The Little Things Add Up When Investing In Real Estate
By JD Esajian on April 21, 2014
Everyone wants to feel as if they are the most important person in the world. When we go out to eat, we want our server to treat us like gold. When we talk to someone at customer service, we want a special deal that no other company can deliver. Whether you realize it or not if you, if you are an investor you are involved with customer service. Your goal should be to get as many realtors, attorneys, buyers, sellers and fellow investors that you network with to work with you. In most cases it is the little things that you will do that will make all the difference.
The minute you start complaining about a pesky seller calling, you are in trouble. Instead of feeling annoyed that they are calling you with what equates to a three minute conversation, you should be glad they want to work with you. Taking this three minute call can make all of the difference between closing a deal and wondering why they won’t return your call. This is just one example of doing something small that will pay big dividends. The real estate business is filled with similar examples.
What do you do after you close a deal? Do you keep in touch with everyone involved in the deal? The day after a deal closes, you should be on the phone with everyone involved thanking them for working with you and hoping you can work again in the future. Every deal has a realtor (sometimes two), two attorneys, a mortgage broker a buyer and seller. This is up to six potential contacts that you have just completed a successful deal with. If you take even five minutes to call each of them up you will spend a grand total of a half hour to network yourself. This is a mere 30 minutes in which you can start a potential relationship with someone in the business. If you aren’t doing this, regardless of how well the transaction went, you will be quickly forgotten.
In addition to following up with people directly involved in a deal, you should make a habit of it to follow up all phone calls and emails in a timely fashion. There will be times when you can’t answer the phone, but there is no excuse for not calling back by the end of the day. In most cases, the amount of time spent calling or emailing back is extremely minimal. However, if you neglect to call a seller back, they will likely resent you for it. You may say to yourself that you called them back three days later, but all that is saying is that you are either too busy, too unorganized or they are not important enough to return a call to. Regardless of how busy you are you could always use more business. One universal complaint of people in the business is not returning calls. There is no excuse for it and no better way to lose contacts.
There are many investors vying for deals and contacts in any given area. In most cases, it is taking care of the small things that will give you the edge. You will find the small things aren’t as small as they seem.