The following information is provided by the Center for REALTOR® Development (CRD).
As a real estate professional, you invest a lot of time, effort and resources in building client-for-life relationships with homebuyers and sellers. What happens when your homebuyer client is ready to become a real estate investor? Do you have the skills, knowledge base and contacts to work with real estate investors, or do you refer your client to another agent or firm and wave goodbye to the stream of future business?
Why would you want to leave your comfort zone to start working with investors? Beyond the obvious answer of “helping your bottom line,” there are many reasons why a real estate professional might want to broaden their client base to work with investors.
Size of the Market
The potential market—one in five transactions—is a sizeable stream of business that is currently going to your competitors. You can capture a share of this active, lucrative market by expanding your business services to work with investors.
Repeat Deals
Investors tend to buy more than one property, sometimes several per year. Establishing relationships with investors and demonstrating the value your services add will make you an important team member and produce a stream of future business.
More Frequent Transactions
Homeowners tend to sell or buy a home about every five to seven years, or more. Investors, depending on their objectives, may buy and sell properties frequently, resulting in more transactions and commissions income for you.
Comfort Level
If you work with experienced investors (and novice investors who gain experience), you will spend less time hand-holding and explaining the basics. Because experienced investors know what they want, you can spend more time helping them find the properties that meet their goals, and less time worrying about their emotional needs.
Save Time
You may be able to automate processes to inform investor clients about properties of interest as the listings appear on the MLS or other websites. Automated reply forms save time exchanging email and telephone messages.
More Leads
Investors tend to be well-connected in their communities and have extensive networks of contacts who may be looking for a knowledgeable real estate professional. If you provide excellent service, your investor clients will likely refer other prospective investors to you.
The business service needs of real estate investors differ greatly from those of homebuyers and sellers. Insight to how investors think, strategize and plan is essential for growing this part of your business. Real estate professionals who want to capture a portion of the investment market need to recognize the differences, adapt their skill sets and broaden their knowledge base. The core skills and knowledge you have acquired through working with homebuyers and sellers provides a good foundation for broadening your business mix to include investors.
To learn much more about real estate investing, please consider checking out the Real Estate Investing Course. In March, the featured 25% OFF course at the Center for REALTOR® Development is the Real Estate Investing Course, which is an elective for the Accredited Buyers Representative Designation.
For more information, please visit RISMedia’s online learning portal from NAR’s Center for REALTOR® Development (CRD) and the Learning Library. Here, real estate professionals can sign up for online professional development courses, industry designations, certifications, CE credits, Code of Ethics programs and more. NAR’s CRD also offers monthly specials and important education updates. New users will need to register for an account.
