Real estate investing is one of the 6 wealth centers for real estate agents because the benefits of real estate investing are incredible and honestly just downright unfair! From here on out, we’ll refer to agents who invest in real estate as ‘investor real estate agents.’
It is mind boggling that many real estate agents – even ones who work for and with investors – never consider investing in real estate themselves.
There’s no special secret that those investors know that you don’t possess. On the contrary, real estate agents are uniquely positioned to have many inherent advantages over the non-licensed public when investing in real estate. Let’s get right to the 7 advantages for investor real estate agents, in the order of when they would occur in the property purchase process.
Advantage 1 – Market Knowledge
Investor real estate agents already have some, or perhaps lots, of local market real estate market knowledge. That knowledge gives agents the ability to understand what types of properties will actually make cash flowing investments in their area. Not every property type is a good investment – it is local market dependent. For example, in my market single family homes don’t cash flow well, but short term rentals do.
Investor real estate agents can quickly identify what is or isn’t working in their market, especially if they are already working for investors. What are the investors buying over and over again? That ought to be a pretty good indicator of where to start looking yourself!
Once you identity profitable property types in your market, an investor real estate agent then can use their market knowledge to determine if a specific property is a good deal relative to others. Simply put, you know what the value of a property should be, or have the knowledge and know-how to quickly conduct your own comparative market analysis (CMA).
Advantage 2 – MLS Access
Since you have direct MLS (Multiple Listing Service for any non-agents reading this), you can get immediate notification when a property that meets your criteria is listed. Not only that, but you have access to more details about that property than publicly available. This allows you to start evaluating a property fast.
If not all the information is available to fully analyze a property as an investment, then you’ll have to do what investors do, and get the listing agent to provide it if they can – only for agents you can go direct instead of having the buyer’s agent (you) to go through!
Advantage 3 – Property Access
Another advantage investor real estate agents have over investors that aren’t agents is that you can get access to a property quickly. The public has to go through the buyer’s agent and work out a time that works for everyone.
You, on the other hand, can just go direct to the listing agent to set up the next available time you can check the property out. In many markets, you can even use digital lock boxes to get access to the property as quickly as allowable by the owner! On an unoccupied property, you could literally call the listing agent as soon as it pops on the market and drive right over.
One other thing to consider is that other investors aren’t always local – but you are. So you have the advantage of property access quickness.
Advantage 4 – Offer Speed
You know how to write a contract. You know what terms will work for you as an investment. So rather than having to go through a buyer’s agent and deal with the back and fourth, you can simply write an offer and send it over yourself – immediately.
You don’t have to have the contract nuances that comes with your market explained to you, you are already the expert! You have the advantage of speed working for you. Write the contract and get that sucker locked up!
Advantage 5 – Negotiation Skills
You’re already using your negotiating skills and creativity in structuring deals for commission checks. Why not use the same skills for BOTH a commission check AND passive income from real estate investing?
You already know that there are multiple ways to get a deal to work – it requires creativity. This gives you a leg up, because if a counter isn’t what you want, you can think outside the box to structure the deal in a way that will still work for your investing goals as well as make the seller happy.
Advantage 6 – Professional Network
Investor real estate agents already have an existing network of real estate professionals. This works to your advantage as a real estate investor in many ways:
- You know who to call for financing
- You’ve got an inspector you know and trust
- You know decent contractors for renovations and repairs
- You have a title agency you prefer
- And the list can go on!
Non-agent investors have to put this network together in any market they invest in. You’ve already go it!
Advantage 7 – Commission Earnings
Naturally, agents can earn commissions on properties they also purchase for themselves. But here’s the best part: you can keep 100% of your commission! Your broker didn’t generate that lead, so why shouldn’t you net all the commission?
Earning 100% commission on your own properties means that investor real estate agents close the deal with a chunk of change that can be used to improve the property of serve as part of the down payment toward the next one!
Compared to the unlicensed public, this financial advantage allows you to grow your real estate portfolio faster – because you net extra cash for every deal you buy or sell!
Next Steps to Become an Investor Real Estate Agent
- Learn about the advantages of real estate investing
- Review our comprehensive post on Real Estate Investing for Real Estate Agents
- Learn how to analyze a rental property
- Determine what properties work well in your area
- Decide what you can and want to invest in
- Establish your goals and property criteria
- Set up searches for yourself for immediate notification of listings
- Analyze investment properties and close the deals!
The Best Broker for Investors
We firmly believe that across the US, Canada, UK, and Australia, one of the best brokerages for investor real estate agents is eXp Realty. Check out why part time agents love it and what eXp Realty is about!
As a new investor especially, you should consider partnering with other investor agents across the country, like us!
You can also check out our comprehensive post on Real Estate Investing for Real Estate Agents.