Team - Realtor

Having a Realtor on your team is pretty well mandatory for RE investors. This person is usually an expert in the retail side of buying and selling residential or commercial properties. 

Ideally you will attract a realtor who understands you and your needs. Their personality and yours must be compatible at least in the business sense. If you can be their friend, so much the better.

Here's what they will do for you (if you ask):

• send you listings of properties for sale
• supply Comparitive Market Analysis's (CMA) for properties you have for sale
• after you get to know them, they may give you early leads on properties coming up for sale
• handle most aspects of the buy and/or sell transaction for your properties
• provide expert guidance on preparing your property for sale, pricing it and marketing it

Realtors are trained to take care of all the details, technicalities, legalities of buying/selling properties. They take on a large amount of responsibility for correctness, legalness (sp?) and dealing with wacky people. 

A few realtors understand RE investing and I recommend you deal with them only. Keep searching until you find a good one. Do NOT get loyal to a realtor unless they prove their talent to you. 

Make sure your realtor gets paid well for the work they do. They deserve it. Ask your realtor if they offer incentives for pointing business their way. Mine offers home-made cookies.

Some transactions do not require their help (you find the deal, you negotiate, you deal with the other party yourself) AND you will need a realtor's help even on you own deals for their market expertise.

Ask other investors to recommend a realtor then interview them. Let them interview you too.

Real Estate Investors Clubs

A great place to learn the craft of RE Investing is at an RE Investors Club. 


These entities live in most cities in North America (do a google search, these guys are everywhere!).


Many clubs are started by folks who believe that networking is the best way to keep their investing moving ahead AND they know that having like-minded people in their lives is the way to success.


I've participated at three clubs. All of 'em had education and networking as primary focus. Attracting folks to interesting RE investments was a secondary focus in two of them. They were all worth participating in because: the folks who showed up were great people, the education was always good and sometimes great, the folks who ran the club were VERY helpful.


Usually the clubs have a monthly meeting (entrance fee) with a speaker (or speakers) who provide the education, a networking piece and many opportunities to meet other investors and share interests. There was also some form of email newsletter, and maybe cookies and coffee.


Here's the best way to get value from these clubs, in my opinion: 

• Show up a bit early and chat with someone you've never met
• Pay for the VIP membership and take advantage of it
• Hang around after the meeting and chat with someone you've never met
• Arrange to speak with the speaker(s) and by them coffee/lunch and see what you can learn from them
• If you are creating a team, ask everyone you meet for referrals (contractor, lawyer, accountant, realtor, etc)
• Go to the mid-month breakfast meeting (if there is one) and learn as much as you can there
• Collect business cards from everyone and put them in your contact database (give 'em a category so you can find 'em later)
• If there's an announcement section to the meeting Announce Something every time! Active RE investors are always looking for something or someone. When you stand up and tell everyone your name and what you're looking for, you get extra points for participation and people start remembering you.

What if you don't have access to an RE investor club? START ONE! It's easy. Open the yellow pages and start cold-calling mortgage brokers, RE lawyers, handymen, accountants, realtors, etc. Tell 'em you're starting an education and networking RE investor club and the first meeting is on this date at this location at this time and do they know anyone who'd be interested in attending that you could call or that they could pass the word to. After 20 calls you'll have your spiel down and be having great conversations with interesting people who've been wondering when someone was going to start a club. IT WORKS! I did it in 2005 and my club is still going strong in 2012.


Gord
www.victoriarei.com