Espresso: Empowering Agents With FRBOs

The best real estate agents are always hungry for new sources of leads, new numbers to call.

If you’re an Espresso Agent client, you’re fortunate in that you have access to the best For Sale by Owner and Expired leads. Recently, Espresso Agent expanded its best-in-class offerings to include a new category of leads: For Rent by Owner, or FRBO Leads.

FRBO can be a lucrative source of business as you can work from any of three different categories:

1. Investors who run their own ads
2. Investors who own properties but use a property management company to assist with marketing and showing the property
3. Agents who own their own rental properties

In particular, building your investor database can be a very fruitful strategy. Successful, high producing agents always have a number of investors they work with.  Investors often buy multiple properties, turning over those that they don’t want to acquire something new.

So, what’s the best way to pursue investors using Espresso Agent’s FRBO database?  First, it’s important to recognize that you aren’t going after a single transaction. Your initial goal is to build a relationship that can yield on-going results over time.

Let’s walk through some of the options. If you call about a specific rental property and they aren’t interested, you can move the conversation into several different areas:

• “Do you have any other properties that you might want to sell or handle as an IRS 1031 tax-free exchange for something more lucrative?”

If you aren’t familiar with the IRS 1031 “Like-Kind” exchange, here’s how it works:

Like-kind exchanges — when you exchange real property used for business or held as an investment solely for other business or investment property that is the same type or “like-kind” — have long been permitted under the Internal Revenue Code.  Generally, if you make a like-kind exchange, you are not required to recognize a gain or loss under Internal Revenue Code Section 1031. If, as part of the exchange, you also receive other (not like-kind) property or money, you must recognize a gain to the extent of the other property and money received. You can’t recognize a loss.

Here are other questions you can explore during an initial call with an investor:

• “I’m curious, how long have you been buying and selling investment property?”
• “What kinds of properties do you like to buy? If you had a magic wand, what neighborhoods would represent the most ideal investment opportunities?
• “What are the specific characteristics you typically look for: type of construction? Number of baths and bedrooms? Price range? Monthly rent?

Espresso Agent has excellent scripts that can guide you as you build relationships with investors. Again, the goal is not to secure a transaction on that first call (of course, it would be nice to score a transaction right out of the gate, but we’re taking the more realistic approach).

Your goal is to understand their needs and let them know you will be looking for the ideal investment on their behalf.

Having investors in your sphere is an excellent strategy for any agent.  And, if you’re already an Espresso Agent client, you have the best FRBO contacts at your fingertips, along with proven scripts that can help you build investor relationships.

→ Learn more or sign up for For Rent By Owner Leads by Espresso Agent.

Doug Spak

Doug Spak joined Espresso Agent as a Content Marketing Specialist in 2016. Doug brings nearly four decades of experience as a copywriter, blogger, and screenwriter to his role with Espresso. Since joining our team, Doug has actively updated website content, published more than 300 blogs, and created countless social media posts.