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Welcome to Episode Three of season seven of the growing Empire Show. Today we’re going to talk about finding the agent who finds the deals. So stay tuned.

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Welcome to growing empires hosted by real estate entrepreneur and trusted investment advisor Jennifer de Jesus. Growing Empires provides insight to building wealth through passive income producing real estate investments for those who want to build and manage a more profitable real estate portfolio.

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So how does one go about finding the agent who finds the deals? Well, the first thing I’m going to tell you is, don’t look on Zillow, and don’t call the listing agent. The craziest thing that I see in real estate is people calling me as the listing agent thinking that I’m going to provide them a service that is going to help them find the best deals. No. That is absolutely not what I’m going to do. If I am the listing agent on this property, my job is one thing. My job is solely to get the owner, the landlord, the most amount of money he could possibly get. It is not to help a buyer buy at the cheapest price they can actually get. So the agent who’s going to find you the best deals is not the agent that’s listing the property. And for whatever reason, common place in our market is for people to call the listing agent. The misconception is that the listing agent will reduce their commission and therefore you will get a better deal. And I assure you that that is 100% not the case. And here’s why. Those listing contracts are put in place long before the property is listed. No matter what happens in the deal, whatever commission was agreed upon with that seller is the commission that’s going to be paid at the end of the deal no matter who buys the property. So the misconception is, if I go straight to the listing agent, the seller is going to save on commission. And that’s simply just not true. That does not mean that the seller is able to retain any extra cash. So therefore, you’re not going to get a better deal from the agent who’s selling the property. Because they have a legal obligation to make sure that they are getting the best deal for the seller that they represent. Which a lot of times includes the most amount of money and the best terms. What you need is representation. When we’re talking about building a dream team, we talked about finding a great attorney, finding a great accountant having a great business partner for your banking, for your mortgages. We talked about having a great title agent. We talked last week about having a great property manager. And today we’re going to focus on how to find the best agent. For the people that think that they don’t need an agent at all, I assure you that you are likely going to make mistakes. So yes, you can buy properties on your own. Yes, you can even go directly to the listing agent. And yes, you can even find deals that you source on your own. But a couple of things are going to happen. Number one, if this is not your full time job, you do not have enough time or experience to really have true expertise in this field. You need to make sure that even though you are good at potentially sourcing deals, you may not be the best at negotiating the deals. And even if you are good at both of those, you certainly can’t do it in any kind of high volume. Maybe that works for you, because maybe you have a lot of time to invest in properties. But as the market shifts and speed to the deal matters, you’re going to find that you’re going to get pushed to the side, if you’re the one that’s always sourcing your own deals and making your own deals. Because you’re not going to have the flexibility of time to really be the one that can capitalize on the market changes when they exist. So why do you need an agent, you need an agent that has expertise in that marketplace. But not just that marketplace, investment properties. As a broker, I deal with quite a variety of agents on the other side of the deal. And I am shocked in many cases about how bad the other agents are, and a lot of cases for their client. And I have said more than I care to admit, if the client only knew what their agent was doing. That would be a lawsuit, or they would have a real problem with it. You don’t go to your dentist to get tax advice. You don’t go to your doctor to get beauty tips. You need to find a person that has experience and expertise in the specific field that you are looking at. So just because an agent does a high volume of deals does not mean they’re good at investment properties. And that’s unfortunately what people think. They think that the more volume the agent does, the better they’re going to be and the better that they’re going to be able to find investment properties. And I’m telling you that’s simply not the case. Look at the market that you’re in. If the market is very high volume commercial and most of the agents there do commercial deals, you don’t want them to help you find your residential home. Because it’s not something that they dabble in. It’s not something that they have expertise in. If the agent that you’re referring to does a high volume of residential sales, they don’t know anything about investment properties. Because they’ve mastered the residential sales. So you would not want to use them for investment purchases or commercial purchases. They just don’t have the expertise, or the experience to find you the best deal. So make sure you find an agent that stays in their lane. If you’re going to buy investment properties, you need to find an agent or a broker that specializes in investment properties. That’s the first step that you need to take. How do you know if that agent is or that broker is the right person for you? Well, find out what their expertise is in, you know. Do they work on single families, small multifamily deals? Are they working on larger multifamily complexes? Do they do any kind of zoning and variances, and development or redevelopment? And as long as whatever they do mimics what you’re looking to invest in, they could be a great partner for you. When agents focus on one piece of the industry, they become the masters of that. And not only does that mean that they can find a high volume of deals. But they have expertise to know about twice as many as they actually get contracts for. And that’s simply because you shop around, right. So I may be looking for an investor today. And we may be looking at this property and analyzing it. And maybe that property is not right for you. But it could be right for somebody else. So of what I do all day is sourcing properties and sourcing deals. The minute I find an investor that doesn’t want that specific deal, that deal may work out to be perfect for somebody else. And I can just flip that deal over to another investor. In addition to that, you start to get a name for yourself. When what you do all day is investment property sales, everybody will know who you are. So when they have an investment property that they’re about to put on the market to sell, who do you think they call first? Especially in this type of market, they call the broker that does all the investment deals in the area. And they let them know about this new deal coming to market soon. Because if they can make a deal happen prior to it coming to market, they just saved a lot of time and didn’t have to do a lot of work. Everybody looks to do the least amount of work possible. Let’s be real. So if your agent does a high volume of investment deals, they are going to be the first one to the deals because not only are they going to be able to know the most about it because they’re focusing on that piece of the industry. But they also will have deals handed to them from other sources from other investors, from people who want to try to sell off market deals. Because they know that they are the experts in that field. And because they are the experts in that field, they always get the business.

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The episode will continue in just a moment.

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Building your dream team must start with trust which is the cornerstone of our approach and what allows us to deliver the results that we do. You need to trust your team so they’re empowered to bring their best and deliver the results you need to be successful. Your team is your true partner in your growth strategy and trusting their contributions and capabilities is what will free you up to focus on sustaining your growth. Whether you’re an active investor or a passive investor, your dream team should be comprised of not just experiencing capabilities, but people with heart you can trust as true partners. wrong choices will cost you lost time, money, and most importantly, opportunities to capitalize and grow. I want to share my experiences with you and help you sidestep those risks when building your dream team. Let’s get on a call and talk about your dream team so we can get you set up for success. Book a call with me today at growingempires.com and I will help you clarify what you need to build the perfect team for you.

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So how do you find the agent who finds the deals, go to the expert in that marketplace. Do not just find an agent off of Zillow. Do not just find an agent because your friend told you this is a great agent. And don’t use the same one that your neighbor used unless your neighbor was investing in properties in the same manner that you want to. Find somebody who has a place in the market and is cornering the market and is the master of that piece of the puzzle. They are mastering that industry of that type of purchase. And that’s how you’re going to find the agent who finds the deals. Because those deals come to them without them even having to look hard. They don’t have to sort on the on market. They don’t always have to do things that everybody else is doing. And if they’re an agent or a broker that specializes in the investment world or commercial real estate and that’s where you want to invest your money. They are going to be able to find you deals that you would never find on your own or never have access to. Because they will have them before they hit the market. They will find you both on and off market deals. And since we’re talking about off market deals, I think it makes sense to just also clear up another common misconception, I work with a high volume of investors every single day. And all I do literally all day long is find deals for people. Okay, find deals, analyze deals, and then find more deals. So I’m constantly networking with people. And talking about investment properties. Nothing is more frustrating to me than when somebody who I do not know and do not have a relationship with found me on the internet or heard me by word of mouth and knows that I’m the person to talk to about investment deals, and thinks that I owe them the courtesy of giving them my off market inventory. If I don’t have a relationship with you, if we’re currently not business partners or if we’re not doing any business together, you don’t have a right to have anything other than to get in the same lane that everybody else was in when they started investing in this area. I assure you, that the people that I do business with that I’ve committed to being a partner with and committed to finding the right deals for will always be the investors that get access to those off market deals quicker than anybody else. I have a network of very professional investors, very sophisticated investors who have committed their time and their trust in me to make sure that their properties are profitable year over year, and to make sure that they are consistently able to buy the best of the best deals out there. And I give that courtesy back by making sure that they are the only ones that get access to these deals. They are the only ones they get access to the off market deals. Not the newbie investor that’s coming in hoping that they have the right to start working with us. So I kind of have to laugh every time I have somebody call me and says, Oh, I heard that you’re the person to talk to. Can you send me some of your off markets? Yeah, get in line is kind of what I think. But it’s shocking to me that people think that, you know, you can just call up an agent, and you can have no business relationship with them or a broker, and think that they’re going to give you the cream of the crop inventory. Because the most valuable piece of inventory right now is that off market. It’s that it’s that stuff that you get before it hits the market that nobody’s competing against. So for you to be able to create a network where you can get those off market deals and get access to the best of the best that’s out there, you have to build a relationship with a broker. You can’t be the transient type of investor who’s going to go every which way. You have to have, you know, some consistency. You have to be exclusive. You know, I’ve gotten to the point where I even literally say to people on the phone, if you have no intention of being exclusive with me, I have no intention of working with you. But for you to have the right to work with me, you have to be exclusive. I’m not going to waste my time with people that are shopping around and shopping for the best agent or broker. You either have it or you don’t have it. And when you do have that person that’s going to find you the best deals, you absolutely want to be exclusive. Because if you are not respectful of their time, they’re not going to give you the best of the best out there. And trust me they know. I know a lot of people think that agents are a dime a dozen. And for the most part, that could be very well true. But when you’re finding somebody that has exclusivity and has the expertise in a certain marketplace, they won’t have the time or the tolerance for that transient type of investor. They’re going to want to do deals with their true business partners and the people that really are respectful of their time and their expertise. So how do you find the agent who finds the deals? Network. Start to get on forums. Look at things like bigger pockets and other investor network seminars and find the agents who are involved in those types of things. Those are the agents who have access to those deals. Start asking around. Figure out what brokers or agents or agencies actually do the most investment business. Those are the people that you’re going to want to network with. And those are the people that you’re going to want to be exclusive with and do deals with. And if you’re able to do that you have found the agent who finds the deals. Until next time, take care.

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For more information about how Jennifer can help you plan, develop and manage a strong real estate investment portfolio, visit growingempires.com