Selecting the Right Investment Realtor

You’re looking to start building a real estate investment portfolio, or do you need extra help with your real estate investing journey? Are you wondering who to work with that would best represent your goals and needs? We’re sure you probably see Realtor marketing everyday on your drive to work, right? The bus stop bench sign with the slogan “BUY, SELL, INVEST” is one of our favourites! Just kidding…. It’s a saying used way too often, by Realtors who don’t actually specialize in investment properties. So, how do you pick the right Investment Realtor?The Westside Partners of TrilliumWest are going to lay out 5 key attributes your should seek in your new or next Investment Realtor.

1) MARKET KNOWLEDGE

This one should be a given! Like any investment product out there in the world, from stocks, to cryptocurrency, precious metals, even artwork, your Investment Professional HAS TO know their own market, inside and out. Same with your Investment Realtor! They have access to the most critical information available through their MLS portal, and need to be able to tell you what is going on today, what to expect tomorrow, and be able to help you navigate risk through using lessons from yesterday. We strongly believe that any Investment Realtor needs to be able to answer these market specific questions without blinking:

• What are the average or median price points in the detached, townhome, and condo markets within the area?

• Are we in a Buyers, Sellers, or balanced market and what is the future trend?

• What is the market value of a certain property for example: As-Is, after renovations, given a specific cap rate (income vs expenses), or what should that property sell for in the current market conditions?

• What are example neighbourhoods, buildings, areas, streets, etc that make sense for my needs and goals?

2) OWNERS OF INVESTMENT PROPERTIES

Here’s a really underrated point: How can one give proper, accurate, seasoned advice or recommendations, if they’ve never done it themselves? Would you buy a car from someone who’s never owned a car before? Would you eat a meal from a cook who’s never prepared food in their life before? We would be willing to bet, probably not! So why would you work with an “Investment Realtor” who’s actually never bought, sold, managed or owned investment properties before? Here are key questions to ask an Investment Realtor, to see if their experience lines up with your expectations:

• How many properties have you owned, and what types of properties do you have experience with?

• What is your experience with leasing/ managing rental properties?

• Have you ever been through any minor or major renovations?

• What strategies have you used in order to acquire properties?

3) TRANSACTION HISTORY

It’s one thing to own or manage investment properties, but what about the knowledge, experience, and wisdom that comes with actually helping partners, clients, and customers buying, selling, and managing investment properties? You would hope your Investment Realtor has a fairly substantial track record of this, right? Or, is their primary method of business helping mom, dad, cousin

• How many transactions do you help clients complete each year, and what type of transactions are they?

• Do you actively lease out properties, how many have you done, and do you provide property management services?

• Within what areas, cities, towns, do you commonly help your Investor clients?

• Are there any specific types of properties (i.e: farms, vacant land) you DO NOT have experience with?

4) CONNECTIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

What’s meat without the potatoes, right?? Or for our Vegan friends, what is falafel without the cauliflower rice? The same concept applies to your Investment Realtor. They can only help you so much, and the quality of their network or partnerships are what will fill those gaps to ensure a smooth and easy experience for whatever phase of your real estate journey you are in. We’ve yet to hear of an all-in-one “Investment Realtor-Mortgage Broker-Real Estate Lawyer-Construction Contractor-Home Stager- Property Manager-Chartered Accountant” Professional! Phew, that would be quite the jack-of-all-trades. So to ensure you have your cake and eat it too, here are some basic network backchecking you can do with that potential Investment Realtor:

• Do you have three reputable, experienced, and investor focused real estate lawyers, mortgage professionals that you commonly work with?

• If I need a painter, contractor, home cleaner, full renovation team, drywaller, etc etc, who do you recommend?

• When or if we need to sell this investment property, who do you have on hand for home staging?

• I’m tired of using Quickbooks and TurboTax! Which taxation lawyers and chartered accountants should I use to help?

5) THE MOST IMPORTANT POINT OF ALL!

Well, it looks like we’ve conveniently run out of space on this page, so you’ll just have to reach out to us directly to find out!

Wanna chat further?

226.314.1600 | www.trilliumwest.com homesplus@westsidepartners.ca