The Importance of Understanding Real Estate Investors and Developers

December 12, 2018

How to Work With Real Estate Investors and Developers

Investors will typically fall into two categories, someone looking to buy a 2^nd home as an investment property or they are a developer. While both people have the same end goal of making an investment, they have different wants when buying properties. Investors may also have different ideas on how they want to work with realtors, not all approach realtors to the same extent as they did when they bought their first house. Understanding each person’s individual goals for their investment property will save many headaches. Most investors fall under the D category, from the DISC personality and behavior test, making them a little more difficult to deal with if you are not comfortable with these out going and forward personalities.

Investors purchasing a 2^ndhome are not going to care about the color paint on the walls or the type of flooring. They are going to care that the property is in a good rental location and has functioning appliances and the inside has been up-kept. They are not much different from a regular home buyer and should be treated in such way.

Investors and developers looking to buy, flip, and sell a property will care about the condition of the foundation of the home, if anything like the roof or windows is salvageable, location, and neighborhood. Here you are looking for the worst house in the best neighborhood! If they are looking to Buy–>Tear Down–>Build–>Sell then they only care about the location and the lot size. Creating a separate mailing/e-mail list for these investors will allow you to send information specifically for them. This group is not looking for the same information as a normal home buyer. They are more curious about neighborhood statics and home value statics. They typically have low loyalty towards agents and are not likely to get into a buyer agency agreement or a buyer consultation. However, if you start working with someone on buying a property you will likely receive the property on the selling side also.

Here are a few tips for working with either type of investors:

Dig Through MLS and Zillow

Your client wants help finding the best investment houses on the market. You should be looking for properties that can be total guts, tear downs, have the opportunity to be split into 2 condos or a separate space to rent out. As well as keeping an eye out for under market priced homes.

At the Home Site

You may want to arrange to meet in the neighborhood and not at the house directly. Some people may take advantage of the showing. You should also arrive with information on the area and house for the client. If you do go in and see the home, you may want to have paper work signed, or at minimum a verbal agreement, saying you will be representing them if they go forward with that exact property.

Keep in mind even if you give a client all the tools and information, if another agent can find them a better property at a cheaper price, they will go with the other agent. You should not be ignoring this group but keeping them in your back pocket. It is important to keep up on market and neighborhood trends, off market properties, and new listings so you have the best chance to grab and keep them with you.