Building A Solid Professional Real Estate Team For Your Prop

Networking. Relationships. Team work. Collaboration. Cooperation.

Would you believe it if I told you that these words are the soul and essence of building a successful real estate empire? While it is possible for a lone ranger to invest in a few pieces of real estate property without any help from others, it isn’t truly feasible to build a scalable real estate business without a solid team of willing and capable working partners by your side. The people who you surround yourself play a huge part in your work results and experience in the real estate world. Have you ever heard of the famous saying by Jim Rohn (American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker) - “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”? Your business is where you will be spending the majority of your time, particularly if you are an entrepreneur/investor. This is not a part-time job, or even a nine-to-five daily grind. We are talking about around-the-clock nonstop work that you will be dedicating your time, energy, and money in to. In essence, you will become the average of the handful of people you most associate with and these people, believe it or not, affect your personal success in life.

A lot of investors start out resisting the idea of hiring people to work with them, but many later decide that if they want to grow the business then building a winning team is inevitable. Investors have reported tremendous growth after hiring team members, because it gave them the luxury to do much more knowing that there are other capable parties there to help out. There comes a point when you will realize that you cannot manage all of the workload and responsibilities yourself.

In the business world, success comes down to how well a group of people are able to co-exist and work together to create a collaborative environment through the division of labour which drives increased efficiency, maximized resources, and overall synergy. Why is this important? Because one cannot survive (at least, long term) without the other components working seamlessly. If you look at the real estate industry in detail, you will find that there are a myriad of different job roles within this unique space alone. There are categories of specialization, expertise, and division of labour in the world of real estate investing. Everyone has a unique job role that they become experts in, and as a real estate investor (even if you are just starting out), you will experience the best results and rewards when you have a trusted team of people by your side.

Teamwork is the key to success but people tend to forget that. It’s really easy to get greedy when investment in real estate and that’s where people make the common mistake of going at it alone. Sure, if you go at it alone you will get the keep the full revenue pie, but the reality is that you cannot possibly win the full slab of pie without the help of each trustworthy team member contributing. You have to set your sights on the long-term rewards, not just at the fast returns you can secure if you take the independent route. By aligning yourself with qualified and reputable professional allies, it allows you to scale your real estate portfolio much quicker than if you were to try to take on every job role yourself. You would run yourself ragged within the first few months! In the beginning you may be able to handle the workload but what happens when you start getting more leads than you can handle? Are you going to try to wear every single hat in the business? You could try but we can put our money down that you will burn yourself out quicker than you think and end up running your business to the ground. If you don’t understand or place value on the importance of teamwork, it could quickly lead to disaster once your business starts to expand. When have you seen a single big corporation scale its business with just one person running the business alone from beginning to the end? Never. Every successful business understands the value in growing a knowledgeable team of experts, and you need to know how to build your own team from the ground up should you want your business to take off.

Before we get to talking about the types of people you will need to build a solid team, it’s important to set some measurable goals first. The fist step is to evaluate your current situation. Ask yourself these questions:

What is the ultimate goal for building your team? Is it to increase your revenue? Is it so that it can free up more of your schedule to focus on expanding the business?

Am I building a team because there is an overflow of business?
Is the purpose to have a better quality real estate experience for each represented client in my portfolio? Is the goal to have more quality time available to enjoy life outside of real estate investment?
Which part of the business do you need the most help with?
Which area of expertise do you lack the most?
Which area of expertise are you most skilled at knowledgeable at?
What kind of job responsibilities are required of you on a daily basis currently? How can you leverage the work of other team members to maximize your work efficiency and results?

There are no right or wrong answers to any of these questions. Simply, by answering these questions, it should assist you in setting short and long-term goals for the direction of your business. This will help you develop the right group of professional talent to achieve the desired goals. Once you understand your purpose and vision, you can start implementing strategies to secure a winning real estate team of superstars.

We have compiled a list of the top five people you absolutely need to build the real estate team for your real estate portfolio.

Let’s take a look at who these types of people are:

A Local Real Estate Agent

First up on the list. You need to have a local real estate agent on your side. Not just any real estate agent, it has to be a real estate agent who specialises in your targeted market. While a lot of investors will use the same real estate agent regardless of which city or locale they invest property in, it’s not usually the wisest choice. The smartest approach is to allocate a different local agent for each and every property location you invest it because each agent will have a different niche of expertise. You have to understand that every market runs differently and good agents grasp the value of maintaining specified areas os expertise that they know everything about. By working with local real estate agents can give you knowledgeable information about their markets, you ensure that your numbers are accurate and that you know the ins and outs about the properties and neighbourhoods where you are investing your money in to. Some job responsibilities of a local real estate agent may include:

Providing guidance and assisting sellers and buyers in marketing and purchasing property for the right price under the best terms
Determining your needs and financial abilities to propose solutions that suit your needs and goals.
Performing comparative market analysis to estimate properties’ values.
Appraise property values
Negotiate prices and other sales terms
Generate lists of properties that are compatible with your needs and financial resources.
Remain knowledgeable about real estate markets and best practices
Develop networks and cooperate with attorneys, mortgage lenders, and contractors.
Maintain and update portfolio listings.
Prepare necessary real estate paperwork (contracts, leases, deeds, closing statements, etc.)

Property Manager

It’s midnight and you get a call from the tenant of one of your properties about a leaking toilet that needs to be fixed immediately. Or it’s the weekend, and there’s an emergency that you need to deal with at one of your various properties. All these responsibilities piled up can end up taking away large chunks of your time - time that you can find much better use for, like growing your business. If you have to deal with property emergencies like these all the time, when will you have time to deal with the bigger issues that come with expanding your business? The last thing a real estate investor wants to do is deal with little nuisances like these, especially when he or she has multiple properties under the real estate portfolio. So what can be done? Someone has to do it. This is where hiring a professional property manager on your real estate investment team will be a saving grace. The role of a property manager is to handle day-to-day operational tasks like these at each of your properties. By having people who can remove these headaches from your already heavy plate, it leaves you to focus on the bigger responsibilities. You need to learn how to delegate the smaller tasks to other team members so that you can execute the bigger business strategies. You only have one pair of hands, one pair of feet and 24 hours in a day. Knowing how to delegate responsibilities intelligently is how the big players get to the top of their industry.

Job responsibilities of a real estate property manager may include the following:

Setting, collecting and adjusting rent on properties.
Finding, screening and handling tenants
Manage tenants on your properties
Handling leases and making sure it has all the right provisions to protect you, the real estate investor
Dealing with complaints
Initiating evictions
Dealing with the physical management of the property, including regular maintenance and emergency repairs.
Knowledge of landlord-teanant laws in your specified market.

Accountant

What does investment simmer down to at the end of it all?

Money.

Numbers.

Real estate accounting can be extremely complex. There are a ton of really complicated and intricate financial documents you will have to sort through as a real estate investor (both new and experienced), and it’s to your greatest advantage to had an excellent accountant to your real estate team. A professional accountant can sift through and play with numbers better than you can yourself. If you try to go at it alone, chances are you will have an extraordinarily difficult time. A professional real estate accountant undeniably one of the most important members that you can add to your real estate team. This person is a vital component of your business and the right accountant can be worth their weight in gold. A solid accountant can save you much more than they’ll cost and in the long run, the will easily justify the expenses they incur for you expanding business. This is just a short list of what a professional accountant can do for you:

Help prepare your personal and business tax returns
Offer you solid professional advice and tax recommendations
Find and leverage as many tax advantages as possible
Follow the legalities of the real estate tax laws
Keep track of your ongoing business transactions
Keep your business organized through a financial record keeping system

Make sure you find an accountant who is real estate savvy and has preferably worked with other real estate professionals before. You want to hire someone who is specifically a real estate accountant and not just a general accountant. There are many real estate laws that only real estate-focused accountants are aware of.

Attorney

Another very important component of your real estate team, having a trusted real estate attorney on your side can ensure that you get the most out of your property portfolio and work accordingly to your market’s real estate laws. There are so many legally binding contracts and laws that you have to adhere to in the world of real estate investment, and it’s so easy to land yourself in hot water by accident if you are not aware of these legalities. Having a trusted real estate attorney on your side is crucial! You want to find yourself an attorney who can help you with legal issues from A-Z - someone who has thorough knowledge of the real estate industry and can also help you put together legal documents, partnerships, negotiations and more. Real estate attorneys are generally hired to handle matters strictly related to real estate, things like:

Real estate disputes and transactions
Prepare and review documents relating to real estate purchase agreements, mortgage documents, title documents, transfer documents…etc
Handle the closing on purchases
Provide legal guidance related to the purchases or sale of real estate property
Ensure that the interests are on your side through all legally binding transactions

Mentor

Mentorship is one of the most undervalued and least talked about components of building a fledging real estate superstar team. We can’t stress this team member enough. Having a mentor can be a day and night difference especially for a newbie investor. Even if you have some experience, it’s always helpful to have mentors who have even more knowledge and experience than you to help guide you through the complex processes of real estate investment. Having the right mentor or mentors can help save you a lot of time and money. These people have already been through what you are going through. Instead of wasting time and money, taking years to figure everything out yourself, you will fare much better by having a great mentor on your side. Real estate investment is confusing, and there is so much to learn. It’s a lifelong process of learning. The wealthiest, most successful people in the world understand the value of mentors. They know that they cannot possibly know everything, so they align themselves with people who can offer them knowledge and guidance in areas that they lack.

Make sure that if you do seek a mentor that you don’t just focus on what the mentor can do for you, but also on what you can do for the mentor. Successful people are very busy, and time is highly valuable to them. If you want value provided to you, you need to be willing to equally provide value for them.

Finally...

The last and most important indispensable team member is YOU. Building a solid team is half the work, but having the team work together smoothly and efficiently requires a good leader. You are building this team, so it’s your job to take on that leadership role. Being a good leader means taking charge, setting up your company’s mission and set core values. We cannot stress enough on the importance of having excellent communication channels with your team. In order for a team to work well together and reap good results, everyone needs to understand what their role is and how to align together to meet targeted goals. Lastly, communication and respect for each team member is paramount to the long-term success of your real estate business. If you cannot manage your team well, team players will get frustrated and leave once a better opportunity comes along. Just as important as building a team is, knowing how to retain a team and keep everything motivated and happy is just as vital. People want to feel valued and nurtured. A team member is like a family - you go face difficulties and challenges together and you also succeed together. It’s about genuinely working as a unit.

Real estate investment needs teamwork!

The above are the most important members you want to have on your team immediately, but there are other team members that you can explore the option of hiring if you find that your business is expanding to a degree where it needs even more help:

Insurance Agent
General Contractor
Plumber
Handyman
Electrician
Technician
Pest Control Company
Cleaning Company
Accountability Group
Banker
Private Money Lender or Equity Partner
Well-Connected Business Professionals