In my brokerage practice, the primary value I want to provide for my clients is providing high quality representation (and all that representation entails, which in my opinion is dramatically underrated). Additionally, I was curious about what the market felt were the important reasons for hiring the right agent, especially in regard to investment property brokerage. There is no shortage of articles on the topic, my favorites are the lists with numbers, i.e. the “7 Benefits of Hiring A Real Estate Broker”, and “Avoid the Top 5 Pitfalls of Not Hiring an Agent”, etc. I love them all!
What stood out to me is I could find three potential benefits of NOT utilizing a real estate broker:
- Potential to save money
- No middleman
- Direct connection to parties
Those can be potential benefits, however, when you do the math the cost is pretty high. On the flipside, I found 99 potential benefits to hiring the right broker. Here is what I found, with most of the benefits falling under these five categories:
- Representation for a very large investment
- More money for sellers
- Get a better deal
- Save time
- Higher probability you get exactly what you want
I collated the benefits to fit in three categories: “Buying”, “Selling”, and “Buying & Selling”, and while some of these are somewhat redundant, I attempted to remove the obvious overlaps. None of the internet articles specifically focused on multi-family brokerage, so I added those benefits to the list.
What else do you think should be on the list?
BUYING
- Free for buyer’s agent typically
- Save time on market research
- Save time researching properties for sale
- Help with due diligence
- Finding the right inspector
- Help with title issues
- Help with re-negotiating after inspections
- Help creating an operating expense budget
- Help with operating problems post closing
- Help with operating efficiency post closing
- Help finding the right property manager
- Access to off market deals
- May get you better price
- Gets you access to properties
- Motivated to find you a deal
- Help you with financing preapproval
- Help finding the right lender for the deal
- Help requesting repairs
- Knows “lay of the land”
- Knows the market
- Helps in finding something specific
- Finnding the right deal
- Support post closing
- you have nothing to lose!
- Identify unnoticed features with property
- Identify unnoticed faults with property
- Will schedule meetings with potential property managers
- Help choosing proper financing
- Help with required buyer documentation
- Sift through available properties to narrow choices quicker, more efficiently
- Expert eye- avoid bad deals
- Knowing about future deals that are not on the market yet
- Help with first time buying
- Avoid overpaying
- Access to market rental data
- Brokers know what to look for
SELLING
- Pricing expertise
- Getting bids from the right service providers
- Ethics, full disclosure of problems
- Convenience
- Free valuation of your property
- Will set up photographer
- Help with the appraisal process
- Create effective marketing
- Can provide tips prior to selling
- Access to a large pool of buyers
- Help with required seller documentation
- Placing ads
- If 1031 seller, can help with 1031 buying (establishes relationship for 1031 buying access)
- Learn what improvements sell in your market
- Validates your property/price
- Access to 1031 buyers
- The right broker is a “hub” for prospective buyers, i.e. buyers check the firm’s website)
- Adequate social media coverage
- Sell properties faster
- Get more buyer exposure
- Tips on how to increase curb appeal, where to spend money, etc.
- The broker commission is a marketing tool to obtain a higher price
- Buyers are more at ease vs. dealing directly with seller
BUYING & SELLING
- Will set up meetings with attorneys, CPA’s, etc
- Will set up bids from service providers
- Ethics and expertise
- Understands complex transactions
- Paperwork
- Unemotional negotiation
- Zoning code expertise
- Thorough record keeping for multiple years
- Avoiding closing problems
- Avoid red tape, errors and omissions
- Save time and energy
- Not having to coordinate repairs
- Expertise on your side
- Avoid negotiating yourself
- Help with problems while pending
- Make negotiations an easy process
- Expert advice for piece of mind
- Guidance and support
- Help you understand the process
- Will improve client’s knowledge
- Negotiate better price and terms
- Help to successful close
- Assistance with all miscellaneous legwork
- Pricing strategy
- Assistance with questions before, during, after a sale
- Avoid going up against experienced professional on other side by yourself
- Emotional support through process
- Can help with future transactions
- Save time vetting contractors/service providers
- Follow legality 100%
- Avoid closing problems
- Help analyzing potential tax implications of buying and selling
- Access to sold comparables
- Access to Broker’s Network
- Privacy, confidentiality, fiduciary
- Help with details
- Broker may be able to shorten time required for service provider scheduling
- Help with communication with title company issues
- Broker may be able to fix major problems
- Help with specific types of real estate, i.e. Investment properties vs. residential properties
