Hello all. I'm a new agent just getting my feet wet in the agent side of the business. I've worked on the investment side for awhile. So, naturally one of the things I thought about specializing in was investment properties.

From what I've read and what I've heard from other agents in person it seems a large majority of agents don't like taking listings for investment properties(fixer uppers, rentals, etc.) and prefer plain vanilla retail listings instead.

My question is do you think it is OK to email most other agents in my area asking for referrals of any investment property leads that they might not want to deal with? Should I only ask agents at my own brokerage? Do you think this would be kind of tacky at all? Or that they might think "Who does this rookie think he is"?

Any opinions and insights are greatly appreciated.

If you have worked on the investment side for awhile you should know how to generate business already and have plenty of contacts to work.

In my area a lot of investors who purchased are looking for companies to manage their properties month to month. I absolutely hate property management and want nothing to do with it. It's little pay,with high litigation,for a big headache and massive paperwork.

You as an agent now have to remember a few things. You cannot practice all the strategies of investing as a licensed agent versus an unlicensed one. Being an agent you are held to higher standards now and you have to watch out for working with investors wanting to ride the gray area of the law.Also check your IC agreement as your broker might not allow you to work with investors in the beginning or the brokers E and O policy might not cover property management.

Yeah I agree with you about property management. I don't want anything to do with that.

I worked with an investor in my town for awhile by finding properties for him. So, in essence I was kind of doing what I would be doing as an agent working for investors. Now as an agent instead of working with just the one investor I'll be working with all investors.

I'll find investment grade properties to list for sale as well as work as a buyer agent for investors on properties listed with others agents sometimes. I mostly want to focus on listing investment properties though because finding them is my specialty.

Like you mentioned I do know how to find investment listings, and have a lot of investor contacts, but if other agents would rather not deal with these types of properties then I figured why not ask them to refer them to me?

I just wasn't sure how to go about doing that. Should I email all of the agents in my area letting them know I'll take their referrals if they don't want to deal with them even though I'm currently a rookie? Or should I wait until I'm more established and have more credibility? Instead emailing them all at once should I do it a little bit at a time to make it seem more personal when I contact them and less tacky than doing a mass email campaign? Or would it even matter?

I'm probably over thinking things. I tend to do that.

Where I come from agents will take the "vanilla" if offered. They may not know how to market an investment proprty, may not like investment property, but they will take it. I think it would be tacky to blast out an email asking for such leads to other agents.

Through networking with other agents in my area, I get calls from agents passing off such clients. I've also passed off clients to them that I knew was out of my area of expertise. I've also talked to agents and gave them tips on how to deal with investors and recieved nothing but a handshake and a thankyou, but gained a friend in the buisness.

Hey REODayton. Since you're from my state I guess you could give me the most accurate answer as to how agents in this region would perceive this. So, you would lean more towards saying that it might be a waste of my time going this route at all because MOST agents wouldn't actually refer these types out even though they may not prefer them?

I guess the fact that it's currently a slow buyers market also makes most agents more willing to take on more types of listings that they normally wouldn't prefer in a fast buyers market as well.

^^KJ

There are some agents who DO NOT want distressed properties. There are sellers who will not sign me on to list their property because I have more REO and investment properties. Fair enough. I have had buyers wanting high ticket properties I was net comfortable dealing with, Ive had agents with investors that will not go to the "Ghetto", we've formed an unofficial agreement to refer our stuff to and then sign an official referal agreement when the time is needed.

Instead of a blast email I would say network with other agents via the local board. Our board has many things going on (social events, meat and greets, etc). Sure they charge a fee, but the opportunity to network with people in the same field as you, actually pays off.

Things must be different in Ohio than here. Out here, almost every agent I know will take any kind of listing if it is priced right whether a fixer or not.

Were you thinking of telling area agents that you pay referral fees at XX percent and they should keep you in mind? You might get some attention that way. But if you were planning on just asking agents to send you clients 'cause you are a nice person -- well, good luck with that.

Oh no I know there is no way that they would refer them for free. I'm not actually sure what the going rate is for referrals in this area, but I would surely let them know I would pay them a standard referral fee.