As I have discussed before, it is extremely important to have a Realtor on your dream team. Not only can this person be a huge asset to you in growing your business by bringing you quality leads, they can also be a huge asset to your team by helping you get your houses sold quickly and with the least amount of hassle.
Once you have a Realtor you know and trust helping you sell your houses, this part of your business will also become a “machine” and you will be able to get house after house sold even when your competitors can’t. There are several things you need to know when pre-qualifying a Realtor to sell houses for you.
Here are some of my favorite pointers for you. 1. How long have they been in the business and how familiar are they with your local market ? 2. Are they “hungry”? What I mean is- do they have more listings than they can handle or will they take a personal interest in getting your property sold? 3. In addition to taking a personal interest in your properties, will they give you a discount off their commission for volume of listings? If you are working with a Realtor who is “hungry” and who has foresight they will give you volume or “wholesale’ pricing. 4. Do they understand creative financing options such as lease/option, Lease/purchase, owner-held purchase money mortgages, and interest –only balloon second mortgages and are they will to get creative in their offer making process on your properties. One way to sell properties quickly is to offer creative ways for prospective buyers to purchase them. If the Realtor you ask these questions of gives you a perplexed look, he or she may not be the person you are looking for to sell your properties. 5. If you have luxury properties, are they willing to do extra marketing and have open houses to show your homes? Do they have multiple ways to market these properties such as newspaper, website, and multiple Real Estate books? 6. Does your Realtor have a list of prospective buyers looking to purchase certain types of homes? Any Realtor who has been in the business for a long period of time usually has a list of buyers who are already qualified to purchase homes in certain prices ranges, neighborhoods, or school districts. This is a great way for you to work with your Realtor to put the buyer and the home together. 7. Speaking of pre-qualifying, is your Realtor going to make sure your buyers are pre-qualified before wasting your time and theirs by writing a contract on a buyer who can’t qualify to buy the home? If they don’t pre-qualify your buyers, you end up having your property tied up by a buyer who can’t buy the home. Even when a listing says “back up offers needed”, most buyers will move right onto the next property that actually is available for purchase. 8. Is your Realtor also an Investor? Many times when you meet Realtors at your local real estate club they are also investors. You want to make sure that your Realtor is trustworthy and Ethical. You don’t want a Realtor who is going to try to siphon good deals away from you. 9. Ask the Realtor if they are working for a local company or part of a big franchise. You want to make sure you are working with someone who has decision making power when you are in the heat of negotiations. You want to be working with someone who can negotiate a commission adjustment quickly in order to make a deal come together. If they have to stop to ask the permission of someone in their office, you may lose a good potential sale altogether. 10. Make sure your Realtor or someone in their office is able to work with non-English speaking sellers. This is a whole sector of the market that a lot of Realtors don’t and can’t work with.
We just had a closing recently where there were two interpreters involved in the closing because the buyers didn’t speak English. Many of your competitors don’t consider these details when selecting a Realtor to work with. These are all key issues when choosing someone to sell your properties for you.
Usually my Realtor pretty much has the deal all done and in place the way I want it before he even brings the offer to me. Much of the time, my Realtor will also help prospective buyers get qualified and procure financing to purchase my properties. He also works with other investors and there are times he will bring potential buyers and potential deals to me because he knows we also do hard money lending. So when he sees a deal I may be interested in financing for an investor, he will bring those deals to me to take a look at.
You see, older, more experienced Realtors seem to have a knack for locating alternative sources of funding for their buyers. Unfortunately, some of the new Realtors have no clue about various funding source or special programs that might be available for buyers.
In the meantime be sure and visit Kathy Kennebrook’s website at www.marketingmagiclady.com for all the information and tools you need to find motivated sellers and buyers in your market.