Most of the creative transactions we do as real estate investors are not normal for title, closing, or escrow companies. I will only refer to title companies from here on out since that is what we use here in Colorado, but the process of finding a good one is the same for all three.
Title companies typically work with real estate agents and brokers and tend to do a lot of very traditional transactions, however, as investors, it’s important that we find a title company that understands what we are doing and can accommodate some of our more unusual requests.
So, how do we find a title company that caters to investors and some of our more creative real estate transactions? The simple answer is to ask other investors.
The best way I know of to find a title company that can do these types of transactions is to ask a fellow investor for the names of the people that he/she has worked with. If they have not found someone yet, at least they can tell you who didn’t work and reduce the number of people you have to try out. Try attending your local real estate investor club meetings to network with other investors. Call ads that investors are running to buy houses or find tenants and buyers and ask them if you can take them to lunch to discuss this.
If talking with other investors does not work, my next best resource would be real estate agents who work with investors. Good agents have closed many transactions and have worked with many title companies. They can often tell you which to use and which they would avoid. Often they have insight into ones that work with investors and can do creative or hard to do transactions.
As a last resort, I’d call title companies and explain the type of transaction you are trying to do and see if they could handle it the way you want to do it.
Until my next post,
James
P.S. Finding a great title company is just part of the process of building your dream team… you also need someone to help educate, motivate and consult with you about your real estate investing business. Become a Real Estate Investor Bronze Member today to check that off your list.
If you haven’t already joined your local real estate investor’s group, you should. If you don’t have one in or near the city where you live, you should start one yourself as I mentioned in my post yesterday.
There are many advantages of meeting regularly with fellow investors. Here are some of the big ones.
Networking with other investors helps you to build your dream team faster. Your dream team consists of all of the people you need to work your deals. It may include real estate agents, lenders, repair people, contractors, property managers and attorneys.
If you try to build up your team in isolation, you will have to test each person, and through trial and error, will discover who performs the best. However, if you regularly meet with other investors, you can benefit from their experience and find out which contractors, agents, etc. have performed well for them. This can save you a lot of time and frustration.
Another advantage of being in touch with other investors is that you already have a group of people to flip deals to. When you find a deal that doesn’t match your present criteria, but it’s still a good deal, it’s nice to have a group of investors to wholesale it to.
Likewise, they may bring deals to you that meet your criteria. Either way, all the members of the group end up with access to a larger number of deals than they would have had on their own.
On-going education is another major benefit that your local group can provide for you. Depending on the group, this may at times be a formal lecture from a known expert. It may also include getting updated on changing local laws and ordinances that will affect your investing. But most importantly, you will learn about your market and the experiences of other investors.
Just as you can share dream team players, you can also share investing experiences. You may not have done a major rehab yet, but you can gain first hand knowledge from someone actually doing it in your market. This is a great way to supplement what you may have learned from a book or a course.
Seeing exactly how certain strategies are employed in your own market is priceless. Seeing what other investors are doing can give you the knowledge and confidence to go forward with your own investing. This is also an advantage that having a coach/consultant working with you on your real estate investing business also provides. Consider signing up for our Real Estate Investor Bronze Membership to get this, and many other benefits, today.
Until my next post,
James
