All Forum Posts by: RJ Reynolds

another company/website that wants me to pay them to give me leads.. other than that I don't know very much about them (yet) so I'm going to follow along here to see what others have to say

Haven't heard of it.. and I'm here in Mass so I want to follow this post.

Are you looking for a certificate program or have you heard that one is required or recommended?

I'll ask around.

RJ

I am a Real Estate Agent however, I do not typically handle rental properties.  My perspective on this question/discussion is as a tenant. 

You might find it odd that a Real Estate Agent doesn't own her home, that's a story for another day.  Suffice to say that when my family and I moved to Newton in September of 2013 our biggest issue was finding a landlord that would agree to even consider renting to a family that has two dogs, a cat and a very large bird not to mention two teenagers!

It got to the point where I actually considered becoming one of those people who gives up their pet in order to find appropriate housing.  Instead I ended up paying very high rent for a house in not the best location (safe, just not fun being near a businesses delivery door). 

What I would very much like to have a serious discussion about is the specific reasons why a landlord will not rent to pets and what (if anything) might change your mind?

Real Estate Agents are trained to handle all types of objections in seminars, webinars, trainings, mentorships etc and in all of the objection handling training I've received, none has ever been about trying to handle the pet objection of landlords.  

The ones I can think of are: 

• allergies (other tenants might be allergic)
• noise (my bird is the noisy one in our household)
• property damage (yes, the little dog who is from California, pees in the house sometimes..ugh)
• Fear (my big dog is 110 pound black lab) of Dogs/Cats/Animals
• Fear of lawsuits if the animal hurts someone else

I'd like to discuss what can be done to alleviate these and any other objections as much as possible.  

You might ask why allow pets.. and that's a good question we can discuss as well. 

This is a fantastic thread to see a process from dingy (okay, beyond dingy) to dazzling.  Thanks for sharing!

RJ

That's fantastic William! (can we call you Bill?) 

As a Real Estate Agent, a large part of building my portfolio of listings is to talk to complete strangers and that is one of many things that held me back at times. I completely relate!  It is so very true that the best way to really make a difference for yourself and others and get those opportunities is to be of service to others, help solve their problems.  Congratulations on really stepping up and into that magical place of collaboration.   I hope to follow your stellar example.

Take Care, thanks for sharing

RJ

Hello Bill and other Boston area Investors. I too am new here although not the youngster Bill apparently is and I too did a stint at Boston University although the result was not quite so stellar but that was over three decades ago and I've learned a lot since then.

I am thrilled to have found this forum as I begin to develop my Investor muscle. I'm also a Real Estate Agent. Until now I've not worked with Investors a great deal and I want to change that so anything I can do to help.. give a shout out.

RJ Reynolds

Walt, As a agent becoming an investor I'm very interested in the reasoning behind the "don't do it" advice.  Is that across the board, never work with a seller who has a listing agent or is it that some agents make getting the deal more difficult?  

As a Real Estate Agent & REALTOR, I too am coming up with these questions as I begin to learn how to Invest for myself. I will be discussing the options with my Broker as well as the very helpful people at GBAR/NAR.

I believe it is required that we a) reveal our status as licensed agents and b) identify the brokerage we are currently working with.  Here in MA we also have an agency disclosure form that must be filled out and signed although if someone doesn't want to sign, that's okay, there's a check box for that. I have to keep these forms on file for each person I talk real estate with.

We have 'Buyer Agency' 'Seller Agency' and 'Facilitator'.  The questions arise when I approach home owners while wearing my "investor" hat, what is required and what is most ethical.  Disclosure is probably the most important thing.