How do you distinguish a good real estate agent from a bad one?

It’s hard for me to comment on that because I never do that. I never have to do that. I know if I was buying a place and I was an in-tune, savvy investor, I would’ve thought I’d have a pretty good gut feel on certain things, right? So I think all investors buy on, you know, return or numbers, rather than emotion.

So, your advice to buyers is avoid being emotional?

If they get emotional, it’s going to become a problem, right? But if there’s no emotion there, and there’s a gut feel or a feeling based on, you know, feeling like it’s bullshit, call the bluff. And if you call the bluff and you expose the agent, well, it’s like one big game. You win. Always go based on gut feel. Just don’t tar every agent with the same brush because it’s really not the case.

Can you describe how your team usually deal with clients?

Unless they’re savvy and well-experienced in the game, I like to move quick. My team and I want a really sort of fast-paced machine, and the sort of procrastination and the back and forward can be a little bit tedious. And everyone’s different. When you’ve got a buyer’s agent representing a buyer, they will play the game with you, and it’s also fun because they’re trying to get the property at the best price, you’re trying to sell it at the best price, and it becomes a game. But they facilitate the process a lot smoother because they do a lot of it.

You would rather deal with a buyer’s agent?

Part of what I like to do, always when someone wants to make an offer on a property pre-auction before it’s hitting the auction room, I always get people to sign a contract. I don’t waste time with verbal offers because to me, talk is cheap. Some buyers you have this conversation with, it can kind of freaks them out. A buyer’s agent understands the process and how it works. When you’ve got a signed contract, it means it’s a fact. And when you sit with the owner and you present it to them, they’re making decisions based on real information that they have, exactly like you said.

What is your advice to buyers and agents alike?

Just be blunt about it. It also qualifies better. Time is money. Time is the most important commodity, not only to agents, to everyone. So why are you going to waste it? I constantly harp on about how important time management is, productivity is. I find that when you fluff, or when you muck around, or when you talk shit, you just waste time. So just call it how it is.

Tune in to Gavin Rubinstein’s episode in The Smart Property Investment Show to know more about how you can get the most out of working with you real estate agent.