Thread: Do Investors Market Their Own Property Or...

Some investors do use REALTORS to market their properties, some don't. It depends on the investors pla, such as if they are offering lease option. And some have such a narrow margin they cannot pay for the expertise of an agent, and if they are seasoned investors they already know how to do many of the things that agents do. And many investors already have a list of buyers that they develop thru their own marketing.

But many investors develop a relationship with an agent to be informed about the next potential property and let the agent list their properties as part of an ongoing relationship between the 2. Exactly what you offer to your investors is the key.

Thier is much more to a GOOD REALTOR than just marketing. A REALTOR's marketing will of course include the property being on the MLS, which should lead to REALTOR.com. That is one of the keys along with the fact that when you hire an REALTOR, you are actually hiring every member of the REALTOR's company and in a way, the association they are a member of. So you get many many people working to sell your property instead of just yourself. A REALTOR is trained in getting the property to close, not just marketing. Marketing is the easy part to me, making it close is really where I feel most earn their money.

In general, unless you are really offering a real value to the investor, why would they use you, or me, or any REALTOR or agent?

Originally Posted by markbrian

Some investors do use REALTORS to market their properties, some don't. It depends on the investors pla, such as if they are offering lease option. And some have such a narrow margin they cannot pay for the expertise of an agent, and if they are seasoned investors they already know how to do many of the things that agents do. And many investors already have a list of buyers that they develop thru their own marketing.

But many investors develop a relationship with an agent to be informed about the next potential property and let the agent list their properties as part of an ongoing relationship between the 2. Exactly what you offer to your investors is the key.

Thier is much more to a GOOD REALTOR than just marketing. A REALTOR's marketing will of course include the property being on the MLS, which should lead to REALTOR.com. That is one of the keys along with the fact that when you hire an REALTOR, you are actually hiring every member of the REALTOR's company and in a way, the association they are a member of. So you get many many people working to sell your property instead of just yourself. A REALTOR is trained in getting the property to close, not just marketing. Marketing is the easy part to me, making it close is really where I feel most earn their money.

In general, unless you are really offering a real value to the investor, why would they use you, or me, or any REALTOR or agent?

That's great and really interesting too. I guess it's because I see so much activity in the marketing section of this forum, that made me wonder who's really asking the questions...seems that it's the agents and realtors that are most in demand for marketing info, as opposed to the actual investors, which is what I got from your reply.

Interesting you say about making it close being the tricky part. I presume you're talking about closing the sale?

I am NOT referring to closing the sale. I never ever never ever woryy about closing the sale. I worry about the closing of the real estate transaction. Many problems can happen between the time the contract is signed by buyer/seller and the closing that in my state takes place at an attorney's office.

I really do not believe in the whole Glen Gary Ross, coffee is for closers, pushy a&& salesperson. It is not my style-but being honest, ethical, helpful is, It has worked for me. All the people that have been turned off by sale people being pushy jerks find me different and I have no problem helping them, letting them make up their minds and advising them. But to manipulate them into buying a property that is not right for them because ABC-always be closing, etc etc--that is not me.

If you are not familiar with the term closing as it relates to RE, it may not be a good thing to try to market RE.

I've found that marketing investment and wholesale deals without a Realtor is the best first approach; the reason being that once a property hits the MLS many people don't think it's a deal. Most full time investors have their own buyers database which may include wholesale buyers, lease option buyers, CD buyers etc. Some investors will also try Craigslist or other local advertising as well. If none of these methods work an investor may use a Realtor, however many full time investors actually hold a license so they will likely just list the property on their own.

Think about it; if you're an investor doing 10 or so deals a year why would you hire a real estate agent and pay all that money out in commissions? They might as well get their license to save the money.

agentsranking brings up a very important fundamental. An experienced investor should always consider becoming licensed and joining his local REALTOR association to not only list their own properties, but to get the MLS access to find the good deals.

There are good deals on the MLS, and even in todays market they will go quickly. Any investor that does not consider a property just because it is on the MLS is doing themselves a disservice. If they crunch the numbers, and it works, does it matter where they find the property? And considering REOs end up listed on the MLS, to me that is the place to look.

I'm a licensed realtor and an investor... keeping it real: you market it in conjunction with a real estate service, but use an MLS flat fee realtor to get your properties in the MLS databases... it's one, flat fee for that exposure, not a percentage of your sale... then, put a crude FOR SALE BY OWNER type sign in the yard... if a realtor brings a buyer, negotiate the fee you will pay... buyers think they're getting a deal when they see FOR SALE BY OWNER.. often times they are.. use a combo of both... realtors are needed, needed, needed, but you can market in conjunction with a realtor service via flat fee MLS. My two cents... good luck!