3 Keys To Relationship Building In The Real Estate Industry

Landlording can be a lonely business to get into. There will be times when you start wondering if everyone who makes friends with you has a hidden agenda.

Yet even when it is not necessary to create friendship in order to be successful in real estating, having trustworthy relationships in the industry can only be more beneficial than not.

Even if you insist on going on this journey alone, building a no-nonsense reputation for yourself can potentially bring you once-in-a-lifetime opportunities some day.

Some investors prefer to all their legwork and everything else on their own. This partly helps to keep what they are doing and the deals they are working on under the radar in case someone else budges in.

However, wouldn’t it be great if you are one of the first people professionals in the industry thinks about when they need help, advice, or a partner?

To create this reputation for yourself, a little effort has to be put into relationship building.

And here are 3 key elements to doing just that.

1) Be easy to do business with

Even people with attitude problems and have the appearance of a beast can see lucrative deals walk into their front doors simply because professionals in the industry find them easy to work with.

This does not mean that you tend to cave in to every demand requested by a negotiating opponent.

It simply means, more often than not, you lay your cards on the table in a transparent manner.

You don’t leave things ambiguous and keep people notified your stance on particular deals.

If for example, you deliberately make yourself difficult to reach and don’t expressly state under what terms you would take on a deal, there is very little chance a broker would come back to you when another similar deal becomes available in the future.

An investor I know have one way that makes people very happy to work with him. He makes his criteria and expectations very clear. And also make it a point to inform brokers to only call him for proposals when these criteria are met.

This system has been so successful for all parties that professionals often start preparing for closing the moment they make their first calls.

The ease of working with him has made him one of the preferred investors to deal with among agents, investors, and landlords.

2) Be a person of your word

This is one of the old-school practices that still hold as true in the modern world of business.

You are always going to run into people who don’t know what they are saying or backtracks on their words. These just leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths.

You’d think that such a practice is common sense in real estate.

But for some reason, a lot of buyers and sellers feel that it’s just basic negotiating to flip and flop on their words and statements… as long as nothing has been put down in writing.

While there is little you can fault them on these practices, there is an honor to doing business. Especially in the very old business of real estate.

Being on the receiving end of such negotiating tactics can be frustrating. And imagine how much worse a broker might feel after thinking he was so close to closing.

For example, if you mention that you will make an offer by the end of tomorrow, do ensure that you submit that offer as per you deadline.

Leaving everyone hanging is bad courtesy. People can be lining up actions to take after receiving that offer. And the absence of it stalls everything and everyone involved.

I can understand if you feel that you are not responsible for what others might or might not do. But not being a person of your word can turn a lot of people off.

There was a time when I was helping to arrange a deal for a large commercial building. This was a mega deal that involved a very big player in the property market who owned the building. The prospect communicated explicitly that he would take up the deal if a specific price was met. A partner of mine managed to convince the owner to agree to it. But the prospect still backed out!

Some people talk big but don’t walk the talk when the time arrives.

Don’t be one of them.

3) Don’t fret the small stuff

Granted. Nobody wants to end up acquiring a house with foundation problems that was not made aware during the sale process.

In this case, it is totally justified to make a fuss and demand a relook into the transaction price.

But smaller issues like scratched windows or faulty shower heads are really too minute to entail renegotiation.

An agent friend of mine told the story of how a buyer called him every two hours to complain about minor defects of a house. Demanding a promise that they would be fixed before he makes an offer, or accept a lower price. This is even when the would-be buyer is already getting very good deal on the house.

The seller decided to ignore the potential buyer and move on to other prospects. The agent happily obliged. The buyer then came back a few days later to agree to the original deal. His offer was not entertained anymore as he had annoyed everybody in the family.

Sellers can find these behaviors a nuisance. Agents absolutely loathe them because they run into them too often.

Remember that in real estate, we are dealing with “products” of very high monetary value. In this perspective, expenses costing hundreds of dollar can often be considered and classified as insignificant.

While it is good practice to value every single dollar, bear in mind that the selling or buying party might not interpret this the same way.

In many instances, haggling and hustling for the “small” things can turn off people.

Using these three simple practices of doing business could very well be the best form of marketing you can do for yourself in the real estate industry.

Once you build a reputation for them in a positive way, you might be a popular investor that other investors and agents go to for deals. Many would even value building a relationship with you in the business.

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