HOW TO GET MORE WHEN WORKING WITH INVESTORS

1) Please have patience, when workings with an investor please understand that there are many other stakeholders that we are working with: other agents, contractors, property owners, inspectors, escrow agents, and the list go on. This is not to say that as agents your responsibilities are not demanding however we are all trying to close deals and present win-win situations in each deal.

2) Negotiations- I recently had an agent get upset with me because my offer was aggressively lower than what the agent believed the buyer would accept and was embarrassed to present the offer; which was understandable. I know that a great agent have an insight on what the property owner may want, and have done comps on the property, however the money for an investor is made when the property was bought right. It is difficult to work with an agent that is not willing to listen to their client when submitting offers. Especially when the project is a flip, the acquisition is the beginning step on a quick journey with many deadlines. Either some Realtor do not care or just don’t get it.

3) Cash is KING- An aggressive investor is normally purchasing properties with their own cash, utilizing a private money lender, or hard money lender. When making cash offers we are not willing to negotiate on the price much but we are always willing to negotiate terms. Cash speaks volumes. In reference to the aggressively low offer previously stated, the agent did submit the offer (with no confidence), the seller immediately rejected the offer. After 2 weeks an no other offers (property fell out of escrow 3 times and was on the market for over 90 days prior to our offer) we received a call accepting our cash offer. We negotiated terms and closed within 10 days to help the seller.

4) Unwritten Rule- There is an unwritten rule that agents must be aware of when working with investors; when we buy from an agent we will normally list the property with that agent. This will give the agent an opportunity for 6% commission on each deal versus the standard 3%. This unwritten rule is for agents that have a relationship with their investor client and are willing to become the go to person for the investment firm.

There are large dividends when working with an investors, do not judge a book by its cover many investors are not seasoned suits, these are the 20 and 30 something’s with cash, innovation, and aggression. Cash is KING and investors are using cash to leverage each purchase, as a realtor it would be great to align yourself with investors that are purchasing with cash.