Welcome back to the second issue! Once you have determined what part of the cycle your market is in and you see there are opportunities to flip some real estate in your local area, you will need to build your “power team”. Real estate investing like all businesses are not a solo sport, even if you are a solo entrepreneur at the moment you still have a lawyer you consult with and hopefully an accountant to file your tax return for maximum tax savings. Here are the main team members you will have to get on the bench to help you with your real estate empire.
- Realtor
- General contractor
- All sub-trades if you intend to be the general contractor
- Lawyer
- Accountant
- Book Keeper if you are doing a lot of transactions
- Real Estate Appraiser
- Property Inspector
- Architect/Draftsperson for permits and drawings
- Mortgage Broker
- Insurance Broker
- Joint Venture Partners
- Hard money Lenders
- Virtual Assistant
- Marketing Consultant
Holy cow what a list! You may be thinking that is a lot of interviews and web research to find all those people, this does take some time – which is why this power team is included for our clients in the Alberta region. Here are some best practices to find these professionals in your local market place:
- Network with other real estate investors in your area that are already flipping houses successfully and ask for referrals
- Interview each of the prospects and ask them how many real estate investors that they currently have as clients
- Ask your realtor what percentage of real estate investors do they have as clients? (over 50% is a good indicator they know what investors are looking for)
- Ask your mortgage broker what percentage of your mortgages involve private money? Have you worked with blended mortgages before? IE part private and part bank financing
- Keep in mind accountants and lawyer’s advice is often at odds with each other…liability and tax savings can be a balance between the two– do what you feel is best to sleep well at night!
- Ask for referrals from 5 sources for VA’s there is a lot of competition in the space, a US-based company that outsources to other centers is ideal here
- Marketing company only by referral from other real estate investors – very competitive market space with huge companies such as real estate brokerages competing for keywords and mind share in the online world
Once you have your power team built it is time to start marketing for properties and looking for deals! Stay tuned for the next Issue where we will dive into where to find great deals in any market!
Respect The Hustle
Tim Reid