All Forum Posts by: Bruno C.

@Sherman Ragland This is super helpful. A few questions coming out of your responses...

1) How can you find out a brokerage's specific business model, and if they're forced to follow it - it's great that you know and are providing this guidance, but I also want to learn how to figure it out for myself.  I have several contacts at some REMAX brokerages, but the ones I have focus on first time homebuyers and new construction, not investors. 

2) I agree that a small brokerage makes sense...would be able to put me in a good position to learn from other investors & get a mentor that's been through it. How is this normally offered? Through a letter? 

3) Thanks for the insight on E&O. Not sure about clients yet but I'll take this into consideration.

Thanks again for all of this! Huge help! 

Hey all, I'm looking to get my RE salesperson's license in RI, mainly to use it as a conduit for buying & selling my own investment property either with partners or on my own. However, I don't want to be forced into doing all of the work that full-time RE agents do - being an agent isn't in my eyes my main focus or core competency - building a portfolio of cashflowing assets is. 

So, having said that, a few questions I have in mind: 

• Can anyone provide an example of how they've gotten a brokerage to hang their license when they're mainly focused on their own investments? 
  • If so, what were the terms, and not just the commission splits, but what were you responsible for doing and how involved were you with the agency on a day-day basis? 
• What's the value proposition I can provide (as an investor with experience) that will convince an agency to hang my license? 
• Does anyone know of specific brokerages which would be interested in pursuing this? If so, and you're willing to share, it would be more than welcome! 

Thanks everyone.

@Ashley Pohlman I've got a few banks I'ved used in the past. Unify FCU gave me a HELOC on my investment property in Boston a few years back, and you may be able to get the same deal. PM me and I can give you the contact info.

If your property is in a LLC, you can work with Freedom National Bank for a commercial LOC using that as collateral. Again, if this is of interest, PM me.

@Adam Burns Lots of options depending on the property and the seller. It may be helpful to take a look at Chad Carson's financing post to give you an idea of some of the pros/cons of various financing items. 

Best of luck in your search! 

@Adam Burns this is totally reasonable. Just keep in mind that to protect yourself you will want to have at least 6 months of operating expenses for the reserves, in case you incur major vacancies or a big capital expense.

Also - if you’re doing conventional financing, you can expect that you may have other requirements you’ll run into (like debt to income ratios and minimum down payment amounts for investment properties) that may be potential roadblocks. Just keep this in mind.

@Edward Silva to piggyback off of @Luke Carl it what you care about is scaling quickly, you should outsource it. Unless you want the function of customer service to be a core competency of your business (your biggest value add) then it’s worth it to look into it.

When I’ve used a service like Guesty they charged 3% of revenue, which probably comes out to more than other services, but as I grow, the cost of the customer service reps, plus any fringe if you need to hire someone with benefits, will outweigh the good in my opinion.

Ultimately it’s a business decision about how you want to manage your business. 

I’ve done a few things for taking care of email and inquiry streams:

-use unroll.me to filter out any junk mail, or mail individuals only need to see occasionally. This will put it all together in one email a day and will keep your “white noise” manageable.

-consider using a service like Guesty to outsource the customer service side of things. The cost of full time hires and fringe benefits are expensive - likely more expensive than the cost of an outsourced platform that can handle the email streams and automate most of the customer service process.

-On the STR side, you may want to consider a property management platform that can handle a lot of the workflow tasks that become assigned to maintenance individuals.

Hope this helps @Edward Silva!

Hi Tara, I would also be interested in discussing this. Feel free to PM me and we can find some time to chat.

@Christian Allen you should check out @Brandon Hall who is well known on here for his CPA services. I have had a great experience with him so far and he may be the right fit for you. 

@Dan Weber You may want to reach out to @Brandon Hall who is well known on this site for being an established CPA - and I can personally recommend him from my own positive experience working with him.