One of my best friends is in the process of buying a house and he currently is in need of a structural engineer to analyze a 250 year old barn that is on the property. Who the hell knows a structural engineer? I work for an engineering company that builds power plants and I still don’t know a structural engineer. Asking around, I think my company only has 1 of them right now but he doesn’t do houses. I then realized I know a bunch of people who might have needed one, Real Estate Investors!
The most underrated necessity in real estate investing is networking. It’s one of those tasks that we all feel is nice to do but we always put it off in favor of doing other things. I’ve been at fault of doing this over the past year because I wanted to concentrate on marketing for leads as well as taking care of my new born son. Two very valid reasons.
What has unfortunately happened is that I’ve disappeared from the minds of other investors in the area. Not a good idea in this industry. Having a partner has sort of kept me in the loop, but to be honest if we split up for some reason he would have a huge upper hand. One thing I did do well in the beginning was network, I still do have some good relationships with successful investors who will help me out if I ask for it.
So in the end, I was able to help out my friend by sending out a mass email to my network asking if anyone could recommend a structural engineer. I got 4 responses back within 24 hours. That right there is a prime example of having a good network. Just imagine if I needed a title company, contractors or a price on how much it would cost to repair a balcony that is falling off the house. A simple email will probably be all I need to get what I was looking for.
Go to your investor meetings people!
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Comments 2
You’re definitely right Scott! Networking is so underrated but is extremely important in being successful in any type of business venture. It can literally make or break a business. Most folks concentrate on finding the “deal” but what happens when you get into a bind and need help? Having a strong network has saved the day for me in many cases. Had I not, the outcomes could have been different. Yes, it does take time to build up a good and strong network but in the long run it’s definitely worth it. Great topic! 🙂
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Nothing is worse then feeling stuck and alone when you have 10’s of thousands of dollars on the line! It’s very comforting to have a good network that is for sure.