Real Estate Agent

Building Your Team the Smart Way

One of the best ways to get your real estate business to take off is by networking with other people.

This means more than simply putting one good professional on your team. This means leveraging other people’s talents, and or brains to work for your benefit, and theirs as well. To convince other people to work with you, always approach them from the perspective of “What’s in it for them?”

The first professional you would want to add to your team is a good Realtor^®. A good Realtor^® can help you find more properties with motivated sellers, and by working with you, they will never have to lose a listing again. A good Realtor^® can really get your investing put on the fast track. For example, when I began my Creative Real Estate^® career, the Realtor^® I put on my team was able to locate four properties that I closed on in one month!

In one of my classes a student found a Realtor^® to work with who would help him to find distressed properties and motivated sellers. Even better, she was also going to come in with him on the funding! The Realtor^® confided that she had been looking for someone exactly like him to partner with. She was unable to take on her properties because of conflict of interest, and this investor solved her dilemma perfectly. My student was so excited that he was almost jumping up and down! This turned out to be a great “win/win” for both of them.

Another important person to add to your team is an investor who can bring additional funding to your deals. (In fact, it’s a good idea to have every member of your team bring at least one investor with them). The advantage is obvious: you’ll have more cash to work with, and can greatly increase your leverage when you make offers.

Additional sources of funding may come from your friends and family members. They may want to get involved with you on some deals when they see how well you’re doing. Other professionals you know may have pension or retirement funds in which they are collecting only 2% interest. If you could propose to them a 14% return on these monies, backed by collateral, do you think they wouldn’t listen?

Other good ways to find an investor is by placing an ad, or attending your local real estate investment meetings. You can locate your local real estate investment association in your area by using the Directory of Investor Associations contained within this Newsletter. Generally, the members of these associations are a great source of networking contacts.If you don’t feel comfortable doing “face-to-face” networking, bring a “people-person” on your team. This person would be the one who makes networking or seller contacts.

Or you may prefer to network with others through the Internet. At least 40% of all people (including investors) who are looking for properties will find them through the Internet. There are many, many web sites that will let you list properties or post an ad at no cost. One web site that offers free listings is: . By doing a search on Google you may be able to locate more. The Internet is also a great way to prospect for properties in geographical markets other than yours. When you’re in a hot market, you may want to consider investing in another area, because not only could you get more properties for less money, you can also get them at a greater discount.

by Editor