How To Reverse-Engineer The Perfect Real Estate Team

Have you ever wondered how today’s most prolific investors go about building the real estate team that got them to where they are today? If so, you are not alone. Many of today’s real estate investors find themselves asking what it takes to align their business with the best talent out there.

It’s worth noting, however, that many real estate investors are thinking about building a real estate team all wrong. Instead of hiring someone you have complete confidence in (which I wholeheartedly endorse), perhaps it’s time you started looking at building a real estate team from an alternative perspective — one that would have you place an emphasis on the role, and not the person. In fact, I maintain that the best way to create a winning team is to identify the responsibilities of your company first, and then proceed to find the individual to fill the role — not the other way around.

Building a real estate team has more to do with identifying the responsibilities of a business than identifying the individual roles of your respective employees. If for nothing else, it’s only in identifying what needs to be done that roles can be created and filled. Once you know what it takes to run a successful real estate business and the tasks that must be completed on a daily basis, it’s a lot easier to create the corresponding positions. So before you head out to build a real estate team worthy of your company name, uncover the specific responsibilities necessary to compete in today’s real estate investing landscape, then proceed to build an amazing real estate team based on the tasks ahead of you.

In identifying the tasks that must be completed, it’s entirely possible to reverse engineer a real estate team capable of taking your business to the next level, but I digress. Not all tasks are created equal, nor do they all bear the same fruit for diligent investors. Today’s real estate industry is ever-evolving, and the tasks once deemed necessary have changed. That said, it’s up to you to identify what needs to be done; nobody else is going to do it for you.

I have identified several universal tasks that have withstood the test of time; tasks that would most likely prove invaluable to you and your own business. Let’s take a look at what they are, and who you need to hire to make sure they are completed in a way that benefits your business.

Real Estate Team Members & Their Respective Roles

Marketing Director

As their title would lead you to believe, marketing directors will both implement and develop the real estate marketing strategies your business will use on a regular basis. What’s more, he or she will assist you in tracking the cost of marketing campaigns versus the profit they generate so that you can set a realistic marketing budget. Other skills your marketing director must exhibit include, but are not limited to the following:

• Your marketing director must be able to formulate a budget that complies with your company’s vision.
• Marketing doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all solution. Your marketing specialist needs to be able to identify the strategies that work in your industry and implement them with precision.
• It’s not enough to simply follow in the footsteps of everyone else. Your marketing specialist needs to be proactive in identifying creative solutions to routine issues. If for nothing else, they need to be able to set your marketing campaigns apart from the competition.
• Not surprisingly, your marketing specialist needs to be able to keep up with the day-to-day tasks that have become ubiquitous with the position.
• Hire a marketing specialists with the future in mind. If you intend to scale your business, be sure to hire a marketer that is capable of managing others, because your marketing department will be one of the first to grow in the event you realize success.

With a better idea of the responsibilities that your marketing director will be held accountable for, hiring the right real estate team member becomes a lot less daunting. In fact, hiring a qualified marketing director may be as easy as looking for someone with the following attributes:

• They need to be creative
• The ideal marketing director is organized
• Marketing directors need to be able to manage others
• The ideal candidate will have a degree in marketing or advertising, or demonstrate their understanding of the industry through years of experience

Seeing as how your marketing director will be directly responsible for finding deals, it’s safe to assume they will be one of the most valuable members on your real estate team. That said, mind due diligence and take the time to hire the right person for the job.

Acquisition Specialist

As their name suggests, an acquisition specialist will analyze deals, meet with sellers, negotiate deals and facilitate the signing of contracts. The right fit for the job will need to have a deep understanding of real estate exit strategies, financing, and — perhaps even more importantly — be able to put together accurate repair lists as well as following up on offers made on pending deals. Let’s take a look at some of the tasks they will be expected to demonstrate competency towards, and proceed to identify the right person for your real estate team:

• Your acquisition specialist must be able to differentiate between the hot and the cold leads your marketing director brings in. That way, you don’t waste time chasing leads that go nowhere.
• They need to be able to quickly and accurately be able to analyze a deal from the confines of their own office, as to determine whether or not the numbers will work in your favor.
• In the event a deal looks promising, the acquisition specialist needs to be able to set up appointments.
• It’s their responsibility to pull after repair value (ARV) comps, as to determine what the home would be worth after it is brought up to neighborhood standards.
• They need to be able to conduct an accurate in-person analysis of a subject property to ensure it’s worth pursuing.
• It’s the acquisition specialist that will negotiate with the seller to get a deal that works for your real estate team.
• They will work as your main point of contact with the seller.
• They will also be responsible for managing closing preparations.

As you can see, the acquisition specialist has a lot of important responsibilities, so it’s up to you to hire the right person for the job. To make your search easier, look for someone that exhibits the following:

• Their interpersonal and sales skills must be unparalleled.
• A good acquisition specialist will not only be good at talking to people on the phone and in person, but also demonstrate flawless negotiation tactics.
• Your acquisition specialist should be able to effectively read people and their intentions within moments of meeting them.
• They must have people skills that make it inherently easy to build relationships with others.
• It’s absolutely imperative that this real estate team member exhibits above average organizational skills and an ability to follow systems.
• They must be up-to-date on the latest technology that can help their particular field.
• As an added bonus, they should have an understanding of the construction industry.

As one of the most valuable pieces on your real estate team, do not underestimate the importance of a truly gifted acquisition specialist. It’s not the least bit hyperbolic to suggest that their skills can make or break your entire business.

Processor

Put simply, the processor must be the most organized person on your real estate team. If for nothing else, it’s this individual that will fill out the appropriate paperwork regarding a subject property’s acquisition, arrange financing, and take care of a slew of other important tasks. Perhaps even more specifically, the processor is responsible for taking a property from contract, to close, and eventually sale. This is often the position held by the initial owner of the company before any scaling takes place. And, as an entrepreneur yourself, you may already know the following tasks expected of the processor:

• The processor is responsible for lining up capital and financing for all of your deals.
• Building relationships with hard money lenders and private money lenders.
• Completes paperwork to comply with said financing.

The processor is responsible for securing the funding for your next deal, and every other one in the future, so their skills can’t be underestimated. They must demonstrate a propensity towards financial understanding and relationship building. In order to find someone that can arrange the financing for your next deal, look for traits like:

• If you aren’t currently the processor, you had better make sure the person you hire is very detail-oriented.
• The processor must be great at managing people and building systems.
• The processor must have significant knowledge with regards to all of the industry’s exit strategies.
• The processor must know how to build relationships with lenders of every type, and also know how to manage said relationships for future collaborations.

You could make an argument that the processor is the most valuable real estate team member you will hire, but I digress. That’s a moot point. No real estate team can function without a processor, but a great real estate team can’t function without the other people I have already mentioned. For now, it’s important to note that each person’s role is very important to the success of your team, so be sure to hire with one thing in mind: that the people you hire will make or break your company.

Selling Specialist

The selling specialist is responsible for exactly what you would imagine: selling the homes you have worked so hard to acquire and flip. That said, it’s this individual that is tasked with getting the general public to take notice of your homes for sale. In fact, the selling specialists role is not all that different from your typical Realtor. This person will spend most of their time formulating ways to find buyers for your property. Your selling specialist will prescreen and evaluate buyers, get them pre-qualified with your hard money lender, mortgage broker, and/or private lender. What’s more, the selling specialist will also demonstrate an increased propensity towards the following skills:

• The selling specialist must have an in-depth knowledge of the closing process, not the least of which includes going through escrow and dealing with buyers.
• It’s the selling agent who will play an integral role in negotiations with buyers.
• The selling specialist will have unparalleled knowledge with regards to several marketing strategies: Open houses, direct mail marketing, flyers, email blasts, buyer lists and many others.
• Not unlike every other position I have discussed up to this point, the selling specialist must know how to read people and develop relationships with the best of them.

If you are currently looking for a selling specialist to fill these roles on your real estate team, consider those that exhibit the following traits:

• They are comfortable selling and closing real estate deals.
• Their communication skills are second to none and they are someone people typically enjoy working with.
• This individual must be able to handle rejection and roadblocks well, but also be able to overcome adversity.
• It helps if they have an understanding of the construction industry.
• They should work well under pressure and tight deadlines.

Office Assistant

Last, but certainly not least: the office assistant. Don’t let their name fool you, the office assistant for a real estate investment business with high hopes and aspirations is no simple job, nor should it be underestimated. If for nothing else, it is the presence of the office assistant on your real estate team that will free up your time to focus on more important tasks. More specifically, however, it’s the office assistant that will take over all of the time-consuming, mundane, tedious, but nonetheless important tasks in running a real estate company. In fact, this position is so important that it should be the first position you fill on your real estate team. In doing so, you will have someone that can take care of the following:

• Running errands
• Answering phones
• Checking the mail
• Making copies
• Marketing fulfillment
• Time consuming tasks that don’t need to be handled by other members of your real estate team, but are nonetheless important.

As the name suggests, a good office assistant assists in the day-to-day operations of the office; the things you forget to think about, but are otherwise important. Without an office assistant, you will have other key members of your team dropping what they are doing to address issues the are better left to someone else. If that sounds like something you would rather avoid, consider hiring an office assistant with the following traits:

• They are not only friendly and reliable, but organized and detail-oriented.
• They are skilled at what they do, pleasant to work with, and professional in a work environment.
• Their phone and communication skills are without question.
• They are comfortable adopting the latest technology. (This includes working with areas of real estate construction.)
• They are willing to do whatever tasks, menial or otherwise, required to fulfill the job responsibilities.

While the office assistant may not be the most prestigious real estate team member, their position is nonetheless important to the success of your company. At the very least, it’s this position that will free up time for everyone else to fulfill their duties. Thank about that when you go to hire your first employee.

The perfect real estate team is the one that will not only confront the tasks presented to them on a regular basis, but also face them head on with a high degree of success. In fact, with the right people by your side, there is no reason you couldn’t expect anything less than perfection. It’s worth noting, however, that hiring the right team isn’t necessarily easy. You must put in the legwork and anticipate the needs of your company. After all, it’s only once you know what will be required of your team that you can actually start to assemble the perfect real estate team.