In almost every city or town in the United States there are a few different types of real estate agents and brokers. Some of these professionals deal primarily with single-family homes for individuals, others deal with commercial real estate transactions, and yet a third type deals primarily with investment real estate. If you’re looking to invest in the real estate market, you’ll want to find a real estate agent or broker who deals with investment properties and the unique needs of real estate investors on a day-to-day basis.
The investment real estate specialist
The reason for dealing with a real estate agent who specializes in investment properties and investor-specific transactions is simple; They understand what we do for a living and how we handle our transactions differently than other real estate buyers.
For example, home loan prequalification letters have become the norm these days for anyone who wants a real estate agent to show them available properties. And, if you think about it, this makes sense for real estate agents. Why should they bother spending valuable time with buyers who ultimately can’t qualify for a loan? They do not want. Therefore, almost everyone requires a home loan pre-qualification before dealing much with a buyer these days.
The good news is that for those of us who are investors, and who often use creative financing in one form or another in our dealings, we can do business with investment real estate agents without having to produce home loan prequalification letters. and lots. from other documentation. All we have to do is let them know that if they can find us the deal, then we can finance it one way or another.
Hard Money Lenders and Home Loan Prequalification Letters
If you will be using hard money for your investment transaction, then you may be able to get a hard money lender to write you a home loan prequalification letter. Hard money lenders also deal with real estate agents, and understand that some of them can be quite insistent on prequalifying home loans.
Ultimately, by dealing with an investment real estate agent and trying to avoid those who do not thoroughly understand our business, you should be able to minimize your pre-qualification and document related headaches.