17) Power Teams

Let’s talk about power teams.

Power teams are composed of players that specialize in a specific area that the investor does not specialize in, or that the investor would prefer not to spend his or her time doing.

Most investors will invest in the same geographical areas year after year. That means that they develop a power team in each of those areas. The investor does not need to be an expert in every investing aspect in every county in the country. The investor needs only to become comfortable with a few areas that work for them and surround themselves with experts in each of those areas.

Let’s quickly introduce potential power team players and then we will go through each one.

• Support Team
• County Officials
• Real Estate Agents
• Real Estate Attorney
• Real Estate Investors
• Property Appraisers
• Contractors

Support Team

You will have questions along the way, and that’s why we are here.  We are here to answer those questions or to help you find answers to your questions.  Although we cannot give you legal advise, or tell you exactly what to do, we can provide guidelines to help you make a wise decision.

Give us a call or email us to catch up with our excellent Support Team.

We also have experienced tax lien and real estate investors that take a small number of clients to hold their hand through their investments. If you’re interested in that service, please let the Support Team know.

County Officials

Each county official knows his or her county processes better than anyone else.  If the investor can develop an amicable relationship with county officials, that relationship may be helpful in the future.  Our students have created such great relationships that the county official calls them first to give our students a shot at potential investments before the county releases the list publically.

County officials can also provide insight into their systems and sale procedures.  County officials and county workers are not allowed to invest in their own county because it would be considered an unfair advantage.  They know ways to succeed, areas in the county to avoid, and places where gems can be found.

Create relationships with county workers and county officials in counties in which you would like to invest and use those relationships to profit. 

Real Estate Agents

Having quality real estate agents on your power team serves a couple purposes.  The first is to help with evaluations.  Imagine buying a tax deed across the country without a way to personally evaluate the property.  One way to get an educated guess is by getting one from real estate agents in the area of the property.  Finding an agent can be done by going to Zillow.com and viewing properties being sold near the one you’re interested in.  Along with a description of the properties, Zillow will show who the agent is on those properties.  You can then call the agent and make a simple request.  Tell them that you’re buying a property nearby that you would like to quickly sell and that you would potentially like them to sell it for you.  Ask them to take a look at the property and see how it compares to others in the area and what it might need to sell near retail price.

You may want to get a couple agents to quote it for you.  Then once you invest in the area a few times and call back the agents that did a good job for you in the past, you suddenly have a real estate agent or agents on your power team.

Real Estate Attorneys

When it comes time to foreclose on a property, clear a title, or as improbable issues arise, you may want the assistance of a real estate attorney in the area of the property.  Real estate attorneys can help with foreclosure notices to financially interested parties and will represent you to those parties and to the court to clear the title.  It is your attorney that will appear before the judge to clear the title to have a warranty deed issued on the property.

Once you use a real estate attorney that you like and can trust, then you can stick with them whenever you invest in the area.  That real estate attorney becomes a player on your power team and someone that you can call on for help when needed.

Real Estate Investors

A very important group of players for your power team are other real estate investors.  You can find these investors through local real estate clubs, web-based real estate clubs, or at investment events and auctions.

They are primarily used to aid in your deals; finding deals, learning about the area, and exiting deals.  While attending real estate clubs or chatting with other investors at an auction, you might find out what that investor is interested in or what they specialize in. 

Knowing investors in the area can be powerful because you can invest with those investors in mind.  For example, you could speak to the one that is interested in land in a specific area.  Then you can find properties that specifically match his or her criteria.  You could then contact the investor with details of the deal and try to work something out. 

Having other real estate investors can provide you with a consistent buyer for your investments. 

Property Appraisers

Property appraisers determine the value of a property.  Sometimes those values are higher than anticipated and sometimes they are much lower.  Having the right appraiser on your power team is very important to get the right evaluation on your investment properties. 

As we’ve discussed in previous training videos, having an accurate estimation of the property’s value and after repair value is crucial to successfully investing when acquiring properties.  Having a quality appraiser that you can count on for accurate numbers will be invaluable.

Once you find an appraiser that provides good and accurate results, hold onto them and call on them in the future as a new member of your power team.

Contractors

When an investor would like to perform extensive rehab on a property, the investor will need the assistance of a contractor in the area.  A contractor will perform work and source professionals to get your rehab work done well and on time.

Having an honest contractor that can stay under budget and can get the job done well inside the deadline is a great asset.  Once you find one in the area, hold onto that contractor and go back to him or her every time. 

Summary

Finding these power team players can be very simple.  It can be done by searching the Internet for that particular skill set.  Go to Google.com and search “real estate attorney pima county, az” or “property appraiser hernando county, fl.” View their ratings online to see what other people are saying about them.

You can also find players through other tax lien and deed investors that have invested in that area. 

One last note: don’t worry about finding all of those people before you need them.  When you get to the point where you need a new appraisal, then find an appraiser.  Don’t worry about it beforehand.

Please let us know if you have any questions about power teams.