All Forum Posts by: Jerome Harrod II

As a new Realtor, I notice that the mass majority of the public expects us to to know everything about every house in every subdivision in your state. 

Maybe you met someone like that or maybe you haven't, but We can at least agree that knowing about more than one market has it's advantages, fair?

Thinking about this, I crafted a list of simple defining questions, that if worked through, can simplify the approach to learning a new market:

"What exactly does it mean to know a market?"
"What is nice to know and what is required to know about the market?"
"What are the top 10 most common questions people have regarding the market?"
"What's the minimum I have to know about any market that will give the average person the impression that I'm competent?"

By no means do I think you become an expert with those questions alone, but I do feel you can better overcome the initial "information overload" that comes with learning a new market area and give yourself direction. 

What do you think? Let me in on the conversation in your head!
How usable do you feel this is for the new agent? or the experienced agent breaking new ground? Is there a better way? Or am I just grasping at straws to try and simplify the impossible?

I would love to talk about this.

Wow, great stuff guys!

Don't know what I'd do without this place!

It seems to all come down to knowing the contract well and from there I'll understand how to create short plain speak for it. Am I right?

@Brett_Synicky Also, will look into the D.I.S.C personality subject more. I took a mock test and it said I was a High S / High C. Real interesting stuff.

Let me share with you that tonight I nearly died. I sat through a mind numbingly boring 2 1/2 hour meeting, shadowing a buyer's agent, just to learn one thing.
To learn simpler ways in explaining real estate sales contracts to a client.

I'm no lawyer, but in the ever going journey to make my customers/clients lives easier, I come to you all with a contract question. 

How do you explain a real estate sales contract in simple laymans terms to clients?

What do you know about speaking simply without jargon?

Do you even do that in your business? Why or Why not? 

Note, I'm from Maryland, but Most brokers nowadays are okay with agents investing and being wholesalers. It's just a matter of wording what you are talking about correctly and following the procedures the broker has in place.

"I'm looking to be a listing agent with a emphasis on investments. In addition to helping buyers and sellers, on the side I will occasionally be assigning contracts for profit and working with investors.  Is that a problem?"

That is the kind of language you use on the Interviews with your broker and watch how they respond.

Look up someone named "Karl Krentzel" and his blog tenminuteskill. He really is the best and probably only guy I know of specializing in the "Agent/Investor" area of the business.

Hope that helps,

1. Use The Redfin/Zillow agent directories or Agent Referrals from investors from a REIA meeting or the like, then send an email or call the agent for a phone interview.

2. Services to look for depends on you, your marketing plan, and your investing strategy. If you want something, ask for it and see what it takes to get it.
For example, If you're into postcard marketing and hate showing properties, try and negotiate getting mls expireds and having them show properties you get under contract for a flat fee or something. 

Beyond your agent being dependable and a smart-worker, 
The number 1 general thing to look for in your agent is that they are "investor friendly", which usually means that they are fine and familiar with creative deal structures and that they have worked with or at-least researched how to work with investors.
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Not to sway judgement but to express my opinion,  it's too much work for me in finding/firing an agent and it's just something I'm not good at, but have seen others succeed with it, so go for it.  For me, I'm just gonna get licensed, being an Agent/Investor have perks of it's own. 

Just my 2cents

Hi Simon,

I'm kinda confused on what issue you're asking for an opinion in exactly, could you help me out by saying your question in another way?

If I said that, you are trying to decide between leaving Scotland or Not before becoming financially independent, would that be a right guess?

If that is a right guess, then I have an opinion. I would say Needs come before Wants.
I would suggest that you would, Suffer through the sucky weather a little while longer using you're engineering job to support whatever you're doing to become financially independent. Then, once actually financially independent then move to a country or state with weather you love. 

Financial Independence, to me, is the freedom of all debt and freedom from needing a 9-to-5 job to survive. So you have two goals to work towards.
First, free yourself from debt by creating a strategy in paying it off, "I will teach you to be rich by Ramit Sethi" is THE BOOK to read on that. 
Second, free yourself from needing that engineering job to live, that's where you're real estate business or whatever your doing comes in. 

That's just my 2cents, I hope that helps out.

Sounds like a good plan, and you also got a couple brilliant ideas above too consider.

If I may add a suggestion, Look into lease purchasing if you're new to being a landlord. When lease purchasing as an investor, you get the benefits of being a landlord with little to no tenant drama (meaning you don't deal with fixing repairs & tenants are easy to find)  and if structured right, good monthly income plus cash-out in the end.

Just my thoughts. Happy hunting

So here is what I gathered from the forum on being a new agent:

1. MLS access isn't immediate, so I can't tap expired listings for leads day 1
2. There are many kinds of Brokerages to be with, none of which supply leads, and I have to pay them fees outside commissions. (wish I knew more about the kinds of brokerages out there and what agent would fit best with what brokerage)
3. Business is not ran much different than being an investor in the sense that you do everything yourself.
4. Agents are a dime a dozen with an 80% quitting rate. (Reality hits ya hard)

Am I missing anything here? What else should I be expecting as a new agent?

Bonus question: Can anyone breakdown picking a brokerage as an agent?
Like give a quick Brokerage overview, something along the lines of "Long&Foster is good for this but it sucks in XYZ, so Century21 is excellent for ABC type of agent."

Most people casually say "talk to or interview brokerages and see what they offer" assuming that others know what's good or what to ask or look for.
That's not as helpful as they might think. Anyone care to elaborate or go deeper? Not looking for a spoonfed script, just a more personalized answer from experience.

Quick comment about defining "motivated sellers";

That term is not to be considered "law", but more of a principal guideline to follow when dealing with sellers to make life easier for you the investor. Deals have been closed with desperate sellers that had to move urgently and with unmotivated sellers that were just shopping their house around fishing for offers.

The only thing you need your seller to be is Cooperative. If the seller is forthcoming with all the info you need and is relatively easy to work with open to creative offers, then your golden and need not worry about anything else, but the numbers for the use of a strategy and one investing strategy does not fit all sellers motivated or not.

So to go one step further, The key to closing is just finding the best investing strategy that fits the sellers selling situation and effectively present it to them in a way that's basic, explains why it works for them, and feeds their ego when they ask themselves the question "What's in it for me?".

Most, if not all, sellers are purely self-interested people, so working on the angle of "What's in it for them?" when describing your proposal and you'll win signed contracts most often. You won't get them all, but it works well.

Just my opinion.

So I'm assuming landlording in Baltimore,MD is a waste of time?

I do lease options in Baltimore and was thinking of expanding into rentals eventually with a PM there, but from how this sounds. Support for landlords sound really bad lol ... It might be in my best interest to landlord in other cities in MD.