All Forum Posts by: Brandon Vukelich

Looks like you received a consensus on YES.  I agree.  It would be very short-sighted to focus on this single deal/referral.  Maybe the referring agent will have many more clients in the future that will help fill your sales funnel.  Always consider the long game.

Also, I would have followed up when the initial referral agreement expired to ensure the agent didn't decide to refer the client to another agent.

Almost everyone in my sphere gets a holiday card but no gifts.  Those that have done a deal or referred me to a deal in the last year (JAN-NOV), get an invite to my VIP Client Holiday Happy Hour event.  I normally keep that to around the top 20 or so for the year.  I'm believe they appreciate that over a small sweet treat or hokey agent gift. If they can't attend, at least they knew they were on the invite list and maybe I'll roll them to next year's event. I try to plan half way between Thanksgiving and Christmas, on a Thursday evening and keep the cost to about $100/person.

All of my residential buyers get on a recurring gift plan for 2.5 years (10 quarters).  It's all automated and I only get billed each quarter when the gifts are sent out.  Another reason they don't get a specific "holiday" gift.

Check with your CPA but gifting limits apply and if over $25 or something, it should have your business brand on it.  I don't recall all of the specifics for write offs.

Similar to what @Julien Jeannot mentioned.  Some of the best coaching advice I was given was we have three choices when it comes to generating leads/business:

1. Hunt for leads: This mainly involves the "free-er" options which are what Julien mentioned based on a time commitment to your boots on the ground approach. BTW, I did these starting out and none were my jam. I still don't do any of them today.  But I know several agents that crushed door knocking, so to each their own.

2. Pay for leads: Budget a % of your revenue (commission) for trying a system that works for you and your business.  When starting out and trying to get traction, it is extremely difficult to resist chasing the latest & greatest lead gen tool aka shiny new object.  I've tried everything from Zillow to Realtor.com to Ylopo to Streettext to...you get it.  A lot. I've been committed to a single online source for the last few years and it works for my specific business.

3. Wait for leads: Don't do this.

Focus on your niche and try to have conversations about real estate with people (in person or online) on a daily basis. If I were starting over, I would concentrate my efforts on producing content (videos, podcasts, websites, books, etc) about my specific expertise. You should target to be the local STR expert or the House Hack expert or the waterfront expert or the multifamily expert. Pick one and be the rockstar in that segment in your market. You can't be an expert in all things real estate to all people. When I focused, my business went from struggling to stabilized and growing. Best wishes on your journey!

@Kristin Vegas did you happen to try the "find an agent" button at the top menu here on BP?  That allows you to possibly connect with an agent in the market you're interested in.  Best wishes on your search!

I've been in the BP lead "system" before they started charging for them.  They used to flow for free by being a Pro/Premium member.  That was nice. :)  Then it went to $2000 for 25 leads.  I pay for a bundle whether it takes me two weeks or two months to receive the 25th lead.  Now I'm paying $3000 for 25 leads.  It changed around 2021 or so.  There was no negotiating, they just decided that due to property values increasing that the cost for leads should go up 50 percent.  That was a big hit and disappointing but the leads were still the best for me and my business.  I'm not after all of the same zillow, realtor, etc "residential" buyer/seller leads.  

Like any lead source, your conversion rate will greatly depend on your process and follow up.  I'm sure the consistency of leads received will greatly depend on your market.  I'm in very active metro area so my flow will differ from a smaller market.  Also, I don't pay for another online leads at this time.  As with many online leads, you will receive a good amount of people that you'll never reach, won't have realistic plans/goals about investing, etc.  Most leads will be very inexperienced investors that will need a lot of hand-holding.  Don't expect leads with $1MM in cash ready to pull the trigger on a 20-unit apt asap.  Most are looking for their first smaller deal and many take 6+ months to convert but I'm not a hard pressure broker.  Feel free to send me DM if you'd like more feedback.

I would suggest looking at Craigslist, Apartments.com, Rentometer.com as well as Zillow.  Try and get the best "apples-to-apples" comparison by finding similar units based on bedrooms, baths, sq footage, garage/parking? and condition (dated from the 70s or a recent remodel).  As @Zachary Ware mentioned, if you get serious enough about the deal or get it under contract, I would speak to local PMs to ask about their services and obtain feedback on the particular property/area and rents. Best wishes on your investing journey!

@Alina Bar have you tried the "find an agent" button at the top of the BP site here?  I would also suggest searching on YouTube, Facebook groups, etc.  Not sure where you need help but if you're interested in Cleveland Multifamily, trying searching that term or whatever you're focused on.  I'd also suggest searching through recent sales or listings for properties you've been interested in and contact the listing agent on those.  You may need to have multiple conversations before you find one that aligns best with your investing goals.  

Some questions you should be asking during your vetting process:

- What is your personal investing experience, currently or previously?

- How do they assist you in finding opportunities?  Do they help analyze, connect you with contractors, PMs, etc.?

- How many clients are they currently working with that are looking for the same opps with your same criteria?

- How long have they been licensed and working your area of interest?

Hope that helps a bit.  Best wishes on your search!

Walk the talk. Being an investor yourself helps immensely. Especially if you are focused. You can't be a good partner agent for multifamily investors (for example) if you only work in STRs, self storage, mobile homes, etc. It's never a good approach to shotgun it and try to serve every investor. Maybe you become the Vermont STR specialist.

Like @Paul De Luca said, a good agent will be well versed in terminology, understand the due diligence process, proficient in underwriting, be knowledgeable about local laws/ordinances that affect real estate investments, have transaction experience and must NOT reek of "commission breath," meaning...don't be focused on your commission.  I approach my business as more of a consultant or advisor role vs a salesman.  I create focused content on YouTube, send out a monthly email, hot deal alerts, engage here on BP, etc.  I don't spend time networking at local events.  Be a valuable resource and your long-term relationship-sales funnel will fill.  Best wishes on your career and investing!

@Kenny Smith I still cover it 100% as a value proposition for my sellers.  I don't do open houses.  I'm able to make that a non-issue if it comes up by showing the other benefits of working with me, such as staging on my dime.  I do make the sellers reimburse me if they change their minds about selling after we go live (not an expired listing).  Pretty rare but it has happened and the sellers were cooperative enough to reimburse all of my marketing expenses in that case.

Unlikely.  Again, if I need to watch the video, I might as well just run the numbers myself.  

Also, running numbers is not that black & white to train a VA. Estimating expenses for landscaping, maintenance, repairs, capex, etc. is very property specific based on the condition, age and so on. Maybe others have found a way to train someone how to estimate that but I don't know how to. Tools like the BP rental property deal analyzer are not very accurate as well in my opinion.