Getting Realtors to Work For You Bringing You Even More Sellers and Buyers For Your Real Estate Investing Business

Whether you are a serious investor or you’re just getting started in the real estate investing business, you need to have at least one Realtor on your “dream team”. There are many ways a Realtor can help you in your business, both on the buying and the selling side and they can play an integral role in building your business.

One of the questions I get a lot is “how do I find a Realtor to work with?” There are many ways to do this. You can find one by asking other investors who they use. They may or may not want to share this information with you. You can also go to your local real estate club. There are always Realtor/Investors at those meetings. Another way to find a Realtor to work with is to check with the Board of Realtors and find Realtors who specialize in investor properties. This type of Realtor may also work with bank owned properties which can also net you some really great deals, especially in today’s market where there are so many foreclosures and motivated sellers.

You need to find a Realtor who is going to do a good job for you. Make sure the Realtor you pick is at least a broker-salesman. These types of Realtors have usually been in the business for a long time and have a lot of experience in dealing with all kinds of properties and situations. You also want to work with a Realtor who is motivated to bring you deals and buyers.

Once you find a really experienced Realtor, they will know how to find deals for you and how to sell houses no matter what market cycle you are experiencing where you live. You also need to find out whether the Realtor works for a big company or if they have decision making power when it comes to negotiations. If you are in the “heat” of negotiations on a deal and each party is working hard toward making the deal work, you need to make sure your Realtor can make a negotiating decision such as adjusting commission without having to stop to contact their broker or office manager for approval. Just this one difference can make or break a deal for you.

There are several services your Realtor should be providing for you. Your Realtor should be helping you acquire leads by supplying you with current MLS listings with key words in them such as “motivated seller”, “handyman special”, “needs TLC”, “bring offers”, “possible owner financing”, “estate” and other phrases that will tell you the seller is motivated to make a quick sale. These are very good leads for you to follow up and make offers on. You also need to make sure that your Realtor is willing to act on these leads for you immediately. My Realtor also sends me specific MLS listings daily based on specific parameters I have supplied for him. I look through these listings on a daily basis to find properties I might be interested in making offers on. This is just one of many marketing tools I use in my real estate investing business to find new leads and deals.

 Your dream team Realtor should also be supplying you with very old MLS listings. This will indicate to you that these properties have been on the market for a very long time for a variety of reasons. Maybe the home needs rehab and the seller doesn’t have the money to do it. Or the seller is very restrictive as to when the house can be shown. In any case, these listings can provide you with many good leads since usually these sellers are tired of having people trounce through their home week after week and may be even more motivated to sell.

Another service my Realtor provides for me is supplying me with expired listings. You will need to make an agreement with your Realtor as to how much you will be willing to pay if you close on one of these deals. Just make sure the payment is above board and goes through their office.  In my Marketing Magic System, I have an entire direct mail campaign targeting expired listings and I have bought many houses using this technique. Since the Realtor I use also sells some houses for me, it is advantageous to him to make sure I buy houses. This is just another avenue to bring in more leads and buyers for my business.

Another way I get my Realtor to do the work for me is by calling him whenever I see a Realtor sign in the yard of a property I might be interested in purchasing. He then provides me with the MLS listing and all the information on the property that he has available to him.

Another type of property my Realtor will bring to me is a seller who is unable to list their home. It may be too close to a pre-foreclosure date or maybe there is no equity and the seller can’t afford to write a check for Realtor commissions. My Realtor will bring this seller to me because he knows I can probably help this person even though he can’t.

Sometimes a seller will contact me and I can tell from our conversation that they are not terribly motivated to sell their home to me. They simply want to sell as opposed to needing to sell their property. This is a seller who would like to sell their home for full retail, and usually they are not in a big hurry to sell their property.  In these cases, I will refer these sellers to my Realtor. If he gets the listing and sells that person’s home, he gets a commission so it’s a win-win all the way around. You see, building an ongoing relationship that is win-win for you and your Realtor is a great way to build your business.

If you are interested in buying and selling commercial properties, make sure you find a Realtor who specializes in these types of properties. Once you do, they can be an invaluable source for you of really great leads for these types of properties.  I always make sure I am working with a Realtor who has been in the business in my local area for a long time so they are familiar with the market and property values. If you are lucky enough to find a Realtor who is bi-lingual, this can be a real asset to you in your business since there are a lot of Spanish speaking sellers as well.

I also use my Realtor’s expertise sometimes to help with comparables and valuations of properties when I am not sure about values on a property that is in a remote area or is unusual in some way. I can also trust him not to try to steal the deal from me and I know he will give me good information on the property’s value and marketability.

I also use Realtors to sell houses for me. There are two reasons for this. One is that it is very convenient for me to have my Realtor do all the work and I know my property will be handled in a professional manner since I took the time to “train” my Realtors on the way I want things done. Since my main Realtor is also an investor, he is very creative in the ways that he markets properties.  This is just another way we automate systems in our business, just like I would want you to do.  

There are also times when I will have a home in my portfolio that is unusual in that it’s very large, very expensive or has some other trait that makes the number of potential buyers who will be drawn to the property much smaller. My Realtor has a buyer’s list available that he can draw from and gets our homes sold quickly. In addition, he also has a number of websites he advertises on and he will also do special open houses on these properties in order to get them sold quickly.

You need to take the time to find a motivated Realtor who is going to be a part of your dream team. This person can make a huge difference in the number of deals you buy and sell. My main Realtor has been a part of our dream team for over 10 years now. He has a really good idea about the types of properties I am looking for and together we use a great deal of creativity in the way we buy and sell properties.