Real Estate Agent’s Ultimate Guide to Working with Investors

James Wise · Answer

@Walt Thiessen welcome to the site.

Mary B. · Answer

Welcome to club BP,It's going to take more than a few questions to learn about real estate investments. Take a tour of the website in its entirety. There are blogs and podcasts that you might want to review if you are serious about learning the world of real estate investors. Some investors rarely if at all utilize the services of brokers/salespeople especially in residential investing. Understood your questions are for those that do. Still if you are to get to know REIs its going to take more than one post and a few days so I hope you have the time and patience to gather thorough reseach on the matter. Kudos,Mary