6 Essential People You Need When Investing in Real Estate

You cannot build anything substantial on your own. You need to leverage the knowledge,
experience and skill of a number of people

One reason is because you can’t know everything. You need to learn and utilise the experience
and knowledge of other people.

Time is another reason. You do not have the time to do everything. You cannot replace time.

Once it is gone it is gone. You can get so much more done by utilising the time of other people
to help you build your property portfolio.

An effective and efficient team will support you to make better investment decisions and provide valuable support that is required with any business venture.

All the world’s most successful business people – including real estate investors – will say one of their biggest secrets is having the right team. The right team will be one of the biggest factors to their success.

No one who’s truly successful does it all himself.

If you want to take your real estate investing business to the another level and find the kind of financial and professional success you’re looking for, you need to assemble a team of experts to support you on the way.

Here are the six people you need to hire to assemble your real estate investor’s dream team and put you on the path to real success…

Real Estate Agent

The first person you’ll need to assemble in your team is a Real Estate Agent.  Your Real Estate Agent (or Agents, you may wish to have more than one contact depending on the size of your operation and willingness to build your portfolio) is the person at the front lines of your business.

They will manage the acquisitions and sales of properties within your investment portfolio.

When working with Agents, remember: They work on commission. If you want to work with them, you need to offer them a generous commission package on your properties.

Because they work in a commission-driven business, your Agent will work harder for you knowing there’s a handsome commission coming their way at the end of the deal. 

Contractors

The next person – or in this case, people – you need contractors. 

Contractors are the people who are going to, quite literally, build your business from the ground up, handling all the construction, design, and renovations of your properties.

Having a talented and reliable team of contractors can be a game-changer for a real estate investor – they can help you demand higher rents, flip properties quickly, and protect the value of your investment.

Even if you have the skills, trying to handle the work of a contractor yourself is time consuming.

It will end up pushing back the timelines for all your investments. It is definitely something you’ll want to hire out.

Ask colleagues for recommendations. You want to find someone who’s reliable, does high-quality work, and with whom you can build a long-term relationship. 

Typically, contractors will offer deals to owners and investors that give them a steady stream of projects.

Lawyer

In a perfect world, you wouldn’t need any legal advice or protection. But we don’t live in a perfect world, so it’s essential that you have an lawyer on your team to handle all the legal matters related to your properties and investments.

You’ll want to hire an lawyer that specializes in real estate. 

They’ll be able to handle the ins-and-outs of the buying and selling process, handle joint ventures with partners, and implement the proper legal structures and processes you need for your business to run smoothly. 

A great real estate lawyer will be able to advise you on how to best protect your real estate assets.

Financier

It goes without saying that in order to assemble a real estate investor’s team, you need a financier. 

Unless your bank account rivals is overflowing’, you’re going to need to a financier to put up the capital you need to purchase your properties.

Depending on your needs, there are a few types of lenders to choose from. 

You can go with a traditional lender, like a mortgage representative at a major bank (think Bank of America), which might have some corporate hoops to jump through but can offer really competitive rates on your loan.

You can use a hard money lender, someone who specializes in working with investors to flip properties. Hard money loans are usually a lot faster and easier to secure, but they have higher interest rates and are generally more expensive.

Your last option is to go after a private lender. This is basically someone who’s looking to get his foot in the door with investing and wants to loan you the money to get your project off the ground.

A private lender could be a friend, a family member, a colleague or just a person you know who has extra money they’re looking to invest.

Whatever the case, it can be easier to negotiate with private lenders since there’s no company red tape to get through.

Just make sure that if you’re borrowing from someone you have a personal relationship with, you’re both clear on the terms of the loan and the date by which you need to pay the money back. You don’t want to risk losing a relationship over an investment.

Mentor

If you want to get from where you are to where you want to be quickly and (relatively) painlessly, it’s in your best interest to find a guide to show you the way. 

Working with a mentor can save you huge amounts of time, energy, and money as you’re launching your real estate investing business.

Working with an investor who’s been in your shoes and has successfully navigated their way through the sometimes tumultuous waters of the real estate investment game is invaluable. 

They can save you from making costly mistakes and give you insights into things you didn’t even know you needed to know.

Identify someone in your niche who’s built the type of business you aspire to have, and ask them out to coffee to see if they'd be willing to let you pick their brain.

Property Manager

Finally, if you decide you’re going to hold onto your investments as rental property, you’ll want to hire a property management company. 

Having the right property manager is invaluable, and will make property ownership immeasurably easier and less stressful.

Property management is incredibly time consuming and trying to manage the process yourself will inevitably lead to things falling through the cracks and tenants becoming disgruntled or dissatisfied.

Property managers handle all the details related to your tenants and property, so you can focus on the big picture – your investment portfolio.

Just like any other leader or business owner, you need a solid team behind you in order to take your real estate investment business to new heights.

With these six members, you’ll be well on your way to building your property portfolio to secure your financial security..