RG 085 – 3 Steps to Increase YOUR Credibility with Brokers as a Newbie Multifamily Syndicator
About Mark
- Mark is a single and multi family investor
- Mark served in the US army
- Mark quit his day job to become a real estate broker
Nuts and Bolts
Mark Allen is a real estate investor and broker who focuses on single and multi family deals based in Dallas. Before he did this he studied at West Point and served in the Army in Afghanistan. His family has been in real estate investment for a long time but in single family development only and his grandparents were real estate brokers. He used this family knowledge when he got a career loan from West Point and bought a condo in Florida which he still owns. When he had free time in the army he used it to invest in real estate, he acquired single family homes on no money strategies and sold them off between 2014-2015. Mark moved to Dallas 2 years ago and started flipping homes and then began to get into passive investment a year ago. Around this time he also quit his full time job to focus on the real estate brokerage side from January this year.
New investor preparation
When a new investor approaches Mark to get into real estate he will look for 3 thigns; relationships, preparation and a proper partners. Relationships refers to a good team and this doesn’t matter what asset the investor is looking for, the criteria are always the same. Mark gets approached most often at meet-ups and networking events and even a few cold calls. If you’re investing from out of state and want to find an in-state broker then contact them when you’re in the area for a quick meet up and make sure to do the proper research to find the top brokers. For younger investors starting in real estate Mark recommends contacting young new brokers who will be more willing to put deals in front of you. Mark likes to see good preparation from new investors in the form of a business plan or presentation. This should include highlights of what they want to acquire, their team and their equity partners. The investor needs to be specific with what they want; the properties and demographics of their target market and the more detail the better. Ideally the team should include partners who have experience closing and equity partners with clear examples of how they made their money and how much they want to invest.
Building his own credibility
As a new broker Jason needs to build his own credibility so that investors come to him for leads, he needs to prove he has good deals. He does this by contacting and building relationships with investors who might sell assets in the next few years and explaining what value he would bring to them and what makes him stand out. As a broker you have to calculate the level of seller motivation; do they actually want to sell or are they only talking to you to gauge the interest in their property. If he knows other brokers are competing for the same listing he aims to be realistic, he isn’t going to push the value too high in order to win the listing and then end up with no buyers on the market.
Mark quit his day job to become a real estate broker
When an investor is submitting an offer it’s up to the broker to guide the seller but the main concern should be how much the property is going to net. The broker should guide the seller to look at the sale in terms of a deal rather than just the price, for example by looking at the hard money offered up front. Looking to the future Mark wants to build up a passive investor database and work further on the brokerage side of his business. His advice for new investors making relationships with a brokerage firm is to be prepared and have a pitch and presentation lined up.
Top tips
- Most important habit – Making 30 calls a day
- Most influential person – Todd Franks the Managing Director at SVN
- Most important tool – Yardi Matrix
- Most important failure – His first single family flip where he missed steps on due diligence.
- Contact – allen-investments.com or mark.allen@svn.com
