Do You Need a Real Estate Investment Team?

The most successful people in the world all have one thing in common — they have an incredible team in their corner.

For a real estate investor, the right real estate investment team can mean the difference between floundering investments and huge success. But what, exactly, does the right real estate investment team look like?

Who do you need in your corner in order to succeed?

The Different Roles on a Real Estate Investment Team

When it comes to building the kind of real estate investment team that will skyrocket your investment business to success, there are a few key people you’ll need to work with:

An Agent

You can’t build a real estate investment business without any real estate investments. Working with a qualified real estate agent is essential for finding the best deals, negotiating with sellers, and acquiring properties. Working with an agent who really knows a particular market is also super helpful, especially if you’re an out-of-state investor; they can offer key insights into different neighborhoods and areas, and help you make the right purchasing decisions for your long-term goals.

A Finance Pro

Unless you have a ton of cash lying around, you’ll need to work with a lender in order to secure financing for your investments. Ideally, you’ll want to work with someone who specializes in working with investors to buy properties.

A Certified Public Accountant

As a real estate investor, it’s also important to connect with a CPA. They’ll be able to advise you on how your real estate investments fit into the big picture of your financials — and, even more importantly, will be able to help you maximize your investments come tax time.

A Real Estate Attorney

Real estate can be a tricky thing to navigate — which is why you want to have a real estate attorney on hand. Real estate attorneys can help answer any questions and make sure all your properties are in line with any applicable real estate laws — which can save you a ton of time, money, and headaches throughout the investment process.

A Property Manager

Once you have your properties, you need someone to manage them — and that’s where a property manager comes in. They act as your eyes and ears on the ground at your property, making sure everything is running smoothly — so you don’t have to worry about it.

You might think the property manager is the last person you should reach out to when assembling your real estate investment team — but the truth is, they’re probably the first. Property managers are extremely well connected; they can put you in touch with seasoned lenders who work with investors, recommend agents or lawyers, and reach out to their network to help you assemble your “real estate dream team.”

(Side note: while property managers can put you in touch with other real estate professionals, like CPAs or attorneys, they’re NOT authorized to give any legal or tax advice. If your property manager attempts to advise you in these areas, it’s time to find a new property manager.)

Do You Need a Full Real Estate Investment Team?

Now, you might be thinking, “Well, this sounds great... but do I really need a full real estate investment team?” The answer is yes.

If you want to be successful with investing, you need to treat it like any other business. If you were starting another type of business, you wouldn’t be the CEO, CFO, head of HR, head of legal, and the office manager, would you?

Of course not.

Investing is the same thing. In order to build a successful business, you need to identify your role in the business — and then hire the right team to support bringing your vision to life.

Now, you might be able to use your talents to replace certain roles on your real estate investment team (for example, if you come from a legal background, you might be able to get away with not hiring a real estate attorney), but it’s essential that you have all of these roles — agent, lender, CPA, attorney, property manager — on your real estate investment team.

Having the right people in place will not only skyrocket your real estate investment business’ chances of success — but it’ll also save you a ton of time, energy, and cash in the process. If you want your investment business to be a success, you need the right people in your corner, and those people are a real estate investment team.