investing

Rehab Advice For Those Who Flip Houses

Rehab

What to rehab, how much and how far do you go?

Knowing what to rehab, how much you spend and how far you go with it is a moving target. Always keep in mind that you are not living here, tenants are. You need to rehab according to the market that your rental property is in. This means the socio-economic market. You don’t put $50/yard carpet in a rental that is located in an upper low end neighborhood. Likewise you don’t put indoor/outdoor carpet in the living room either. This is a skill you will develop over time. My intention here is to help you shorten the learning curve and avoid as much expense as possible.

So let’s go over the basics. First we’ll discuss carpet since we mentioned it above. In these rentals use a good brand name like Shaw carpet. Get a very neutral color like Candy Truffle. I call it the color of dirt. And it looks nice! Get the lowest grade or weight. Then put a middle grade pad underneath. This is one of the secrets. A better pad will help the carpet last longer. The color will hide a lot of crud. It is appealing to the eye. It is a 10-year warranty carpet and is a standard in the rental business. I think Shaw carpet owes me some love. What do you think?

When it comes to painting, always use a good paint at least as good as Behr. Stick with one color for the wall surfaces like off-white satin and one color for all the trim like white semi-gloss. I like the two tone look and I always use semi-gloss on trim. Use can use flat on ceilings and even walls if you’d like. The challenge with flat paint on walls is that it doesn’t clean well and you have to repaint more often. You can also use a more appealing very light neutral color on the walls other than off-white. The two tone look is very appealing and it really doesn’t cost that much more. Hiring a pro to do the painting is a must. They’re better and faster than you and I, and your time is much more valuable than theirs and you will use that time to find more deals.

When it comes to plumbing fixtures don’t make the mistake everyone else makes when they first start out, and that is buying cheap plumbing fixtures. If you pay $29 for a kitchen faucet you will get what you paid for — CRAP. There’s an old saying in plumbing, “If it ain’t heavy, it ain’t good.” If you buy a plumbing fixture and it is loaded with plastic it will be a waste of your time and money. I like American Standard products. The product you and I get off the shelf at the Home Depot is the same one the plumbers get at the plumbing supply house. This is not true of other manufacturers. Also, the American Standard warranty is like gold. No fuss no muss. If you have a problem they take care of it. You won’t have a problem though. Their products stand up to a lot of use and abuse. I think American Standard owes me some lovin too!

Don’t go cheap on windows. For rentals I use American Craftsman. They are good, double hung, double pane, and all vinyl clad windows with a good long and solid warranty. If you get the cheapies you will be wasting your time and money.

My favorite subject is contractors. OK, it’s not my favorite subject. This is one of the worst parts of this whole business. It’s hard to find good contractors and they don’t last forever. I have had contractors I’ve known for years turn bad on me. At the first sign of trouble like with women, trucks, alcohol, drugs, money or health they seem to disappear into the dark side quite rapidly. Not all of them do these but an alarmingly large percentage relative to society seem to. I have friends who are contractors. I love them like brothers. But when %@#$ happens I have to cut them off. They can harm you as much as they can help you. Always remember this: When you are hiring contractors, even if you have solid referrals on them you must do a background check just like you do with tenants. Always make sure they are insured and bonded. Ask for these credentials. If they screw something up and they are not insured, the liability will fall directly to you as the owner of the property. This is not something you take a short-cut on. Period!

I had a pair of contractors working with me for years. They became friends of mine. They were twin brothers and worked well together. One was the straight man and one was the booze swigging, whore mongering derelict who I don’t even think had a valid driver’s license. They were some of the first guys I ever hired. I hired the straight man and he later brought in his brother. I still should have checked him out. What I discovered after years of good work was a little bit of fraud. Nothing major but I decided not to take any chances. I caught them cheating on supplies. They would buy more than enough supplies and charge me for it… then return the excess to Home Depot after job was completed. It may not sound like a big deal especially since we are only talking about a few measly dollars and cents. However, my knowledge of human nature, and the propensity of people to keep taking when they get away with a little bit, dictated that I act and act swiftly to send a message to everybody else working for me. I had another guy try this prior to this occurrence. He was dumb enough to turn in a receipt for some lumber that he already charged me for. He didn’t turn in the receipt before and thought he could use it on this next job. The problem was that he had 4 X 4 pressure treated lumber on there to the tune of $400 and this current job was an inside kitchen job requiring no pressure treated lumber. What an idiot. He must have assumed I didn’t check receipts. I did. I have friends who have been ripped off by their own family in business. One such situation involved over $100,000! You can never be too sure. Embezzlement and employee theft is a huge problem in business. My parents owned a business before they retired and they had an accounting category just for theft. And it was about 10% of business. That is ridiculous. But it is real. You need to have systems to track your income and your expense. Expenses will already eat you alive if you’re not careful. Throw loss due to theft on top of that and it’s no wonder so many people go out of business.

You can find good contractors. They are out there. Always ask for references. Look at other work they have done. Ask their prior customers how the contractor was when it came to keeping to the schedule and the budget and how well they communicated. Start new guys off small before you give them big jobs. Look at their appearance. Do they look like they are living the clean life or do they look like hell? Who do you want to give the keys to your property to?

Whenever you are involved in a big job – more than a few thousand dollars — don’t pay all at once. Give the contractor a little supply of money up front. Then give them a little more when they have the basic work done. Then give them another payment when they are near completion. Hold on to the last payment until the job is complete to your satisfaction. No excuses here. If you go to the final walk through and the contractor says, “Oh, I’ll come back tomorrow and finish that little bit myself,” do not give him the last of the agreed upon payment. If he is good to his word, he’ll finish completely and then you can pay him the rest. A lot of investors fall prey to this little gimmick. Even if it is innocent it is still a problem. Don’t do it!

For more information please visit MyInvestmentServices.com, call 1-800-931-2605 or email Gary@WinRealtyAdvisors.com

Written by Gary Wilson, June 30, 2014

How I Did 110 Transactions A Year With NO Assistants…And You Can Too… Get My Case Study Now>> https://www.myinvestmentservices.com/gift

“Guiding You to Massive New Wealth in Real Estate in 1 Year or Less Guaranteed!”

Wholesaling Real Estate the Correct Way – For Investors and Agents Alike

If you are a real estate investor or agent who works with investors then this article was written for you.

Real Estate Wholesaling

How It Works

If you have a short term memory then make sure you implant permanently what I am about to tell you. The way wholesaling works (in fact, the only way it can work) so that everybody wins, is that you, as the wholesaler (Party B) must find your buyers first! That’s right. You first market, advertise, capture and nurture a growing list of people who are interested in finding great real estate deals, whether they be flips or rentals, and have the money but don’t have the time to do it. Then and only then do you go out and find great real estate deals and get them under contract. Nothing could be more damaging to your reputation than getting properties under contract than not being able to sell the contract or follow through on the purchase of the property. Those who teach that it is easy to get out of a contract if you can’t sell it (so it is not something to be overly concerned about), are damaging to the world of investing and wholesaling in particular. This implies a lack of proper execution of the principles and if you have to break a contract then you violate the principle of “Everybody Wins”. In this case the sellers (Party A) lose. And you lose too because you will develop a reputation of someone NOT to deal with. Don’t fall into this trap. Follow the easy, simple processes that I teach you here and you will profit so that everybody wins! All you are doing is filling orders. Part of nurturing your buyer clients is asking them questions, listening to their answers and understanding what types of properties they want. Then you go out and find those properties, get them under contract and sell the contract to your buyer.

How Do I Find Buyers for my Wholesale Deals?

Marketing and Advertising! That’s right. You market yourself as the Go To guy or girl in your area who knows how to sniff out those awesome real estate deals. You can easily market yourself by creating an impressive image on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, and even more social media venues. You should also create your own website. All of this is simple. It may not be easy because it does take time, but it is simple.

You advertise by sending messages through LinkedIn, and posting messages on Facebook, to those who are following you, showing them the deals you have done and promote the one(s) you currently have. You can also use Postlets to advertise your current deals. Furthermore, you can identify, through public records, those who are regularly buying properties in your area. You can send them, through the US mail, your latest deals and entice them to sign up with you as their provider of great real estate deals. Of course you can use Craigslist, Bask Page, bulletin boards in your church or grocery store, and yard signs. Here is a rundown of available advertising mediums:

Craig’s list – Bar none. This is one of the best ways to reach your marketplace. It’s free and has a wide audience. They even have a tutorial for you to learn from.

FB, Twitter, LinkedIn – Use your network(s) in Social Media to get the word out. Be careful how you use social media. There are rules of etiquette you must first learn for each one. The number one taboo is spamming your network. Never abuse the privilege of social media. If you do you will be shunned, un-friended, un-liked, un-connected and unsuccessful!

Church – Churches usually have weekly bulletins in which you can advertise your vacancies. This works well for large congregations but I would use it in small churches as well. Look in your church’s current bulletin and there should be instructions or at least contact information that you can use to get started.

Grocery store – Usually have a bulletin board where you can pin a flyer with tear off phone number tabs. You need to check this regularly. Sometimes they disappear. Sometimes other people will post their notice right over top of yours. If you’re really lucky all of your number tabs will be gone!

Restaurants – They often will let you put a stack of flyers or business cards near the checkout. The next time you’re dining at one of your local favorite restaurants speak to the owner or manager. Someone with the authority to act is always on duty at a restaurant. Please note that there are some other great marketing and advertising opportunities here. For example, ask the proprietor if he/she will offer a discount or free meal coupon (get several) for you to use as a reward to give to your good tenants who refer other good tenants to you. Use your imagination!

Local publications – Penny Saver, Green sheet, they’re in every community and are very inexpensive. Unlike large publications like your big city paper, I have had a lot of success with these types of publications. Call and ask for their rules and regulations. Learn the rules of their advertising game and you will master the game. Some ads you will place for one to two weeks. Some you will place for a year. You will also learn where in the publication to place your ads, how big, how small, special features, etc. Hint – Any time you can have your ad placed in a box you will get better results!

Pick up a copy of the e-Book “Wholesaling So Every Body Wins”. Available at MyInvestmentServices.com.

For More information please visit MyInvestmentServices.com, call 1-800-931-2605 or email Gary@WinRealtyAdvisors.com

Written by Gary Wilson, June 23, 2014

How I Did 110 Transactions A Year With NO Assistants…And You Can Too… Get My Case Study Now>> https://www.myinvestmentservices.com/gift

“Guiding You to Massive New Wealth in Real Estate in 1 Year or Less Guaranteed!”

Interested in apartment buildings?

The following is a description of the different classifications of residential multi-unit properties. If you service investors or are interested yourself in these types of properties then this article is for you.

Common Classifications of Residential Investment Properties

1. Garden

2. Mid-Rise

3. High-Rise

4. Others

Garden Apartments

Located in suburban or rural areas where land is less expensive, garden apartments are generally one- and two-story properties, consisting of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. Most units can be accessed from the outside of the property, using an exterior stairway to gain access to the second-story apartments. Rarely do garden apartments have elevators. Most units have individual utility meters and individual air-conditioning units. Garden apartments rarely have more than 25 units per acre and have extensive landscaping and parking. The property usually has a central laundry facility and might have one or more swimming pools

Mid-Rise Apartments

Located in the suburbs and on the edge of urban areas, mid-rise properties generally run from four to nine stories, consisting of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units. Most units are accessed from a central hallway, which might be serviced by an elevator. Although the units have individual utility meters, the building might have central air conditioning. These properties often have parking structures, a central lobby area, and recreation facilities—often including a swimming pool, tennis courts, or an exercise room.

High-Rise Apartments

In the major urban areas, where land is scarce and expensive, high-rise properties are built, sometimes to a height of 30 or more stories. They contain a high density of units for the amount of land they occupy. Studios, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units all have access from the central hallway, which is serviced by an elevator.

Located in urban neighborhoods, these properties often take advantage of city skyline views and offer their tenants proximity to employment, security, recreation, and other amenities.

Other Types of Residential Properties

There are many other types of residential properties, including single family, duplexes, triplexes, and four units. These properties do not have professional management, often being managed directly by the owner of the property, who might own several of these small properties.

Lender Classifications of Apartment Buildings

Lender Ratings of Residential Investment Properties

1. Class A: Newer, Institutional Grade

2. Class B: Older, Institutional Grade

3. Class C: Older, Declining Area

4. Class D: Older, Declining Area

Lenders have developed general classifications of apartment buildings so they can communicate among themselves and other members of the industry with some level of uniformity. The classifications are Class A, Class B, Class C, and Class D.

IREM®

The Institute of Real Estate Management of the National Association of Realtors (IREM) prints an annual publication titled Income/Expense Analysis: Conventional Apartments. For this publication, IREM® gathers actual income and expense records of apartment owners throughout the country and then prints summary information that is used by property managers and owners to measure the financial results of their properties against the financial experience of similar properties. Information about IREM® can be found at www.irem.org.

IREM® has many valuable publications regarding residential real estate management. IREM® groups multifamily properties into four categories, primarily based on the construction of the properties: Garden style, Low Rise, Low Rise–25 units and more, and Elevator.

For more information please visit MyInvestmentServices.com, call 1-800-931-2605 or email Gary@WinRealtyAdvisors.com

Written by Gary Wilson, June 20, 2014 (Content in this article may be from outside sources including Real Estate Continuing Education)

How I Did 110 Transactions A Year With NO Assistants…And You Can Too… Get My Case Study Now>> https://www.myinvestmentservices.com/gift

“Guiding You to Massive New Wealth in Real Estate in 1 Year or Less Guaranteed!”

How do successful real estate agents promote themselves to investors?

Marketing

How do you market yourself as an Investor Agent?

Join Local Investor Clubs – I have belonged to multiple investor clubs. I highly recommend REIA (Real Estate Investor Association) clubs. There are some with hundreds and thousands of members. Every time I go to a meeting I get multiple deals – listings, buyers and property management. Warning: don’t join unless you are an investor or you have gone through our training. If you don’t walk the talk they will simply ignore you or worse.

Write Articles – I have written articles for several years now – at least three times a week. This really helps you establish credibility. The investor clubs will reward you also. They will publish these articles in their newsletters!

Create a Monthly Community Workshop – This is one of my favorites. I started in a local library with maybe a handful of people. The word spread and I grew to 12, 24, 48 then 70+ and the library said I had to go! Then I went to a hotel and grew to over two hundred people. Even when I had only a small group in the beginning I got a deal out of every single meeting. When it grew to over two hundred people I always had a line 20+ deep waiting to talk to me at the end of the session. I always got multiple deals out of these events. Amazing!

Write a Monthly Newsletter – OK I have to admit I started and stopped this multiple times. It is time consuming. However, when structured and titled properly it does bring in business. BIG HINTS: Don’t call it “John’s newsletter”. No one will open it and the pros will make fun of you. Call it something relevant like Jacksonville Investors Press. Also, don’t just put real estate related info in there. Include information on other subjects like local events, personal development, health, money, cars, children, shopping – you get the picture. Make it interesting. It is work and it does work.

Here is a rundown of available advertising mediums:

Craig’s List – Bar none, this is one of the best ways to reach your marketplace. It’s free and has a wide audience. They even have a tutorial for you to learn from.

FB, Twitter, LinkedIn – Use your network(s) in Social Media to get the word out. Be careful how you use social media. There are rules of etiquette that you must first learn for each one. The number one taboo is spamming your network. Never abuse the privilege of social media. If you do you will be shunned, un-friended, un-liked, un-connected and unsuccessful!

Restaurants – They often will let you put a stack of flyers of business cards near the check out. The next time you’re dining at one of your local favorite restaurants speak to the owner or manager. Someone with the authority to act is always on duty at a restaurant. Please note that there are some other great marketing and advertising opportunities here. For example, ask the proprietor if he/she will offer a discount or free meal coupon (get several) for you to use as a reward to give to your good tenants who refer other good tenants to you. Use your imagination!

Local publications – Penny Saver, Green sheet, they’re in every community and are very inexpensive. Unlike the large publications like your big city paper, I have had a lot of success with these types of publications. Call and ask for their rules and regulations. Learn the rules of their advertising game and you will master the game. Some ads you will place for one to two weeks. Some you will place for a year. You will also learn where in the publication to place your ads, how big, how small, special features, etc. Hint – Any time you can have your ad placed in a box you will get better results!

Direct Mail – By far this brings in the best leads. You can identify your target prospects by accessing local tax records – usually free and online – and locate the owners of multi-unit properties. Then send them something they will see perceived value in. Remember the old saying in advertising “WIIFM” What’s in it for me?

Your Own Website

Blogging

Ad Words

Joint Ventures

Affiliates

YouTube

The possibilities are endless. I believe God wants us to be happy not sad, wealthy not poor, healthy not sick. I believe it is our duty to fulfill the purpose that He has intended for our lives, which is to bring others closer to Him. What better way to do this than to be our highest and best selves, living examples of how joyful life can be when we make the absolute most of the precious gift of life He has given us?

When you own investment real estate you are providing a good service to your fellow man. You are helping yourself by helping others first. And herein lies one of the greatest truths of success and that is that if you help enough other people get what they want then you will get plenty of what you want. You can thank Zig Ziglar for that pearl of wisdom which is actually scriptural in its origin.

There are three basic ways of investing in real estate as a beginner. You can invest in rental properties. Please read Real Estate Investing For Rental Profits And Winning Every Time and Rental Profits Without The Pain for more information on investing in rental properties. Secondly, you can invest in flipping properties. Please read Flipping For Profit Without The Risk for more information on Flipping properties. Thirdly, you can wholesale properties. Please read Wholesaling so Everybody Wins. Please visit www.myinvestment services.com to get these books and other books and training courses as well.

For more information please visit MyInvestmentServices.com, call 1-800-931-2605 or email Gary@winrealtyadvisors.com.

Written by Gary Wilson, June 18, 2014

How I Did 110 Transactions A Year With NO Assistants…And You Can Too… Get My Case Study Now>> https://www.myinvestmentservices.com/gift

“Guiding You to Massive New Wealth in Real Estate in 1 Year or Less Guaranteed!”

Investor-Agent Rules of Engagement

As you begin the process of using your real estate license to build your thriving, profitable Investor business, you should be aware of some of your clients’ expectations and the possibilities for you to create multiple streams of income. Some of the information in the beginning of this article may be a refresher for more experienced agents. I would still review it though so the rest of the article will have more meaning for you,

Real Estate Agent Rules of Engagement

MyInvestmentServices.com

Before you can practice real estate you need to obtain a real estate practitioner’s license for the state in which you wish to represent others in real estate transactions. There are typically two classes you need to take, one is national and one is state. They are usually 30 hours each. You can now take these completely online, in a physical classroom with other students or a combination of the two. There are multiple providers for these classes. Many Real Estate firms offer these classes to prospective agents. They may even offer to pay for your classes if you sign up with them for one year. I do not normally recommend this latter approach. I recommend you take the classes and pay for them out of your own pocket. Then after you take and pass the licensing exams you can choose which company to practice real estate with. In order to practice real estate licensees do need to place their license with a real estate firm.

Once you have taken the classes you will then be required to take two exams, state and national. I highly encourage you to take several practice exams and even take a class that prepares you specifically for the exams. When I prepared for the broker’s exam I took thirty practice exams.

Once you have taken the classes, taken and passed the exams, and placed your license with a real estate brokerage firm, you now have the right to practice real estate. This does not mean you are prepared to practice real estate; rather you simply have earned the right to practice because you now supposedly have a fundamental understanding of real estate laws. That is all the classes you have taken so far are designed to do, that is, educate you on the very basic legal rules and regulations you need to be familiar with so the consumers you represent get fair representation from you.

Now you need to learn how to use your license in the business sense. This book is not intended to educate you on all of the skills necessary to be a successful real estate agent. This requires continuous education on your part for as long as you practice. The world of marketing and advertising is constantly changing. You will learn a lot of what you need to know from your broker, other agents in your office and your own blood, sweat and tears. I will go over, in simple terms what is expected of you in the roles of agency.

Seller Representation

Real Estate agents could be involved in representing users and investors who are interested in disposing of their properties. This is a traditional activity in a commercial and investment brokerage, just as it is in a residential brokerage. When acting as a selling broker, an agent has an agency relationship with the seller and owes him or her fiduciary duty.

Buyer Representation

Another activity in which Real Estate agents might be involved is representing users and investors who are potential buyers of properties in selecting and acquiring these properties. When acting as a buyer’s broker, the agent has an agency relationship with the buyer and owes a fiduciary duty to him or her. This activity is more common in commercial and investment brokerage than in residential brokerage. For example, an agent could represent several fast food chains in their search for locations to purchase as sites for their restaurants. By becoming familiar with the specific requirements of a few users, the broker can provide a service to his or her clients.

Landlord Representation

Further activity in which investment real estate agents might be involved is the exclusive representation of landlords in their attempts to locate tenants who would be users of their vacant spaces, negotiating the leases for the use of those spaces.

As leasing agents, brokers would be involved in many more transactions than brokers involved in the investor or development part of the business. In fact, many commercial investment managers agree that the best way to transition from residential real estate to nonresidential real estate is through leasing commercial space. This activity allows agents to interact with many tenants and property owners, all of whom have specific needs that agents can try to fulfill. In addition, brokers can become familiar with a variety of properties present in their marketplaces.

By showing potential users several properties, agents get to see a variety of spaces and have an opportunity to become familiar with the available inventory in the market.
By showing several properties to potential users, agents get to talk to and meet many property owners who have spaces to rent.
By showing multiple spaces, agents interact with other tenants who anticipate moving from their spaces and will need to find new spaces to occupy in the future.

Tenant Representation

Still another brokerage activity in which investment real estate agents could be involved is the exclusive representation of users looking to relocate and negotiating leases for space in landlords’ properties. By representing specific users, agents become aware of the users’ needs and the requirements properties must meet for the users’ businesses.

Of course you can use your license to help owner occupants buy and sell their own homes. Even though I was opposed to this at first I later warmed up to the idea and made a lot of money doing it. Let’s face it, all of the investors you service at one time or another will want to buy or sell their own home. You will also have come across many tenants who will one day buy their own home. You already have a database full of these folks. You might as well service them and further leverage the use of your real estate license and earn more commissions!

What’s more, these folks all have friends, relatives, neighbors, co-workers and fellow church members who want to buy and sell homes from time to time. I highly encourage you to remind your clients that you can service them too and encourage them to refer these people to you. When that happens you should reward them for their good behavior!

Speaking of referrals, the more you grow and prosper with your license the greater your reputation will spread. One way you can benefit from this is by sending referrals to agents in other areas. Surely, your clients have friends and relatives in other areas that either want to buy or sell their own home or may want to invest in real estate. A referral from you will carry a lot of weight and it will earn you a referral fee. Do not overlook this very valuable income stream. I have built an entire line of business around this very concept.

Build a Team

Ah, yes, building a business. First of all I remind you to treat this entire venture as a business and run it as such. One of the best ways to manifest this is to build a team around yourself and your business. When I first got really busy, I had developed systems, processes and procedures for me to follow every day so I could handle all of the business. When building my brokerage company, Win Realty Advisors, I actually built a team first. The first person I hired was an admin person. She was from another brokerage company and had an awesome reputation for being able to manage multiple tasks simultaneously and get a lot done – a lot more than 99% of other people.

My recommendation to you is, when you get really busy, hire a superstar admin. Be picky, don’t settle. Remember the old saying – hire slow and fire fast. Your definition of busy may be different than that of the next person. I was juggling more than twenty transactions, teaching classes, investing in property and managing property all at the same time. I was pretty busy. Whenever you find yourself heading down the road of unhappiness from relationships that need more of your time, or you need more of your time, and God needs more of your time then it is time to make your first hire. Nothing is more important than you fulfilling God’s purpose for your life and that will likely include being a good partner, husband; father, brother, son and friend for those in your life. You can get a copy of my book Husband, Father, Brother, Son from the website www.MyInvestmentServices.com.

After that you will figure out what to do next. It may include delegating the execution of your marketing plan, delegating buyer showings. You will know when the time comes.

One of the best things about building a team is that it will position you to build your own brokerage firm in the future if you choose to do so. You can read more about that in my book Build a Real Estate Brokerage Company for Profit and Build Wealth for Life. You can get a copy of this from the website www.MyInvestmentServices.com.

There’s more! All of your investor clients are accumulating a lot of rental properties and they need help managing them. I think it is a really good idea for you to offer to manage these properties for them! As a real estate licensee with your license in a brokerage firm you can this. Some firms are more accommodating than others. I have found Keller Williams is the best real estate company for entrepreneurial real estate agents who want to grow their own businesses. In fact I know personally several KW agents who manage several hundred units each as an agent with KW. You can learn more about this by reading my book Build a Property Management Business for Profit and Build Wealth for Life. Not only do you earn management fee income but all of these folks can bring in additional sales for you too!

As you can see there are a number of opportunities for you to build wealth and income by working with investors. You simply leverage what you are already doing. You can leverage your systems and operations, including bookkeeping and marketing, in many directions.

Even at the most basic level, you can’t buy every property and neither can your clients. When you identify more great investment properties than you or your client can handle, refer the deal to another agent or investor and earn commission anyway from your efforts. Remember, your real estate license is an income producing asset. Treat it like that and you will profit.

As you grow you will need systems, processes and procedures to allow for successful growth. These systems are not just for bookkeeping, marketing and advertising, and transaction flow but also for client support and representation.

Client Support and Representation

One of the first things you need to do when working with investors is to become familiar with the instructions I give to investors who work with me. You will find them in the Flip and Rental Rules of Engagement sections of this blog. Please remember that there are major differences between working with owner occupants and working with investors.

When working with owner occupants you generally do most if not all of the work. You do a lot more hand holding. They don’t usually know a lot and so you have to explain everything to them. They also tend to be more emotional in their selling and buying behavior. They also only need you once every several years.

Investors, on the other hand, get easier and easier to work with over time. They continue to learn. They are hands on. In fact, if you follow my instruction sheets, you will see that I delegate a lot of the work to them. You give them the data and let them do the financial analysis. They do drive by’s. They do the physical analysis. Anytime an investor approaches me and wants me to do all the work for them I take it upon myself to educate them first. If they don’t want to do things my way then I send them down the highway to some poor sucker of an agent who doesn’t know any better and has time to waste. Not me and not you. I also command a minimum commission. This protects me when working with investors who want to buy cheap foreclosures.

With investors I get to dictate that they work on my schedule. They may not know it but that is what is happening. I always schedule my showing days and times a week in advance. I send an email to my active clients on Wednesday and give them the day and time blocks I have available the following week. Then it’s first come first serve. They must give me the MLS numbers of the properties they want to see at least two days in advance of our scheduled date and time to meet and view properties. Oh, I occasionally get the knucklehead who can’t follow simple instructions. You know the ones who never could get to school on time and when they did they turned in their homework with food stains on it and that’s if they even had their homework. I give them a chance or two to correct their behavior, and I help them do that, but if it appears habitual I draw the line and they get the message.

I love working with investors because it’s repeat business. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Many of my students have gone on to buy large apartment buildings earning me large commissions and large property management contracts. I am able to leverage all of my activities working with investors into additional lines of business providing additional income streams and wealth building opportunities. Perhaps one of the best benefits of working with investors is how many friendships I have developed where I actually get to spend time with them doing something we both love to do – build wealth and income with Real Estate!

Being the Right Kind of Realtor

If you are not a licensed real estate agent then read this. If you are a licensed real estate agent then you need to read this too so you will know what all of my students expect from you!

The following is an excerpt from my other books on what I teach investors to look for when selecting a real estate agent. This should be an eye opener for you. Also, I do not intend to insult you. I am one of you! I am merely enlightening you to what is expected of you as an investor agent. OK Ready? Here we go:

“The Investor Realtor! In the world of Real Estate Investing there is no other kind. If you are using your neighbor’s son then you are a loser and you will pay a dreadful price. Every real estate agent on the planet will tell you that he or she is the right agent for you and they are the best at helping you. Make sure you ask them how much real estate they own. How many other investors are they working with? If they have so many other investors then how do they have the time to help you? Keep asking questions. Eventually, they will run out of crap to tell you.

I originally got my real estate license because I was sick and tired of realtors who didn’t know what they were doing in the world of real estate. The rules of engagement for real estate investing are 180 degrees different form the rules of engagement of the owner occupied real estate business.

My neighbor was my 1^st realtor. I had to fire her and it pissed off the whole neighborhood. She wouldn’t or couldn’t learn what she needed me to teach her. So I fired her and got my license. I eventually developed a system to teach other realtors how to work with investors. Trust me. It makes a huge difference. Having a traditional real estate agent try to help you with your real estate investing is like having a motorcycle mechanic work on your airplane.

If you invest in real estate the way I am teaching you to, then you will one day own an airplane. Now imagine yourself getting ready to take your plane down to Florida to play golf and you just found out your regular mechanic was off sick and the airport had a motorcycle mechanic, who happens to be the air traffic controller’s nephew’s neighbor, who just happened to be a recent graduate of the Acme school of motorcycle mechanics because he got laid off from his last job. How does that make you feel? Well, remember a lot of real estate agents are real estate agents because they got laid off from their last job and getting their real estate license took only 60 hours and cost only a few hundred bucks. Does it sound like they are highly qualified to help you invest your precious hard earned money? I didn’t think so. Don’t be stupid. If you use one of these Imbeciles you will end up losing your money and wishing you were going down in that plane that the bozo motorcycle mechanic worked on. By the way, I have no problem with motorcycle mechanics in general, only the ones who are foolish enough to work on an airplane.

There are a few things you can do to enhance your relationship with your real estate agent. One of them is to sign a Buyers Agency Agreement. I have taken and have seen material from other real estate gurus who say you should have as many real estate agents working for you as possible. Trust me, they don’t understand agency from a legal point of view, an ethical point of view or a business point of view. In this business you need real players on your team. A good real estate agent who really understands the rules of engagement when it comes to real estate investing is worth their weight in gold. You wouldn’t have multiple tax accountants prepare your taxes. You wouldn’t have multiple lenders making you the same loan. You wouldn’t have multiple closing companies working on the same file. So why would you have multiple real estate agents sending you properties from the same pool of properties? They all are pulling properties from the same database and they all have the same tools and access. Using multiple agents is only going to piss them off. They won’t stick around and they certainly won’t give you their best when they don’t have an exclusive agreement with you. Get real. If you were working for commission and a client was using multiple real estate agents how much energy would you put into that effort with little to no assurance of getting paid?

More importantly, you don’t want traditional real estate agents working for you anyway. You want an investor/agent who is themselves an investor and/or has a proven track record of helping other investors profitably grow their portfolios using the rules of engagement I teach when I show investors how to invest and real estate agents how to correctly work with investors.

The other important factor in using a buyer’s agency agreement is that the agreement affords you certain rights and requires the real estate agent to assume certain responsibilities that would otherwise not be in place and in the end be to your disadvantage.

Another important piece of information is having Proof of Funds. This tells your real estate agent you are qualified and it also gives your real estate agent leverage and power when working with other real estate agents. Proof of Funds can either be a bank statement showing you have the available cash to make a purchase or a lender pre-qualification, lender pre-approval for a loan or Line of Credit statement showing that you have funds ready for you to borrow.

Think Military. Think Sports. Think Family. Think Friends. Think profitable business. A good Real Agent is a critical member of your team. I strongly encourage you to treat them that way.

Well that ought to give you a little insight into the current state of affairs and what is expected of you and what you can expect from investors!

For more information please visit MyInvestmentServices.com, call 1-800-931-2605 or email Gary@WinRealtyAdvisors.com

Written by Gary Wilson, June 16, 2014

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