Ask any successful real estate investor what played a crucial role in his/her success and everyone will have one resounding answer: a real estate investment network.
Real estate investing is built on the interactions and relationships with others: property sellers and property buyers, real estate agents and real estate brokers, contractors, real estate attorneys, accountants, and other real estate investors. It is clear then that any investor who wants to make his/her way has to know how to work on building a real estate investment network that will take him/her places.
Benefits of Having a Great Real Estate Investment Network
Before you can build a great real estate investment network, it’s important to understand just how you will benefit from one and how it will help you succeed in real estate investing.
The Right People
A real estate investment network can give you access to property buyers and property sellers, real estate agents and real estate brokers, reputable contractors, real estate attorneys, and real estate experts. You may find great real estate partners in some of the people you mingle with as well as assistance in future financing.
Related: You Need These Real Estate Professionals for the Success of Your Investment Business
Relationships Built on Trust
Don’t underestimate what a solid relationship built on trust can get you in real estate investing. If you cultivate strong relationships and real estate partnerships in which others can trust you and rely on you, you’ll find that you’ll have places to turn to for reliable advice and help when you need it. A real estate investment network will give you the support and guidance you need if you come across any challenges.
New Ideas and Opportunities
Part of networking is exchanging ideas with other professionals. You’ll gain invaluable insight into real estate investing. From this, you may come across new ideas and start to plan for new goals to advance your career. With time and dedication to building your network, you’ll start to get opportunities through real estate referrals and leads that will help grow your real estate investment portfolio.
Reputation
Reputation plays an important role in real estate investing: people want to work with someone who will benefit them and someone they can trust. If you jump on opportunities to help others in your real estate investment network, you’ll be building momentum for a reputation as someone of value, maybe even a real estate expert who can help.
Where to Go to Build Your Network
Now that you understand the key benefits of a real estate investment network, you need to know where you can go to start meeting the right people to build it.
Auctions
Auctions are a great place to meet serious property buyers. Because they require a buyer to close a deal quickly, you’ll know you’re meeting the best people to add to your buyer database here. You can also do a little research to see if any private auction companies are holding events in your city.
Real Estate Investment Association Meetings and Landlord Association Meetings
Try to find your local Real Estate Investment and Landlord Associations and go to as many meetings as you can. These are good places to meet other real estate investors and professionals. You will find people at all levels of experience in real estate. Try to find those most experienced and approach them to start building your real estate investment network.
Chamber of Commerce Groups
A business networking group that you should try to locate in your city is the Chamber of Commerce Group. This is a great source of people in all kinds of professions besides real estate. You can meet attorneys, accountants, and private business owners whom you will benefit from down the road. Private lenders also frequent these events and will be able to help you with future financing.
Home and Trade Shows
Thousands of people come from all across the country to attend these shows. At home and trade shows, you’ll find various professionals that you need to know as a real estate investor such as contractors, lenders, and building suppliers. You’ll be able to learn about housing trends and what affects them from the experienced people at these shows.
Social Media, Websites and Blogs
You already know social media platforms are a great way to connect with people, but you should start utilizing them to network. Actively engage with users to find people to add to your real estate investment network. Promote your listings and provide valuable information about real estate investing that will interest others. Try to reply to all messages that you receive across your platforms.
Create your own professional website and blog. Use appealing visuals to make your sites look presentable and inviting. For your blog, upload useful posts as frequently as you can and engage with any commenters.
You can use websites like Mashvisor to meet different real estate agents in your area that are the best of the best. This will help widen your real estate network as well.
Related: Social Media for Real Estate: A Key to Success
Turn to Your Local Community
Besides the different meetings and groups mentioned, take advantage of all the resources for networking your local community has to provide. Try sponsoring local teams to get your name out there. Volunteer at charities close to the real estate field, like Habitat for Humanity or affordable housing advocacy groups, to network with like-minded people, while working for a good cause. Get in touch with local radio and media as a way to advertise yourself and what you have to offer.
Networking Effectively
While finding access to a multitude of real estate people is a great start, you need to know how to network effectively to build real estate partnerships. At many of the places mentioned, you will be running into so many people, it can get overwhelming. It’s a good idea to plan a strategy before attending. What do you wish to achieve? Who are you hoping to meet (real estate investors, real estate agents, real estate attorneys)? If you can find information about who is attending the event, that would be a great resource to help you plan. Prepare as much as you can before going.
Have a way to record all contacts that you meet and any notes you have from the conversations with them. There are plenty of customer relationship management tools that will help you do this easily and effectively. Other than name and contact info, little memos of key parts of the conversations should be recorded. You don’t want to meet so many people that you end up forgetting names or losing business cards.
Effective communication is key when meeting potential contacts to add to your real estate investment network. Here are some important things to work on so that you can communicate effectively and make a lasting impression:
- Listen closely to what others are saying so you can have engaging conversations and ask the right questions.
- If you’re answering others questions, keep your answers short, simple, and to the point.
- Try to bring the conversation back to the other person when you can because showing interest in a person will make him/her want to talk to you again.
- Absolutely avoid bad mouthing others no matter you’re real opinion of them. It won’t make a good impression on the ones you’re talking to.
- Don’t forget about nonverbal communication. Always look presentable and carry yourself in a way others will appreciate.
The follow up with these contacts is just as important as that first meeting. You may have made a good first impression, but if your follow up falls flat, the contact won’t bother responding. Make sure any email or message you send has some value in it for the contact. Reference the conversation you had with him/her before and add valuable information to the ideas you discussed. Introduce him/her to new ideas and useful resources like links, real estate tools, or businesses. You can even build your network by helping build the network of your new contacts: introduce them to people you know who they will benefit from.
Related: 7 Savvy Real Estate Investing Resources
There is no arguing about the benefits of a real estate investment network. All it takes is being proactive and seeing every interaction as a possible new contact. Realize that the people around you have to find value in having a relationship with you. Make it a point to go to the places mentioned in this guide and carry out the tips given. If you’re determined, you will be able to build your dream real estate investment network in no time.
