In a past set of articles, I introduced the idea of having a team around you to help build your apartment empire. Since the team is so important to your success as a real estate investor and, more specifically as an apartment owner, I would like to take the opportunity to discuss how to find and use these team members in a little more detail.
Just to recap, some of the essential team members that you’ll want to have in place include:
- Bird dogs
- A real estate agent or agents
- A commercial mortgage broker
- A banker (one or more)
- A title company or closing attorney
- A real estate attorney
- Private lenders
- An SEC attorney (if part of your business includes securing private funding)
- An asset protection attorney
- An accountant or CPA
- Property management companies
- Contractors
Let’s continue our team discussion by diving into the world of real estate agents and how they can help your business. One of the most frustrating team members to attract is a realtor. This is usually because there a lots of realtors out there and many of them talk a pretty good game, even if they don’t play one.
From the standpoint of working with apartments, I’d like to help with your own realtor search and suggest right up front that you focus only on commercial realtors or brokers. Most realtors can do searches for commercial units like apartments but very few specialize in this and even fewer are really good at what they do. I don’t mean to seem pessimistic here but the reality is that really good realtors are few in number.
I suggest two ways to find a good commercial realtor. One is to seek referrals from other apartment owners. Their business (at least in part) depends on such realtors and they’ll usually let you know if a particular realtor is any good. The second way is to interview some agents until you find someone you like and who you feel will do a good job.
Characteristics that a good commercial realtor will exhibit include:
- Lending and agent contacts in a variety of areas (since your apartment purchases may not be local)
- Attentiveness to detail and experience with the closing process
- Prompt responsiveness to phone or email
- Honesty, rather than pure salesmanship
- Appreciation of the importance of income, rather than potential, as a criterion for a quality apartment purchase
- Past experience working with other investors
- Experience investing in real estate themselves
Ultimately, there’s no way to test a realtor’s performance until they’ve worked with you for a bit but the trick is to not accept subpar performance and move on sooner than later if a particular realtor is not panning out. It’s your business and having a good team is your prerogative so don’t settle for second best.
Can you see how your empire can be created without you not having to be a jack of all trades? Just about all highly successful business owners respect and implement the power of delegation and it is wise to pattern your own business accordingly. Follow with me through this series and you’ll continue to see how your own team can help you acquire the apartments you seek and help build the fortune that is out there for the taking!
