Tanya recently sat down for an interview with REALTOR Magazine's Lee Nelson to discuss how realtors can best serve their investor clients. Here is an excerpt of their interview:
Explain a little bit about how you got in real estate and when:
Tanya: I was working for the U.S. State Department overseas as a U.S. diplomat, moving from country to country every two years. In between assignments abroad in 2010, I purchased my first home. It was tenant occupied, so I became a homeowner and landlord in one fell swoop. Seeing how the tenants were paying down my mortgage turned me on to real estate investing, so I began reading and listening to everything I could about real estate as an investment.
I got married in 2012 and seeing how hard it was for my husband to find work every two years in countries as different as Venezuela and Italy really lit a fire under me to build out our real estate investments so that they could effectively become a second income stream for our family. By the time I left the U.S. Department of State in 2019, I had amassed a significant portfolio of income-producing rental properties and felt financially secure enough to leave my federal government job. I chose to continue in real estate full time to use my personal experience to help others harness the incredible power of real estate investments as a wealth-building tool.
Talk about when you started working with investors – what was it like at first, maybe what mistakes you might have made dealing with them, and what does it take for a Realtor to work well with investors?
Tanya: I started in real estate as an investor and never in a million years thought I would become a full-time real estate agent. There is an incredible need for realtors who understand real estate from a financial standpoint and can talk to investors and home buyers about real estate as an asset class. Realtors who know their numbers and can add value to their clients through intelligent conversations about cash flow, return on investment, appreciation/depreciation, rental income and expenses, and tax benefits are few and far between.
What are investors looking for in their Realtor (such as lot of experience, a Realtor who is an investor too, someone very immersed in their community, etc.)?
Tanya: As an investor myself who has invested in multiple states across the United States, I always looked for an investor-realtor who actively invested in the communities they served. These investor realtors not only know which communities and types of properties will have the best cash flow and tax positioning, but they can also talk to you in depth about rental laws and licensing, property taxes, city permitting and zoning, and other special considerations (including pitfalls!) that an investor needs to know to maximize their investment. Investor realtors also have very strong connections with local property management companies who can help manage your investment for you. In short, they know what works best in their market and you can draft off of their personal experience and expertise to find the best investments that will work for what you are trying to accomplish.
Be sure to pick up the winter issue of REALTOR Magazine once it hits the stands to read the rest of Tanya's interview!
