At the March 2 NJREI wholesalers & rehabbers meetup, Glen and Paul shared tips on how to build the best teams for your success in the fix & flip investment market. Here are the key takeaways of the discussion on who to put on your real estate business’ team.

#1 – Real estate agents. Build a relationship with a full-time real estate agent who has a pulse on the market.

Real estate agents have access to multiple listing services (MLS) and can provide you with the comparable sales analysis you need to determine your ARV. Work with someone who knows the local inspectors, and understands the neighborhoods and towns to help you develop your investing strategy. Let your real estate team member know the types of opportunities you’re looking for and that when you sell the renovated property, you will give that agent the listing.

Paul suggests cultivating relationships with several real estate agents in your target areas; local agents know their local areas best. Glen counseled that if you are looking at bank-owned properties, it’s important to work with real estate agents who are also experienced in REOs and have those listings.

#2 – Professional wholesalers.  Work with active, full-time wholesalers who devote their energies to working the MLS in search of foreclosures or short sales. They get paid based on volume and will be hungry to close deals. These individuals will receive a referral fee after you buy. Working with experienced wholesalers means you’ll be assured of getting all the information you need about the deal and they’ll be likely to bring you deals that meet your criteria; but newcomers will also be hungry to get you on their growing cash buyers list, so they might be worth a try.

#3 – “Bird dogs.” These are the people who know people, and hear about opportunities for distressed properties or situations. Build your network of people who know about what’s going on in their area, and know that you’re someone who buys houses for cash to rehab.

#4 – A strong renovation team. Work with contractors you know and trust, who are licensed and insured, and who have a good team behind them. The contractor should be experienced in full rehabs and provide full written estimates as well as an insurance certificate. Add a good handyman to your team for smaller projects.

#5 – A reputable home inspector. This professional will go through the house and make you aware of any major problems that require attention.

#6 – Real estate attorneys and title companies. The attorney will check your paperwork, look for contingencies you may have overlooked, and ensure all the details are present and correct. These real estate attorneys may own the title company, their practice will be part of a title company, or they have a title company they work with often; in the end, the attorney will make sure to get the title work done.

#7 – A private hard money lender like Peak Private Lending. Unlike institutional hard money lenders that do cookie-cutter transactions that comply with lots of criteria, we are real estate investors lending to investors. We lower the barrier to entering the real estate investment world with a fast, flexible loan program.

Give us a call at 201-836-7300 for rate quote, or schedule a free deal analysis for your fix & flip rehab project from NJ’s leading private lending source for real estate investors.