Assembling Your Team
A great man once said “real estate is a team sport”. I couldn’t agree more. When you’re ready to step into the real estate investment market as a serious player, you’re going to need to gather around you the staff that will help you make fast, reliable decisions, save you time, and improve your investments. Once you assemble a great team, you’ll have the building blocks of a successful real estate business.
Here are the folks you’ll need, and what I look for in these members of my team:
(1) The Lawyer. A great real estate lawyer is like the quarterback of your investment team. He is probably the most important player other than yourself, and should be selected carefully. Choose an experienced lawyer who is creative, but also has been around the block. You don’t want your lawyer ‘learning as he goes’ with your money at stake. A top-tier real estate lawyer should also provide ‘deal-flow’, meaning that he or she will be bringing investment opportunities your way from time-to-time.
(2) The Realtor. You’re going to want a person who is bringing in the deal opportunities and advising you on the market. You should also know the market inside and out, but it helps to have a second voice who is ‘on the street’. Additionally, a great Realtor will be able to seamlessly transact property deals for you when it is time to buy/sell an asset. Most people consider this the main duty of the Realtor, but to an investor, deal-flow and timely, accurate advice trump all.
(3) The Accountant. Real estate investment is a business. For some odd reason, most people in this business are not aware of that, however. Businesses need accurate and helpful number-crunchers, and that’s where your accountant comes in. An accountant is not just for tax time (a good one isn’t, anyway) The best accountant for your business will be keeping track of all of your cash flows, critical ratios and the like, allowing you to make month-to-month decisions about which properties to buy, or to divest of (sell).
(4) The Partner. One person can’t do it alone. I don’t care if you’re making a million dollars every year. You’re going to run out of borrowing power. What? I’ll say it again – You’re going to run out of borrowing power. You will almost certainly need partners in order to succeed, because they help mitigate risk and allow you to borrow into more properties and more leverage. Choose partners very carefully. Your business partner choices are almost as important as choosing your spouse. At the bare minimum, ensure your goals and time horizons are aligned from the outset.
Once you’ve assembled a great team that you believe in and trust, you’ll be well on your way to a successful real estate investment business. Learning to delegate appropriate tasks to these people, and especially to listen to them will be the path to financial victory.
Also remember, one of the most valuable traits of all of these folks is that they are not you. They have their own opinion on your investment decisions, and if you truly trust them, you should heed what they have to say – particularly when they don’t like an investment opportunity. Be prepared to listen, but have the courage to make your own decision. Good luck!
As always, call me if you’re interested in learning more about buying or selling real estate. I look forward to chatting.
Until next time,
Shaun Nilsson
1-888-712-7888
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Hot Daily Properties- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
-
Recent Blog Posts
-
