Realtors.... Worthless :smx4r Priceless?
Working with realtors can be frustrating. It can seem like you are paying someone a lot of money to do… well… quite frankly – not a whole lot.
Most realtors, when trying to sell your house will: put your houses information on the MLS, put a sign in the yard, give you a cute little letter or video explaining how to dress your house for success, perhaps do an open house (which actually is aimed at getting the realtor more clients – not at selling your house) and put flyers in the box. Then they sit back and wait to see what the market is doing… Where are the buyers and who will bring one for the house?
Let’s face it… you can do most of that. So, why would you pay oogles and oogles of money to have someone else do it? Many people wouldn’t. This is why we see so many people going the FSBO (for sale by owner) route. It is hard to shell out that kind of cash just to get the typical realtor-client relationship.
But…. it doesn’t have to be that way. You can have an entirely different relationship with your realtor. You can have a relationship that MAKES YOU MONEY.
How?
By finding that realtor that does things differently. It is a hunt. It is frustrating at times. But it is not impossible. There are a few realtors out there that *could* redefine the word realtor. I have found a few that fit the bill – and they are accelerating my real estate investment activities.
Here is what I look for in a realtor.
Is he an investor? I want a realtor that actually understands how to evaluate a deal… and the best way to understand a deal is to do them yourself. Some people object to this idea… thinking that the realtor will keep all *good* deals to himself – and not ever pass along any to clients. Not so. The deal of a lifetime comes along once a week.
Does she come from a mentality of scarcity or abundance? I require an abundance mentality of all my team members…. not just my realtor. When someone believes that resources, deals, money, etc. are scarce - they will fight with you – rather than work with you.
Is he well connected in the community? Much of real estate investing is solving a problem and to solve a problem you need to know who will solve it. Does your realtor know the county sanitarian well? Does he know the contractor with the super duper machine that can scale the mountain in a single bound? If he doesn’t – does he know the person who knows the spiderman contractor?
Does she ask the right questions? I want her to know, my long term investment objectives, my area of comfort (do I invest only locally? regionally? nationally?), my method (fixer uppers, apartment buildings via value play, SFR’s, etc.), what stage am I in??? cashflow? capital gains?, my risk tolerance.
Is he building his business based on inventory (“sure – I can search the MLS for you…†) or is he building based on relationships ( “what are your objectives?â€) I want my realtor to understand my objectives first. The inventory is secondary.
A typical realtor can put you into a duplex at or slightly below market value. A priceless realtor can find out your true investment objectives and put you into the property that will get you there more quickly.
A typical realtor can (maybe) sell your house for you. A priceless realtor can move you from a negative cashflowing SFR portfolio to a larger cashflowing commercial property.
Working with realtors can be frustrating. It can seem like you are paying someone a lot of money to do… well… quite frankly – not a whole lot.
Most realtors, when trying to sell your house will: put your houses information on the MLS, put a sign in the yard, give you a cute little letter or video explaining how to dress your house for success, perhaps do an open house (which actually is aimed at getting the realtor more clients – not at selling your house) and put flyers in the box. Then they sit back and wait to see what the market is doing… Where are the buyers and who will bring one for the house?
Let’s face it… you can do most of that. So, why would you pay oogles and oogles of money to have someone else do it? Many people wouldn’t. This is why we see so many people going the FSBO (for sale by owner) route. It is hard to shell out that kind of cash just to get the typical realtor-client relationship.
But…. it doesn’t have to be that way. You can have an entirely different relationship with your realtor. You can have a relationship that MAKES YOU MONEY.
How?
By finding that realtor that does things differently. It is a hunt. It is frustrating at times. But it is not impossible. There are a few realtors out there that *could* redefine the word realtor. I have found a few that fit the bill – and they are accelerating my real estate investment activities.
Here is what I look for in a realtor.
Is he an investor? I want a realtor that actually understands how to evaluate a deal… and the best way to understand a deal is to do them yourself. Some people object to this idea… thinking that the realtor will keep all *good* deals to himself – and not ever pass along any to clients. Not so. The deal of a lifetime comes along once a week.
Does she come from a mentality of scarcity or abundance? I require an abundance mentality of all my team members…. not just my realtor. When someone believes that resources, deals, money, etc. are scarce - they will fight with you – rather than work with you.
Is he well connected in the community? Much of real estate investing is solving a problem and to solve a problem you need to know who will solve it. Does your realtor know the county sanitarian well? Does he know the contractor with the super duper machine that can scale the mountain in a single bound? If he doesn’t – does he know the person who knows the spiderman contractor?
Does she ask the right questions? I want her to know, my long term investment objectives, my area of comfort (do I invest only locally? regionally? nationally?), my method (fixer uppers, apartment buildings via value play, SFR’s, etc.), what stage am I in??? cashflow? capital gains?, my risk tolerance.
Is he building his business based on inventory (“sure – I can search the MLS for you…†) or is he building based on relationships ( “what are your objectives?â€) I want my realtor to understand my objectives first. The inventory is secondary.
A typical realtor can put you into a duplex at or slightly below market value. A priceless realtor can find out your true investment objectives and put you into the property that will get you there more quickly.
A typical realtor can (maybe) sell your house for you. A priceless realtor can move you from a negative cashflowing SFR portfolio to a larger cashflowing commercial property.
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