As a real estate agent, working with investors can be challenging — there’s no doubt about that. Rather than trying to find the home of their dreams, they’re looking at properties in a completely different way. They also have vastly different expectations of the agents with whom they work. However, working with investors can provide many benefits to the realtor, if you have the right tools and are equipped to handle their needs.
If you’re a real estate agent looking to make a positive turn in their career, it can be useful to learn what investors expect, and develop the skills you’ll need to close the deal. Read a complete realtor’s guide to working with real estate investors, and learn how you can turn frustration into real estate profit and success!
Working with Real Estate Investors
For a realtor, working with real estate investors is largely a factor of learning what they want and how to give it to them. An investor has a different goal than a traditional home shopper. They want very different and very specific things out of the properties they buy. A little bit of knowledge can go a long way in developing the tools you need to make these highly profitable deals happen.
The 80/20 Rule
There’s an old rule that states 80 percent of affects in any given endeavor come from 20 percent of the potential causes. For example, 80 percent of the disturbances on your street may be caused by 20 percent of the people who live near you. The same goes for real estate: 20 percent of your clients can be responsible for a solid 80 percent of your income, if that 20 percent are investors.
The Benefits of Working with Investors
There are over 28 million investors across the U.S. A full 7 million of these proclaim themselves active and are going to actively buy within the next year. These investors buy a lot of properties, and having just a few in your client list can net you huge profits.
They allow you to create a system for your business. They know the process and they know the percentage you’ll take. They’re experienced, and they can be outstanding referrals for new and repeat business. Finally, they can give you free investment advice to build your own portfolio!
What to Know
Every real estate investor has a niche in which they work. This is a specific type of investment property on which they focus to make their money. It could be a flip-and-sell operation, a wholesale operation, buy-and-hold or another niche. Understanding this niche is essential to your success.
Questions to Ask
It’s vital to ask the right questions to know what your investor wants and how to work with them. The more experience and background they have, the better off you’ll be. Find out what their endgame is. What are they looking to get out of each deal? That will help you strategize properties.
Ask about their financing and strategies, the kinds of properties they want to buy, how much they want to spend and what their preferred neighborhoods are. Get to know their team, or at least who their contractors, lenders, property managers, insurance agents, attorneys and the like are. Finally, ask exactly what they want from you as an agent.
A little knowledge goes a long way. If you’d like more information about property management services and real estate investments, check out our website and get in touch with us today!