All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Greene

An agent's relationship with you should never end after the home has closed, but I am more concerned that you are saying she said the relationship ended after a contract is signed. The agent should be helping you with inspection and the entire process until closed. There should be no certificate of occupancy issues pending after closing. In NJ, the CO must be obtained by the seller prior to closing.

Also, it is unlikely that a brokerage would be ok with an agent soliciting business as pay-per-play scenario as a consultant when many of the things they are consulting on are included in being a good agent and developing a lifelong relationship with you, the client. Good agents never ask you for more money for anything, they get paid via commission. Finding you a good handyman or plumber is setting themselves up to be your contact for the future so that when you are ready to sell, they are still there for you. Any agent who tells you the relationship ends at closing won't be an agent by next year.

Their coaches are trained to hold you accountable in any market and the general strategies won't change much between the U.S. and Canada and really anywhere. I would give him a chance and not worry about where he is, what his background is, and how much he has sold because as long as he can get you moving ahead on your own, you won't care about any of that later. If you find it's not working out, they will definitely reassign you. Think about NBA coaches who never played. They can still be great coaches although many would think they couldn't.

I think for real estate agents coaching can be helpful to springboard your business, but for investing it's very market-specific and personality-driven. I'm not saying REI coaching won't help, but the truth is that you can find most of what you need in these forums or by networking with local investors. All of us at one time tagged along with someone else and learned a ton that way. Most coaching systems are built for general theory and computation and REI is all about knowing your market inside and out and having the connections in it to find deals and close them. If you do need accountability you could find some newer local investors and hold each other accountable. But just like Russell above, I personally know Brentin and he is a very good guy who you could learn from. I'm just not an advocate of REI coaching as a systematic approach.

I agree 100% with @Russell Brazil. Any seller who gives you a 30-day sale window and knows you aren't even in the area is just wasting your time and his or hers. Also, any seller who has completed a flip and does not want to sell on the MLS is nuts. They will make WAY less off-market when a property is done. That is the exact time you go on-market. Not much of this makes sense. I would send a termination and wash your hands of it. This is NOT the type of first listing you want. Your best bet would be to convince him to use a local agent and send it to that agent to run and take a 25% referral.

In my experience, the only way to "prove" to an appraiser that they came in too low is to provide comps that support the value you think it's worth. If you have a friend who is an agent they may be able to find comps that support your anticipated value. Appraisers run a pretty strict formula so you need to show how they missed something or like Tim said above, find the value add that they missed in their appraisal.

@Mark F. awesome. I will keep this linked and start to organize another one. My meetups are a little different. They are really only for investors but may be sponsored by one or two providers. I've gone to a lot of meetups where it's half providers or lenders or etc. and I like to connect direct with investors and take out all the "use me as your agent" or "I can provide X on hard money" so that investors can see where the deals are working and so new investors can learn and network safely. Those may be great events, too though. The more, the better.

I have arranged meetups in the past and would be happy to do so again in Essex County to pull from Essex, Bergen, Union, Passaic, and Morris Co. investors. I agree with many posts above that there are substantial deals in Orange and East Orange for multi-options, but they aren't easy deals. Multis in Northern NJ are getting TONS of bids as so many people are looking to house hack so on-market options end up pushing prices too high a lot of the time. The most important thing in Northern NJ for multi investment, regardless of the town, is public transportation. If you want to increase your options for renters, you can do well by being as close to the train as possible. In towns like Bloomfield, near Watsessing is great, but prices have gotten high. I can work on a new meetup for November if people are interested.

I don't love the property management options in the area and I live here. I would not start using a company for just one multi. I would find someone local who is involved in real estate or management who wants a side job. Sometimes there are wholesalers who are VERY good with tenants who can manage one property for you and maybe more. Companies will charge you more and give your tenants less based on my experience in this area. Until I have several properties in one area, I wouldn't consider using a company because you will serve your tenants better with one person who will be available but of course that person must be reliable.

@Ashley Shearer - if you want to buy many more houses in the next couple of years, you will need to become responsible for finding your deals. You will never develop a strong investment profile by having agents find you properties. When I was still active as an agent, I had my own off-market source that I could dole out, but now as an investor, I use my own sources and operate 90 percent off-market. On-market I work direct with the REO agents as you will have a much better chance of winning when you give them the buy side on their REO listing.

In short, just tell the agent the truth. If all they are doing is sending you MLS deals, they aren't doing anything that someone else can't do. However, you will need a go-to agent to get you into MLS properties, but I would start developing your own off-market strategy via mailers and driving for dollars and building lists.

@Jasmine Williams - as @Jack Bobeck said, there is no such thing as a successful part-time real estate agent with another job. Ask yourself this: do you want to put the biggest transaction of your life into the hands of someone who has another "real" job? The answer is always no and even your friends and sphere of influence will neglect to choose you because part-time in the field is part-time in the brain. Would you hire a part-time plumber for the same price as someone who does it all day, every day? No.

The problem is that you are spending money on marketing and possibly leads and you don't even the time to put into the career. Too many people get into real estate as an agent because they think it works part-time because you don't have to be in an office or comply with office attendance, etc. since you are an independent contractor, but that is false and how the industry makes most of its money.

I would choose in or out. When you choose in and go in and hold yourself accountable, you really can't fail if you first exhaust your sphere as a full-time agent. You can't expect part-time success at anything.