Is Your Realtor the Right Fit for You?

One of the key members of your team is your Realtor. They help you with negotiations, they help you find properties, they help you with market analysis, and they help you with a myriad of other things that come up during a transaction. However, if your agent is distracted, or focused on other clients, or other things, they may not be the right agent for you. So how do you know if you found a good agent? How do you find the right agent for your team? Sometimes it is by trial and error and sometimes you know right away.

When you are looking for a Realtor, especially when you are entering a new area, you need to find a Realtor that is proactive. You don’t want an agent that only thinks about you when you call them. You want someone who will take the initiative and actively look for properties. You want someone who has a strong network in the self-storage industry, and you want someone with experience. If your agent does not have commercial experience, find someone who does. You do not want to be the person that they learn on; it will cost you time and money. Inevitably, you will come across something that they don’t know or understand and while they are trying to figure it out, you will lose.

If you are in a large metropolis, you should be able to find an agent that specializes in self-storage. If you are in a more rural area, you may have to settle for a commercial agent who does self-storage too, but you want an agent that is familiar with the nuances of self-storage. When you are new to self-storage, you will be relying heavily on your agent’s experience. Once you are experienced, you will be branching out to new areas. Then you will be relying on your agent’s knowledge of their current market.

How do you know if you are talking to the right Realtor for you? Sometimes when you call an agent, the conversation goes great. However, when the time comes for them to send you the promised list of properties, the list never comes. That is your first red flag. Follow up, maybe they had the wrong e-mail address. If not, find a new agent.

The next red flag is that they never call to follow up with you to see what you thought of the list of properties that they sent. You want someone who will keep you at the top of their mind. You want someone who is going to go out and pound the pavement and talk to sellers to see who is willing to sell their property to you. If they aren’t willing to do that, they may not be the right fit.

Remember that you are hiring this agent for the job. Have a list of questions ready to interview them. They will be interviewing you too. They want to know that if they are going to commit a chunk of their time to you, that they are going to get paid. Make sure that they know that you are a ready, willing, and able buyer. If they don’t believe that you can close on a property, they won’t waste their time.

When you ask them questions, ask them things like, how many self-storage transactions they have done in the last 5 years and how many commercial transactions they have done. This way you can see how much of their business comes from self-storage. Find out if they have any self-storage properties listed right now that you might be interested in. One of the easiest ways to find a self-storage agent is to call on the properties that are listed by Realtors. The property may not be what you are looking for, but the Realtor might be perfect for your power team. Ask them about the current self-storage market in that particular area. Remember that every market is slightly different. You need to know what is happening in that market. If you feel like there is a potential relationship, ask them who they recommend for some of your other power team members. If they are good, they have a great local lender and a great title company and probably a few builders too.

If your agent starts out great and then begins to fizzle out, replace them. We are not in the Instant Pot business; we are in the Crockpot business. If they are not willing to stick it out and work with you until you find the right property, you will need to keep looking until you find the right agent. Don’t be afraid to let go of an agent that stops returning your phone calls or doesn’t do what they say they will do in a timely manner. If they stop returning your calls, simply call a new agent and start the process again.

There are a lot of Realtors out there for you to choose from. Interview several. You may even work with several until you know which agent is the best agent for you. They are a critical member of your power team. Make sure that you have the right agent working for you and as always, happy investing.