I often read in the descriptions that an agent is offering to work with investors.
Of course, I understand that “investors” is a very loosely defined term. Basically, because a home is often "the biggest investment in our lifetime", everybody buying real estate automatically is an “Investor”.
Well, in that case we all work with “investors”.
There is a category of people who get through the State test, and get a license… and then either never work in Real Estate, or enthusiastically start working on their first cool million and then fade out to the nearest Wal-Mart with guaranteed $8.50 an hour…
In that sense they say there are more people with real estate license in Florida, than people with driver’s license…
I think in real life active investors are those who are doing it professionally. People who live of that (and often very nicely). Of courtse, there are those, who just participate with money, and then somebody is doing all the legwork, and guesswork… those are called passive investors.
And, as we know there are professional agents, who do not have time to work in Wal-Mart, as they are spending all their time on real estate.
If you think that there should be a match made in Heaven, when you have an investor and an agent, think twice. Because there isn’t.
For some reason professional agents operate within the boundaries of local MLS. We deal with properties duly posted on MLS. And if not on MLS… well, it does not exist…
But this is not true. Besides FSBOs, there are Auctions, including foreclosure sales at the County Court steps, there are tax deed sales…
I am going to the court for foreclosure sales, and I also go to tax deed sales. What stuns me is that there are very few agents there. Usually about 3 agents… I do not know exactly how many Realtors are in our county (we have 3 independent Boards), but I assume that this number is more than 3,000 agents.
How many agents are working there? 0.1%? Just wow.
So, who goes there?
Investors. People, who developed excellent survival skills in a very tricky market...
Do you know what they are doing there?
Well, they are buying and selling properties, and it is called flipping. And as every professional agent knows, you can’t flip in this market in Florida.
I guess they are doing what can't be done. Short of Christmas miracle...
Maybe those shrewd investors know something that so many professional agents don’t?
Maybe they know that real estate is not only what is on MLS?
Photo via Flickr.com by photologue_np
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