Taking Care Of Your Real Estate Team

You are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. This is typically applicable when referring to team sports and big companies, but it is also relevant to individual real estate investors. Your investing team consists of realtors, attorneys, contractors, accountants, fellow investors and everyone else you have in your network. If your team is strong, your business should follow suit. Building this team should be done over time, but strengthened and reinforced every day. If you neglect these people and assume they will work hard for you all of the time, you will be for a rude awakening when they do not. If you want to get the most out of your team, you need to take care of them.

Taking care of your team does not mean spoiling them with gifts or other perks. Something as small as a phone call or text message thanking them for their efforts on a deal can go a long way. You want everyone you work with to be on the same page and share the same vision you do. Most people that you work with just want to be treated with respect and courtesy. This certainly doesn’t seem like too much to ask for, but too many times this is not the case. You can still be a leader and get what you want. However, there is more than one way to go about it. If you choose to push too hard and demand unrealistic expectations, you will run through team members and have nobody to turn to when you need something done quickly.

Taking care of your team means requires a firm but fair environment. If the quality of work is lacking or you don’t feel everyone is working hard, you can certainly speak your mind and demand more, but how you do it is what’s important. Every dollar is important in business, but sometimes you need to look at the big picture. If you haggle with your contractor over a minor expense or fight with your realtor over a quarter point of commission, you may win the battle, but you will probably lose the war. They won’t want to work with you again in the future. If they do, you can believe they will not work as hard as they did in the past. Conversely, if you pay your contractor as soon as the job is completed or save your realtor time doing some work before you see a property, they will remember this and be more than willing to go the extra mile for you on the next deal.

How you treat your team will have an effect the next time you need a quick title search, comparables pulled or a job done on the weekend. It will also have an impact on how your team works to find deals or protect your investment. You can find other team members, but if you do you will start the process of team building all over again. Finding good people around you can make your business a whole lot easier. Once you do you, need to tell them just how important they really are. You are only as good as the people around you.