Teamwork makes the Dream Work

by Dean Workman

The power team are your most important allies as a real estate investor. So what is a power team? If you want to have any hope of becoming successful as a virtual real estate investor. You must establish your team of professionals within the area’s your are targeting to purchase investment properties. (The following list of professional is in no particular order) ok! 8^)

A great property inspector is key to helping you to decide on the best property to purchase. For example: you may have narrowed down your list of potential houses or properties in a particular area and timeframe to three. The numbers all look good on all of them and the locations are similar. The question is, do you buy all of them, one of them or none of them. This is where your building inspector is worth their weight in gold. A good one will be able to give you a deal on inspecting all three properties and will be able to email you photo’s. They will be able to quickly point out which one needs the least repair and which one will probably yield the higher value for money.

Your rehab team and your project manager (sometimes your building inspector can be the PM) are vital to keeping your investment profitable. Having a great rehab team can be a challenge to find, but once you have found the inspector they can often recommend the rehab team.  Although a word of caution on this, you don’t necessarily want them to be too associated as this can lead to a conflict of interest. Often a rental property manager has weeded out the good from the bad and they can be a very good source of trades’ people.

This is naturally introduces us to the property manager. You must interview the property manager to find the right one. Often a great property manager may be a real estate investor themselves. A wealth of information, they can quickly give you a heads up on whether the property you are looking to buy is in fact a desirable rental. They are your eyes and ears in the area and they know where tenants want to live and where they want to avoid.  

Your accountant should also be a real estate investor and having a professional real estate lawyer, although a little more expensive to begin with, will save you a fortune in the long run. It also pays to have a good realtor on your side. Not all realtors are alike. A realtor who is a real estate investor thinks differently than the average photo in the real estate section of the paper. They tend to look at the bottom line and can work with you to create win/win deals.  The list here is by no means conclusive, but I think you get the idea.