Tips for Virtual Real Estate Investing

With the Coronavirus making many real estate markets less accessible to investors, it is a great time to review your processes and improve your real estate investing business. Mike Hambright, Founder of Flipnerd.com, has some excellent suggestions on a recent Forbes Real Estate Council article. Below are a few of his suggestions, worth considering.

• In the past, a lot of real estate investors had their routine down and didn’t have to think much about it. Leads come in; appointments are set; offers are made; follow-ups are consistent — it was a system.
• Nowadays, appointments aren’t always going to be in person, and things might not be as smooth. You have to have processes in place if you’re going to offer virtual appointments.
• This includes instructing the seller on how to provide you with photos of the property and what you’re going to need to know on the phone in order to provide the best offer.
• You want to provide the seller with confidence that you’re able to close on the property and information on how your process works so they can rest easy knowing their home is in good hands.
• Talk to your acquisitions managers, and go through ways that they can overcome the hurdles they face. They need to be buying low enough so that if there’s a decrease in prices in the area, you’re not at risk of losing a big chunk of money. With an uncertain future in the market, people are going to be more understanding of lower offers because you’re exposed to higher risk by purchasing a distressed property.

While there are always challenges to real estate investing, it is important to realize those who continue to prepare and work hard will be rewarded as markets get back to a more normal state.