If you are a new real estate investor, you’re probably wondering how you can grow your real estate business faster. When it comes to real estate investing, the key to achieving massive success is building a successful real estate team. Savvy real estate investors understand that real estate is a relationship business. There’s only so much you can do on your own. To make better investment decisions and avoid costly mistakes, you have to work closely with diverse, smart, and reliable people. This includes professionals that can help you with the different aspects of your real estate business such as sourcing real estate deals, due diligence, financing, and managing your real estate portfolio.
However, building a successful real estate team is no simple task, especially when you are just getting started in real estate. It can be challenging to know who to include in your team, where to find them, and how to select the best professionals. If you are interested in building a successful real estate team, keep reading.
Related: How to Become a Real Estate Entrepreneur in 2020
Who Should Make Up Your Real Estate Team?
A good real estate team is worth its weight in gold. Everyone in your team plays a part in the success of your business. However, if you are just getting started in real estate investing, it can be difficult to know who to include in your team. Actually, it usually takes time before an investor figures out who and what their business needs.
If you are thinking of building a successful real estate team, you should consider having the following as part of your team:
1. Real Estate Agent
As a new real estate investor, lead generation is key to your success. Without deals coming in, you can’t grow your business. A real estate agent can be a great source of leads for you and, therefore, will be an integral part of your real estate team. Real estate agents are usually knowledgeable about the local housing market, have access to the MLS, and have good real estate networks. This enables them to easily identify real estate investment opportunities in the market, including off-market deals.
Apart from locating property listings, a realtor will also help you in writing contracts and negotiating the best real estate deals possible. It’s hard to find a successful real estate investor who hasn’t worked with one or more real estate agents.
Find a top-performing real estate agent in the city of your choice now.
Related: Do You Need to Find a Real Estate Agent to Buy Investment Rental Properties?
2. Mashvisor
This point is related to our previous one. While real estate agents are instrumental in finding real estate deals, they are usually limited to the local market. This is where Mashvisor comes into play.
When creating a real estate team, you should also include real estate investment software like Mashvisor. With Mashvisor, you can find investment properties for sale throughout the US housing market from the comfort of your home. Moreover, Mashvisor’s real estate investment tools allow you to analyze different housing markets (using the Real Estate Heatmap) and investment properties (using the Investment Property Calculator).
Most of the legwork has already been done for you, making finding lucrative real estate investment opportunities easier for beginner investors. Unlike the traditional process of finding and analyzing investment properties for sale, Mashvisor provides you with property data and analytics to help you make informed investment decisions faster. Even for investors with full-time jobs and busy lifestyles, you can still find and analyze investment properties in a matter of minutes.
Related: How to Become a Successful Real Estate Investor with Mashvisor
3. Lender
While “Cash is king” in real estate investing, not many novices have substantial capital to finance their real estate investments. However, savvy real estate investors know that you can finance your real estate investments using other people’s money.
Imagine having to pass up lucrative real estate investment opportunities just because you have no access to capital. Therefore, having a good working relationship with a lender is key to building a successful real estate team. Find a lender who offers flexible mortgage products for real estate investors, quick closings, and competitive interest rates. A mortgage broker can help you find the best mortgage deals for you.
4. Accountant
An accountant is also a crucial piece in building a successful real estate team. You need to hire an experienced CPA (Certified Public Accountant) to manage your financial records and implement tax-efficient strategies to maximize profits.
5. Real Estate Attorney
Another professional to include in your real estate team is a real estate attorney. You need someone who is familiar with local laws to assist in legal matters relating to your real estate business. An attorney will help you set up a legal entity for your business and review contracts as well as other legal documents before you close on a deal. With an experienced attorney, you will avoid potential lawsuits.
Related: 5 Legal Real Estate Investing Tips to Know
6. Insurance Agent
As a real estate investor, you need property insurance to protect your investment properties in case of a disaster like a fire. You also need business liability insurance. As such, you want to find an experienced insurance agent who can help you with your insurance needs.
7. Property Manager
If you don’t want the stress of handling tenant calls at midnight, finding new tenants, tenant screening, scheduling regular maintenance, rent collection, and other aspects of property management, you should consider hiring a property manager.
This will allow you to focus your efforts on other important areas of your business. A good property manager can help your real estate business grow, especially if you are looking to invest out of state.
Related: Professional Property Management: Pros and Cons
8. Title Company
A title company is also key to building a successful real estate team. As your real estate business grows, you’ll find yourself buying multiple properties. Therefore, you’ll want to build a relationship with a title company that will research property titles and provides title insurance. This will help you avoid nasty surprises after buying an investment property.
This is not an exhaustive list but just some of the key components of an effective real estate team. Your specific real estate team structure will vary depending on a number of factors including your investment strategy and the size of your real estate portfolio. You may need more members in your team than the ones we’ve discussed above.
Other possible real estate team members include:
- Contractor
- Handyman
- Appraiser
- Inspector
- Home stager
- Administrative assistant
- Wholesalers
- Cleaning company
- Leasing agent
What is important is to know who to include in your team and when. As you start out, you may only need the services of just a few professionals. However, as you continue to build your portfolio, you’ll need to evaluate your real estate team and consider hiring more people. With time, your team will evolve and expand. Moreover, in some categories, you may need more than one partner.
Assembling the Perfect Real Estate Team
Your real estate team can make or break your real estate business. It’s important that you hire quality people from the onset. They should not only have the right skills to help you achieve your goals but also be people you can trust and rely on. The wrong team can send your real estate business down the drain and cost you thousands of dollars. Therefore, it’s important that you understand how to build a real estate team that can lead you to success.
The key to building a successful real estate team is performing thorough due diligence. Investors who manage to put together highly effective real estate teams are usually very keen on who they work with.
Interview potential team members and their previous clients to learn as much as possible about them. Also, be sure to check their online reviews where applicable. They should be proficient, responsive, have a good track record, and be able to work within your set timeframe and budget. However, make sure it is a win-win relationship to keep them motivated.
A sure-fire strategy for finding competent team members is to ask for recommendations from people you already know and trust. This is because you get first-hand accounts of their performance. You can also find real estate professionals by building your network through local real estate meetings and clubs.
Once you have the right people in place, focus on building a good working relationship with them. To maximize your team’s effectiveness, make sure that your goals are clear, and empower them to make decisions instead of trying to micromanage all their moves. So long as you have done your homework well before hiring them, they should be able to execute their duties well with minimal supervision. However, be sure to monitor them and provide direction where necessary.
Last but not least, good communication among your team members is key to having a smoothly running business. They should be able to work harmoniously towards your investment goals.
The Bottom Line
The key to achieving greater success in your real estate investing career is to surround yourself with a strong support team. Talented team members can add immense value to your business and help you realize success at a much higher level than you would alone. However, building a successful real estate team takes time and effort. As you assemble your dream team, be sure to do your homework to find people that are a good fit for you and your real estate goals.