REI INK

The Home Depot

Helping Investors Scale & Optimize in Every Market By Carole VanSickle Ellis If we have learned nothing else from the COVID-19 global pandemic and its aftermath, we have confirmed that absolutely nothing will slow real estate investors down for long. In fact, less than two years after the declaration of a national lockdown in March 2020, real estate investors were responsible for just under 9% of all real estate purchase transactions nationwide. Today, that number is still higher than 8%. As the national market continues to stratify and become increasingly regional in nature, real estate investors continue to grapple with volatile economies and the unprecedented acceleration and deceleration of industry trends all while staying focused on generating and optimizing returns. Those dual goals of optimization and wealth generation, said John Gordon, director of national accounts at Home Depot, are where his company’s core competencies are shoring up investor efforts regardless of whether the local market is expanding or contracting. “The truth is that our core competencies just match up with the core needs of our customers because [those competencies] are effective in any kind of market,” Gordon said. “If a market is booming, it enables scaling, and we are positioned to support that. If there is a difficult time in the market, it enables efficiency, and we are positioned to support that as well. There is always more than one path to the bottom line.” Gordon said that over the past year, Home Depot has seen an increasing number of real estate investors from institutional operators to individual mom-and-pop owners focusing on the efficiency of their investment strategies and operations. “People are paying more attention to efficiencies of product,” he said. “Product standardization was always important, but now it is more important than ever because you want to pick products for your properties and projects that are affordable and also durable. You do not want to have to change an inexpensive product in a rental out every time you turn it.” Gordon said Home Depot’s immense reach on a national level equips the company with access to data and organizational systems that enable investors to achieve the “delicate balance” between using affordable products and attaining durability of service with those products. “People are making plans to be as efficient as possible in preparation for what could be another challenging year in this space,” Gordon observed. “Our breadth of product offerings and the ability to configure information about those products for customers looms large in this environment.” Partnerships & Productivity for Finding Predictable, Actionable Solutions Gordon observed that having an immense product offering is only one of the ways that Home Depot works with real estate investors and other professionals in the real estate space. “The other piece of the puzzle is the partnerships in which we participate,” Gordon said. “We are really fortunate that we get asked to sit down at the table with some of the country’s biggest operators who simply tell us about the challenges they are facing and then ask for our input on how to resolve those issues and think of solutions. That strategic mindset and the Home Depot willingness to roll up our sleeves and help figure things out is a huge advantage that people can leverage.” Gordon recalled a recent meeting in which a customer was working to itemize three indicators that would help better project outcomes for a variety of investments. The key, he said, turned out to be simple: predictability. “I would like to say it is rocket science,” Gordon laughed, “but what really comes out of most of our meetings are new and different ways to look at and create predictability because if you are an investor, predictability is second only to a crystal ball.” The Home Depot team prioritizes knowing as much as possible about product performance in order to deliver predictability data to customers. “There are three areas where you can best create efficiencies and, ultimately, profit,” Gordon said. “Those are: price, process, and product. The best thing an investor can do is start out by taking a close look at business processes, products, and prices, then work with these three factors to create an optimal combination.” For investors working on a less institutional scale, Home Depot has created a tool internally designated Home Depot Pro Xtra (pronounced “extra”) designed to help them access the same insights the biggest operators enjoy. The program is available to anyone who signs up for a free Pro Xtra account and offers spend tracking, preferred pricing, and rewards and perks redeemable at time of purchase. The biggest advantage that comes with a Pro Xtra membership is the data, Gordon said. “There is just a ton of data,” he explained. “Every single transaction is captured, and we can tell you the SKU of the product if you need it, how much you paid for it, whether there was a discount associated with it last time you purchased it, and so much more.” Gordon noted Pro Xtra data can also be exported into QuickBooks or other accounting platforms. “We help investors manage their businesses better,” he said. Gordon explained that because Home Depot has had such success working with its biggest clients, it prioritizes initiating and sustaining dialogue with customers across the size spectrum. “If you are using Pro Xtra or you are in a Home Depot store and you go by the Pro Desk, they will ask you all kinds of questions to help figure out if there is another element of the organization where you could benefit,” he explained. This partnership extends into the data arena as well. Gordon noted Home Depot often helps customers and businesses of all sizes identify the most commonly used windows, flooring, and other materials. “That is a huge benefit to people in the small-to-midsize portfolio group where they can really benefit from data that includes aggregated data from appropriate industry segments,” Gordon said. He continued, “We can identify trends or say, ‘Hey, people who are ordering

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The 2023 Real Estate Retrospective

Once Again, Real Estate Investors Prove Absolutely Anything is Possible By Carole VanSickle Ellis In January of this year, things were, in some ways, very different than they are today. Interest rates on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage were hovering just under 6.5%; the national median sales price for a single-family home had fallen slightly to $385,000, and Moody Analytics was predicting rental rates would rise by 2.5% over the next 12 months. Today, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage interest rates are just under 8%; the national median sales price is up $30,000, and Moody’s is warning it would be “premature to celebrate the end of the housing correction.” Real estate investors, however, are hard at work at business-as-usual and, as usual, that means very different things for different investors in different markets. “Adaptability is always the key to success in the evolving real estate market,” noted Gary Harper, CEO of Sharper Business Solutions and longtime real estate investor and educator based in the Midwest. Harper said he is seeing investor focus in his area shifting toward new builds as existing-home inventory remains tight. “This is the only way to keep up with demand,” he said. Bruce McNeilage, CEO of southeastern build-to-rent (BTR) development company Kinloch Partners, agreed. “We just follow growth where it leads us,” McNeilage said. His company has focused on the BTR space for years, but has recently expanded outward from its former focus on urban-core areas by about 30 minutes. The developer also has begun focusing almost exclusively on five-bedroom SFR properties. He explained, “This gives us access to the largest pool of qualified residents from which to draw and enables us to provide them with the innovation and technology they want in their homes. By going 30 minutes from the urban core, our lots and materials cost the same as they would nearer to the city center but we (and they) get much more square footage.” Build-to-Rent is Bigger Than Ever McNeilage is just one BTR investor taking advantage of the desirability of larger SFR assets. Richard Ross, CEO at Quinn Residences, joined the company at its inception in early 2020. The privately held real estate operating company focuses exclusively on acquiring, developing, and operating newly built, SFR communities primarily in the southeastern United States and has grown its portfolio to nearly 5,000 homes in just under three years. To Ross, the Quinn Residences strategy of partnering with local builders and developers to create purpose-built, dedicated rental communities and then retain control of maintenance, upkeep, and management is the way forward in the industry because it creates a product that helps “dismantle the negative perceptions of the build-to-rent industry,” he said. “We provide more supply to an industry in need through newly built, reasonably priced homes,” Ross concluded. Although some experts predicted that 2023 would show a decline in BTR activity due to a projected housing downturn, any slowdown in the sector was largely “momentary,” Fixr.com analyst Adam Graham wrote in July of this year. In fact, most construction professionals and developers interviewed for the home-improvement resource platform reported receiving “more requests” for BTR projects, “further highlighting the ongoing increase in popularity of this real estate arena,” Graham wrote. As with most real estate-related assets, BTR performance is highly regional in nature and, in many cases, increased BTR activity is closely associated with overvalued housing markets or increasing unaffordability. Phoenix, Arizona, for example, posted a 280% increase in BTR completions in the last five years, followed by Dallas, Texas (+102%), and Detroit, Michigan (+96%). Interestingly, although these percentages translated to the highest increases in volume of BTR properties being built in these areas, they did not directly correspond to the cities with the most BTR growth. Charlotte, North Carolina, led that charge with a 621% increase in BTR completions over the last five years, followed by Atlanta, Georgia (+380%) and Jacksonville, Florida (+353%). “Atlanta is on fire because of job growth, and it is expanding outward as far as Savannah [Georgia],” observed Robert Lee during a recent National Rental Home Council (NRHC) chapter meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. Lee, who serves as president of Sylvan Road Capital and recently installed solar panels in an entire neighborhood developed and managed by his company, said that BTR investors will be well-served to look at secondary and tertiary markets for better opportunities in the coming year. “We make acquisitions based on job growth and new industry growth when the market conditions are right,” Lee said. “We are very bullish about the whole southeast.” Any investors who own or are considering owning rental properties at this point in time should remember, however, that the increased demand for single-family homes, in particular, opens up residents and property owners to fraud and scams. Jay Byce, president of private BTR neighborhood developer ResiBuilt Homes, said that although rent growth has been positive and the BTR space is booming, providers are noticing a substantial uptick in fraudulent activity taking advantage of residents and owners in the space. “This fraud is consistent and recurring in nature,” Byce said. He described scenarios in which scammers “scrape” listings and present them on social media marketplace platforms as their own, conning would-be tenants into shelling out money for security deposits and background checks, and situations where a tenant will actually gain access to a home and begin paying rent only to discover that they have been paying rent to someone who changed the locks on the property and has no ownership of it at all. “It’s expensive and difficult for everyone involved when this happens,” Byce said. He added that for ResiBuilt, the key to catching issues like this early and keeping residents satisfied lies in having “real people” in customer service who understand the real estate industry and are able and motivated to help promptly when called to do so. “That is absolutely the key to having happy tenants,” Byce said. In the “Right” Markets, Flipping Still is Going Strong Despite increasingly intense competition for every single-family property to

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NPLA Conference Coverage

The Private Lending Industry Stands on the Precipice of Transformation By Mark Rothschild & Tucker Wade The private lending industry stands on the precipice of a transformation, influenced by a convergence of factors encompassing economic conditions, market dynamics, and technological advancements. This panel, convened during a session entitled “Forecasting the Future: Expert Predictions on Private Lending,” featured insights and forecasts from Jeff Tennyson of Lima One Capital, Stephan Leccese of Feather Lane Group, Glenn Tatham of Churchill Real Estate, Pavel Tchourliaev of Mortgage Automator, and Ezra Dweck of Ice Cap Group. Panelists shared invaluable insights and predictions regarding the current state of the industry and future challenges and opportunities lenders may encounter. Their discussions revealed a roadmap for lenders to confidently navigate uncertain times. Mark Rothschild, Account Executive of Lending Technology at GoDocs, and Tucker Wade, Senior Director of Legal Compliance at GoDocs, shared their collective perspective on the NPLA Conference and the state of the private lending industry. Rating the Current State of the Industry The industry’s current state is best described as both the “best of times” and the “worst of times,” as observed by Leccese. While the industry may not be as robust as it once was, it continues to present ample opportunities for private lenders who adapt and innovate. Emphasis was placed on the importance of differentiation between the lending market and the broader economic landscape, asserting that success lies in the right strategies. Success in lending, according to Tatham, depends on several factors, including capitalization, distinctive lender characteristics, and an innovative approach to seizing opportunities. The most effective teams can navigate current challenges and excel in their performance. Moreover, having the right personnel and a streamlined organization is imperative for thriving in these turbulent times. A noteworthy shift is happening in the perception of lenders and brokers within the market. Dweck pointed out that brokers now hold a favorable position due to their direct access to capital. This alteration in dynamics has generated an exclusive opportunity for both lenders and brokers in the market. Tennyson summarized the industry’s temperature as “not too hot, not too cold.” He stressed the importance of lenders sticking to their areas of expertise and steering clear of excessive expansion. Tennyson’s take is that focusing on one’s strengths leads to true success rather than pursuing every opportunity. The experts agreed the private lending industry’s health is intrinsically tied to a robust and consistent lending process. In a market where capital is increasingly selective, lenders must showcase a process that ensures the success and performance of loans. Leccese underlined that it is not just about delivering a great customer experience; it is about building customer-friendly loans designed to thrive. Steps to Improve Lender’s Position Panelists discussed several pivotal steps concerning the improvement of a lender’s position. Tchourliaev emphasized the foundational importance of ensuring reliable access to capital for organizations. In their role as loan providers, lenders are entrusted with a dual responsibility: retaining loans on their balance sheets and securing a dependable source of capital. This dual role becomes even more critical in today’s dynamic business environment, where adaptability and easy access to financial resources are paramount. Continuing this theme, the group emphasized a comprehensive and systematic approach to lender diligence. This approach advocates for a departure from the traditional, transaction-oriented model of lending, encouraging lenders to embrace a more holistic lending strategy that extends beyond isolated transactions. This perspective is crucial in today’s economic landscape, where lenders’ strategic positioning heavily depends on the long-term performance of loans. Marginal Challenges and The Search for Value Panelists agreed on the persistence of tight industry margins in the foreseeable future. They emphasized that, in such an environment, lenders must focus on their strengths and innovative approaches to overcoming constraints. Differentiation and value creation will be essential. Specialization is the key to success. Lenders should focus on their primary skills and attract suitable investments and capital. By establishing themselves as experts in their field, they can efficiently overcome the challenges posed by low-profit margins. The panelists also reinforced the importance of self-assessment in today’s environment. Lenders should engage in reflective analysis to identify their strengths and areas of excellence. Simultaneously, they must pinpoint the constraints impeding their progress and explore innovative ways to overcome them. What constraints are holding them back, and how can they overcome those constraints with their strengths? To Sell or To Hold: The Right Approach The talk turned to whether it is better to sell loans or hold them on a line or facility. The group noted the choice depends on finding the right partners. Success can be achieved with either approach as long as the right partners are involved. According to Leccese, having the proper infrastructure for both approaches is crucial. The infrastructure should align with the lender’s strengths and the value they provide to their customers. The key is concentrating on what the lender excels at and enjoys doing. The Role of Technology in the Industry Technology’s role in the private lending sector emerged as a central theme. According to Tchourliaev, there is some hesitation about adopting technology, but forward-thinking lenders embrace it to enhance efficiency. Lenders adopting a digital transformation strategy can streamline their operations, reduce paperwork, and improve the overall customer experience. Adopting technology also opens up opportunities for data-driven decision-making, enabling lenders to assess risks more accurately and offer more personalized lending solutions. As the private lending industry evolves, those who embrace technology are better positioned to stay competitive and provide innovative financial services in an ever-changing market. The panelists discussed the proliferation of systems that can significantly impact business scalability. Third-party companies have stepped up to streamline processes, making technology adoption more accessible and effective. Today’s private lender has many options for using technology to streamline operations, including LOS, Document Automation, Payment Processing, Risk Management, and e-Signature/e-Delivery, among others. The winning combination occurs when a lender’s systems work together in harmony, alleviating stresses in staff (not adding to them) and allowing for sustained growth.

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Insurance Coverages for Fix & Flip Properties

What Real Estate Investors Must Understand By Shawn Woedl Whether you are new to property flipping or a seasoned veteran, renovating a home to sell for profit comes with a unique set of risks. One of the most crucial aspects of protecting yourself and your business is insurance. The following coverages serve as the foundation for insuring any renovation property. Dwelling Coverage Dwelling coverage protects against sudden and accidental physical damage to your property. For instance, if severe weather were to cause a tree to fall on your roof, resulting in structural damage, your Dwelling insurance is what may cover the cost of repairs or replacement. Basic, Broad, and Special are the three coverage options available to investors. Below is an overview of each: Basic Form Basic Form coverage is a “Named Peril” policy, which means for a loss to be covered, the peril must be listed by name on the declarations page. In addition, the policyholder carries the burden of proving that a loss was caused by an included peril. Basic Form is typically the cheapest of the three coverage options. However, a Basic Form policy does not include coverage for the following perils:   »         Collapse    »         Falling Objects   »         Weight of Ice, Sleet, or Snow   »         Water Damage (Most known as coverage for frozen and burst pipes)    »         Theft (This includes things the policyholder owns, such as air conditioning units or copper pipes) Broad Form Coverage Broad Form is similar to Basic in that it is also a “Named Peril” policy. The coverage provided by Broad Form includes the same perils as Basic, and it also adds:  »         Collapse  »         Falling Objects  »         Weight of Ice, Sleet, or Snow  »         Water Damage Broad Form does not include Theft coverage. Many insurance companies choose not to offer Broad Form because the cost savings it provides are usually not enough to make sense to purchase over Special Form. Special Form Coverage Special Form is the most comprehensive and, in turn, the most expensive insurance coverage form you can purchase. It is considered “All-Risk” coverage, meaning unless there are specific exclusions listed within the policy, then coverage is afforded to you in the event of a loss. The burden of proof falls on the insurance company to prove that the policy specifically excludes the peril that caused the loss. There are standard exclusions that come in every Special Form policy. Some of these exclusions can be purchased as an endorsement or stand-alone policy, while others cannot. Standard exclusions include:  »         Mold & Fungus  »         Wear & Tear  »         Sewer & Drain Backup  »         Earth Movement (including earthquakes and sinkholes)  »         Flood  »         Intentional Tenant Damage When it comes to insuring a renovation property, we advise opting for Special Form, as it typically extends coverage to Theft and Water Damage, two perils that are more likely to occur at properties undergoing renovation. Note: you should always review your exclusions and endorsements pages as some insurers may exclude Theft, even on Special Form. Premises Liability When you own any property, it’s important to have coverage for more than just the physical structure. Premises Liability is insurance that protects the property owner. It covers events that occurred on the premises, including bodily injury and property damage to a third party or their property caused by hazardous conditions or negligence, provided that circumstance is not excluded. As the property owner, you are legally responsible for the safety of invited and even uninvited guests, such as trespassers. Hazardous conditions that may cause bodily injury can include uneven pavement, uncleared snow, icy walkways, etc. These types of lawsuits are not cheap, so it is extremely important that you protect yourself and your livelihood with a Premises Liability policy. Coverage for DIY Flippers Did you know that if you perform some or all of the renovation work yourself, you have added liability exposures? While Premises Liability is one of the most important coverages to have at any property you own, it does not fully address your unique liability risks as a DIY flipper. A Premises Liability policy will not provide coverage for incidents that occurred as a result of your renovations. To mitigate these risks, we recommend two crucial coverages: Products & Completed Operations (P&CO) Products & Completed Operations is liability insurance that protects you from lawsuits alleging property damage or bodily injury due to a defect in your product or completed work. For example, let’s say you built a deck as part of your flipping operations. The deck is considered a product or completed operation. If the deck fails and causes bodily injury, defense costs and awarded damages may be covered by P&CO.   Personal & Advertising Injury (P&AI) Personal & Advertising Injury protects against non-physical injury claims involving libel, slander, and invasion of privacy. For example, if a person or entity alleges that your marketing materials caused them harm, leading to a legal dispute, this coverage can help with defense costs and awarded damages. Similar coverage may also be extended if someone claims you invaded their privacy through your advertising practices, such as using their image without consent.  On a flip project, it is important to secure Products & Completed Operations and Personal & Advertising Injury coverages for work you complete yourself. However, it can be challenging to obtain these coverages if you are not a professional contractor or artisan/subcontractor. For this reason, NREIG developed FlipShield, a liability-only policy for do-it-yourself flippers. FlipShield includes coverage for P&CO and P&AI and is available to property owners who perform some or all of the renovation work themselves, as long as they are not professional contractors.

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The Cash for Keys Strategy

A Successful Alternative for a Return to Positive ROI By The End 2 End Team Return on Investment (ROI) is the most crucial aspect of owning a single-family rental property. You have put in the investment to purchase the asset, complete renovations and prepare the property for the rental market.  Finally, everything is complete, and you are ready to begin seeing the ROI that you expected when you purchased this asset. You diligently market the property and screen potential renters to find the most qualified candidate to secure your investment. It is time to finally see some revenue…. what could go wrong? Owning an investment or rental property can have its advantages and challenges. One of the biggest challenges investors face today is non-paying tenants occupying their rental properties. No matter how much effort you put into screening your tenants there is always the chance that the tenant will be late or stop paying. So, what do you do when you have a tenant who Is habitually late or just stops paying altogether? Your return on investment has just plummeted. Your holding, maintenance and utility costs continue to pile up and your tenant has stopped responding to your inquiries as to when payment will be made. Eviction timelines can take months in some jurisdictions and even if you are able to secure an eviction date with the courts and local sheriff, the cost to complete the eviction can be in the thousands of dollars. At this point, you will be lucky if the tenant has not vindictively destroyed your property just for the sheer fact that you proceeded to evict them. Now you have even more renovation costs to incur to get the property turned and ready for rent. This is a time to resort to some alternative resolution strategies to get back possession of your property quickly and in the best condition possible. One of these alternatives is called cash for keys or relocation assistance. In this scenario, you offer the tenant a specified number of dollars to vacate the premises and leave it in broom-clean condition. This type of transaction results in the tenant leaving amicably and ensures that you will receive the property back in a condition ready to be turned and made ready for rental. Why Pay Someone Who Owes Me Money? The reality is that paying out a few thousand dollars to get possession of your property now and get it back to being income producing, is a much better and more cost-effective solution than shelling out tens of thousands of dollars to wait and proceed to evict the non-paying tenant. Offer Determination When determining the amount you would offer an occupant in this type of situation, we suggest considering the amount of rent they currently pay as well as the amount they would need to pay to secure another rental. For most people to move, they need to pay at minimum the first month’s rent and security deposit. If the tenants did not have the money to pay you for the rent owed, the likelihood of them having funds to relocate on their own is minimal at best. Transaction Success The success of your transaction is going to depend on the offer you present and the diligence of your efforts to get the tenant to communicate and be interested in completing the program. Historically, the average success rate is about 30%. In recent months, the End to End Solutions team has been exploring additional communication methods, offer amounts, and additional offerings that in some scenarios have resulted in a 70% or more success rate in either getting the tenant to accept the offer and relocate, or to bring their account current and continue their current tenancy. Communication Methods How you communicate the offer to your tenants is the most important aspect of your transaction. There are a lot of scams and fraud going on these days, and ineffective communication can lead your tenant to believe that what is being offered is not legitimate and therefore not take it seriously. The offer should be presented to the tenant with a note or letter explaining why it is being offered. Communication attempts can include personal hand delivery of the letter, sending the letter to them via expedited delivery methods such as FedEx, UPS, or USPS, sending the letter and information via email, and following up with the tenant post-delivery via telephone to confirm receipt and discuss the offer terms. Additional Incentives Additional incentives can include the return of the security deposit (if the property is left in the same condition when rented), a waiver of the past due amount, and an agreement not to release this information to the reporting credit bureaus. These types of alternate add-on incentives can help to drastically increase your success rate and help in ensuring the property is returned to you in good condition. Deadlines When presenting an offer to your tenant, it is imperative that you impose deadlines for a response or acceptance of the offer as well as the vacate date. Setting a deadline for the tenant to respond or accept the offer will prompt them to make a decision in a timely manner. Failure to provide deadlines can result in an open-ended offer that the tenant will attempt to renegotiate or delay as there is no repercussion for failure to act. It can also be beneficial to present multiple offers with different deadlines. For instance, if the tenant vacates the property in two weeks, they will receive a higher dollar amount than if they vacate the property in three weeks. Presenting the tenant with options gives them a little more sense of control of the situation and allows them to choose what option is best for their situation. These unique and creative solutions allow you to effectively decrease the losses typically seen when a property becomes non-income producing and help increase your Return on Investment. The End to End Solutions team is constantly creating, testing, and producing

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Industry Professionals that Can Accelerate Your Investment Career

General Contractors, Property Managers, Real Estate Brokers, Mentors By Nate Zielinski Any savvy investor who has been in the real estate investment space will tell you that it is a hard industry to navigate alone. At the onset of a new investor’s career as well as along the way, there are industry professionals that can offer guidance and bring skill sets to the table that the investor may not have themselves. The onus is on an investor to network, find these relationships, and then develop them over time. There are many facets to real estate investing and it is crucial for investors to open up and accept the help and expertise that is available to them. Some of these professions in the investment industry include general contractors, property managers, real estate brokers, and mentors. General Contractors It is typical for new investors in the real estate investment industry to start with fix-and-flip properties. They are usually easier to find and cost less than a rental property in stable condition that can cash flow instantly. While some renovations are minor in nature and can be handled by the investor themselves, some rehab efforts need to be much more thorough and are simply impossible to do alone. With access to more materials and connections that could save the investor money, general contractors are a must-have to accelerate your investment portfolio. They can complete larger projects such as additions to a house, installing new flooring and carpet, and even expedite painting the interior or exterior of a property. Once an investor has a reliable general contractor, they can be more aggressive when pursuing additional properties. General contractors are happiest when they have a steady flow of work. As an investor scales their business, so too will the general contractor. Once an investor can fully trust a GC to complete their renovation projects, they can expand their business and seek out other investment opportunities outside of the narrow fix and flip scope. Property Managers As an investor maneuvers from fix-and-flip loans to long-term rentals, there will be similar challenges when trying to scale. With most investors being ambitious by nature, they will not want to stop at just one rental property. This is where hiring the right property manager or management company comes into play. Property managers manage tenant rent collection, property maintenance and upkeep and relay any major issues that tenants are having to the investor. This level of assistance and communication can make a huge difference for an investor who is looking to expand their portfolio. An investor can now schedule their day more efficiently knowing they have help with their rental properties. Property managers will also allow investors to take on properties at a nationwide level. Investors are no longer restricted to local investments if they have a trusted property manager. This enables investors to achieve their goal of generational wealth from real estate investment properties. Real Estate Brokers While general contractors and property managers are there to help investors after a property is secured, real estate brokers can help during the transactional phase of the investment. Brokers can sometimes be overlooked by investors, but their impact can be immense, especially for investors who are already established. Think of brokers as your own personal loan processor throughout the life of the loan. Finding experienced brokers that take their profession seriously can be an asset for any real estate investor. They will know where to send certain deals that investors may have depending on the scenario. Some lenders specialize in fix-and-flip or short-term loans while others have stronger long-term rental loan offerings. As an investor, it is a detriment to your business if you spend too much time shopping around for a loan, going over every little detail, and haggling terms with an account executive at a lender. With a broker working with you on every transaction, they can handle the busy work while you focus on finding properties and managing your portfolio wherever you see fit. It is in the broker’s best interest to get an investor the best deal possible to earn more of their business, so an investor should have confidence in partnering up with one. Mentors An investor can accelerate their career by finding a trusted and experienced investor who can serve as a mentor as they break into the industry. Mentors serve many different purposes for up-and-coming investors, but the biggest benefits they offer include instilling confidence in investors and reassuring them through inevitable rough patches. Having a mentor in your corner who has seen just about everything in the industry can make a difference when a new investor hits a low point. Another benefit a mentor can bring to the table is being a partner on the first few deals for brand-new investors. Not only can their expertise put an investor’s mind at ease, but they can also help an investor get better loan terms early on in their career. Due to these partnerships with mentors, investors can qualify for better interest rates, pay less of a down payment and close loans faster. One of the best parts about mentoring is that it is something that can be paid forward. As investors get to a certain point in their career, they can turn around and be a mentor for new investors. This cycle is important in keeping the investor community strong. It is worth reiterating that any investor trying to take on this career path individually is leaving a lot of time and money on the table. Forming a team consisting of one or more of these industry professionals is a step in the right direction for all investors. At the next networking event, trade show, or even the next time you are scrolling on various social media sites, keep an eye out for these types of individuals to help accelerate your investment career.

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