Getting Leads from Agents

Mike: Welcome back to the FlipNerd.com REI Classroom where experts from across the real estate investment industry teach you quick lessons to take your business to the next level. And now, let’s meet today’s expert host.

Duncan: Hey, everybody. This is Duncan Herman again for REI Classroom. I’ll be hosting this session continuing on in our lead generation series.

Mike: This REI Classroom real estate lesson is sponsored by VirtualStaffNow.com.

Duncan: And even though I do a lot of stuff online, I still do work with real estate agents. Now, I’m going to tell you 90% of real estate agents out there are useless. But when you can find one that understands an investor’s requirements, they are a gold mine. And you’re going to go through quite a lot of frogs before you find that gold. All right?

But I want to give you the five tips for working with real estate agents to get the best results. So I want you to write this stuff down here. Number one, you have to understand the agent’s bottom line. You’ve got to appreciate that the real estate agent only makes money if there’s a closing and a commission. You can’t continually and take advantage of their services and expertise if you don’t go to the closing table enough to make it worth their effort. I know a lot of guys out there just saying to churn and burn through them, but you’ve got to respect them and set the expectations in the beginning and be honest with them.

Number two here, then, leads to being upfront about your requirements. You’ve got to be clear. Let your agent know exactly what you’re looking for and what you need from them. And let’s also say what you don’t need from them. If you do a lot of research and property views on the weekend and want to call them for information, set that expectations from the start. That’s the only time you work, that’s the only time you’re going to be calling them. Set the expectations.

So that leads me to tip number three. It’s to prepare the agent a cheat sheet. You’re going to be interviewing agents. Like in my course, I have a whole bunch of scripts and this is to cut out some of the legwork of working with bad agents, but I like to interview agents. If they don’t sound great on the phone, I’m not going to bring them on my team.

So I want to lay out specifics to them. This cheat sheet is really the CliffsNotes of investor requirements. Tell them how you value a property, how deep a discount to the current value you’re willing to pay, your ultimate disposition of the property. In other words, let them know how to better serve you. The agent who’s already experienced with the things in your notes is a fine [inaudible 00:03:16] willing to [inaudible 00:03:18] is a gem. So you need to prepare that cheat sheet.

And that leads us to tip number four. You’ve got to be about your offer and the sales expectation. You’ve got to tell the agent how much you want them to be involved in your offers. Perhaps you just want to tell them to do the paperwork and pass the offers back and forth. Or you might want their input. Especially if you’re making an offer to an asset management company, a bank via short sale, etc. Because if they’re working with an asset management company or bank more often than you are, they might have some tips that could be valuable for you to know.

So the other thing is if you have different requirements for properties you’re selling, let them know specifically what they’re going to be. Because perhaps you’ll need less marketing and you may want a commission reduction in return. By the way, I never shortchange my agents. I always pay them full commission.

So tip number five here is to be honest about your partnerships. Investors work with multiple agents for various reasons. Sometimes it’s because they invest in multiple areas they want agents and expertise in each market or they work with different agents depending on price points. If you work with other agents, it’s a good idea to let them know about these relationships. Okay?

So for agents and investors working together, it is often win-win, but you’ve got to set the expectations again. Recognize the value in their partner. Once they’re on your team, you treat them well going after the whole goal, you’re going to do a ton of deals.

So, guys, those are my five tips for today’s lesson on getting leads from agents. Also in my course, guys, you might want to check out my blog. There are 45 keywords that I use to give the agents that go on my cheat sheet to let them know hey, these are the type of the best deals for me. So visit my blog, find the article, I’ll share that resource with you at DuncanWierman.com/blog. But today, I’m glad to be your host of REI Classroom. Have a great day.

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