How To Work With Realtors: Advice For A Lucrative Partnership
By Paul Esajian on February 9, 2015
A quality real estate agent can be one of the most important members of your investing team. That being said; you have to treat them as a professional. They are an important part of your team that needs to be taken care of. Unfortunately, too many investors think that their realtor works exclusively on their behalf, which is unrealistic to say the least. The second you place your needs ahead of theirs, the more likely they are to distance themselves from you. At the very least, they will not work as hard as they can to find you the deals you want. On the other hand, if you treat your realtor as a valuable member of the team, you can have a long, profitable relationship.
There is perhaps one thing that realtors hate the most about working with real estate investors: requests for new listings. Your realtor is not a miracle worker and cannot produce listings that aren’t there. If there is something that fits your criteria, they will reach out to you. All you are doing by calling them multiple times every day is eating into their valuable time. Remember, they are working with others too. If you are clear about what you want out of a property and ask to be updated as soon as something hits the market, it is in your realtor’s best interest to contact you. They want to close a deal as much as you do. There is no need to be annoying and call them every day.
Every investor wants to get the best possible deal, but you have to know where to pick your spots. If you come in 30% below asking price on every offer, all you are doing is wasting the realtor’s time, and probably burning a contact. Every offer you make should be done with the market and comparable sales in mind. As long as you can justify your offers with repair costs or time on the market, your realtor can feel confident. If you are just throwing numbers out to see if you can steal a property, odds are you won’t. Soon enough your offers will do nothing more than insult the realtor that found the deal. You need to give them a reason to want to work with you. The days of making low ball offers on distressed properties are over. Banks have been clearing their portfolios for years. While there are still discounts to be had, they are far from the numbers we saw five years ago. Trying to get a deal is fine, but you can’t do it on every offer.
To get the most out of your realtor, you need to pull your share of the load. Before you ask your realtor to see a property, you should do a little homework on the location, style and price. Nothing will make a realtor more upset than driving to show you a property that they know you have no interest in buying. There are many good property valuation websites that can give you a really good idea of the property, without actually seeing it. If you have genuine interest in the property after you do some due diligence, your realtor should make time to show it to you. This doesn’t mean you have to make an offer on every house you see, but you should have some idea of what you are getting into before you pull up to the property.
As an investor, you need to be ready to act as soon as your offer is accepted. Whether you are paying with cash or lender financing, time is of the essence. If your realtor spends a few days and gets your offer pushed through, they expect you to act quickly. If they can’t find you for a few days or you do not have everything in order, it jeopardizes the deal and subsequently your relationship. Your realtor may have relationships that they may stake on a seller accepting your offer and need you to close as quickly as possible. This means being available to sign any documents and get financing in place. Your realtor shouldn’t have to wait a day or two for you to get something back. If you really want them to work for you, it is important that you work for them when your offer is accepted.
Pulling comparable sales or listings is something that most realtors don’t like to do, but it is part of their job. If you have interest in a property and ask to run some comps, you need to know that they are doing you a favor. You cannot expect them to drop everything and do something for you immediately. You also need exhibit some patience and resist the urge to call or email throughout the day. If you ask for something at 10:00 and don’t get an answer by noon, you should try to find it yourself. Yes, your realtor essentially works for you, but that doesn’t mean you should call them multiple times throughout the day on tasks that aren’t time sensitive.
Once you start thinking of them as a teammate, you will start to see a better, more productive relationship. There are certain tasks that a realtor knows and can do better than you, but you should do as much of your own due diligence as possible. It may take a deal or two to gain trust and develop a track record, but once you do, a great realtor can truly help grow your business.