All Forum Posts by: Joe Facenda

What are your goals and what do you want the agent to do?

I, too, have someone in Austin I trust.  PM me and I will give you the details.

My advice to new agents goes against the grain.  If you are young and want a long career, start working with first time buyers.  Sure you want listings and you should try to get as many as you can but first time buyers are easier to find and are  a multiple transaction proposition since life happens - marriages, children, job promotions and transfers.  If you do a good job, you are there for them for decades.  Plus in the beginning, they don't know what they are doing buying an home and you pretty much don't know what you are doing selling a home - a perfect match.

Which brings me back to why a new agent should not count on investors. If the investor is experienced, they will pick up on your inexperience in an instant. How will they trust your judgment on ARV or negotiating strategy when they know more than you?

Newer investors will run you ragged.  No matter who you work with - owner occupant of investor -  setting boundaries is critical.  It's a tough lesson to learn.  A not so serious first time buyer will likely drop out of search mode fairly quickly.  An indecisive first time investor may linger on and on researching each deal, finding it not good enough and then hoping a "better" one is just around the corner.  Since you may not know yourself what a good deal is, the cycle continues. 

I have many folks come to me that say they want to flip homes.  I meet with most all of them but while they think they are interviewing me, I am interviewing them.  I can tell which ones have a shot at being successful and which ones think it is all about following a rigid formula presented to them at a real estate seminar.  I only follow up with a small percentage of those I talk with.  Have I missed a few winners?  I am sure I have.  But I have saved a tremendous amount of time - our most precious commodity - by focusing on those I trust will succeed.  And I mostly have been right.

But that only comes with experience after lots of hard lessons and wasted time.

I am going to be blunt.  If you want to work with investors, I believe you need to be an investor yourself.  I know when I go out of town to invest, I will only work with those who have also invested.  

I am a Realtor myself so let me be even a little more blunt.  I think for a new agent, targeting investors may not be the best strategy.

Yes, investors are great to work with.  I enjoy my time with my investor clients.  I tend to really like them as people and, of course, working with investors often means repeat business in a short amount of time.

But there are soooooooooo  many investors out there.  A good number will run you around and waste your time.  As a new agent it is hard to know which investors are for real and which are not sure of their plan or simply afraid to take action.  It is much safer to start your career with traditional owner occupant transactions. 

Just one old Realtor's opinion.  There are always exceptions to the rule.

I just invested in Charlotte myself. I am a Realtor but licensed in VA so I found a great Realtor there. Send me a message, let me know what you want to do and if she can help, I will connect you.

I do - just sending you a private message

This is a great question as folks sometimes equate "investor friendly" with a willingness to submit dozens of low ball offers.   I don't.

Let's look at it logically.  There is only so much time in a week.  If an agent has the time to submit dozens of lowball offers in a week, what does that say about their business model and production level?  They obviously aren't that busy which leads a client to wonder why. A new agent without a  large client base? Perhaps that can be good because they are hungry but do you prefer experience or hunger?  No right or wrong answer but know a knowledgeable, experienced, respected agent does not have time to write a dozens of offers a week.  

To me investor friendly means they understand the market and  investors.  They can recognize good deals and see where possible deals may exist vs shooting in the dark.  Let me say a good investor friendly agent can use a sniper rifle instead of a shotgun.

The shotgun approach is for marketing, not contract writing.

When I work with rehabbers, I do not demand an exclusive buyer agency agreement.  That would be selfish of me.  I have them sign an agreement that states any property I present they will work with me on.  There is no way one agent can know all of the off market deals in an area or even have insight into all behind the scene situations of every listed seller.   I understand and expect that other agents will know more about a specific house or situation once in a while, just as I may have more insight than them another time.

Does this present a possibility that they will take advantage of me and work a deal behind my back?  Yes, but then they are not the kind of investor I want to work with.  I believe I bring value to table and, really, in any market are there more people who want to flip properties or investor friendly agents?  If someone has a business model or ethics I don't like, I will let them go and know that there are many more investors out there.

But if we have an open and honest relationship, good things happen.  I get a fair amount of deals.  Someone else gets a few deals,  But in the end,  it is a win-win all around.

I am sending you a PM.  I have a lead for you.

Josh, if you not found an investor friendly agent to work with, send me a PM.  I have a referral for you.

If you don't have an agent, send me a PM and I may have a referral for you