How to Find Real Estate Investors to Work With (in Any Market)

The key for investor-friendly agents is to find the right real estate investors who will consistently close deals in any economic conditions and in your local market. With the right strategy and a bit of hustle, agents can position themselves to close dozens of deals a year. 🚀

Here are some practical strategies to help build a pipeline of motivated real estate investors and generate consistent deal flow.

1. Local networking: Real estate investing (REI) clubs & meetups

• Cost: Varies — generally free
• Best for finding: Small private investors, niche private investors, and building your investment team

Where to start

• Search for local investing groups on Google, Meetup.com, or Facebook.
• Join both broad and niche-focused communities.
• Most meetups are social events held at a local coffee shop, restaurant, or brewery, and you can attend them free of charge (often with a free beverage included by the organizer). 

Tips for success

• Show up regularly — familiarity builds trust.
• Spend time in informal spaces where real conversations happen.
• Always collect contact info and follow up.
• Join multiple groups and start attending all their events. It’s a slow and time-consuming way to network, but one deal makes it all worthwhile.

2. Real estate investing conferences

• Cost: Varies — can be expensive
• Best for finding: Small multifamily investors, proptech investors, and institutional investors

Conferences — whether large or local — are packed with serious investors and networking opportunities.

There are numerous virtual and physical real estate investing conferences. The larger conferences attract thousands of investors and can last several days. It’s a great place to network and connect with real estate investors. Local investment conferences attract smaller audiences but are target-rich environments with serious local investors.

You need to go where your investors go! If you’re looking for an upcoming (October 2025) event, check out BPCON!🎤 You can also check our list of real estate conferences to see which one comes up in an area near you.

Networking tips

1. Come prepared with plenty of business cards or a digital contact-sharing tool. Dress professionally and have a brief, authentic elevator pitch ready.
2. Join the event app or any official social group before arriving. Start connecting with attendees and reviewing the schedule to identify high-value networking opportunities.
3. Reach out to potential contacts ahead of the event to schedule short meetups or coffee chats.
4. Attend sessions specifically designed for networking, such as happy hours, roundtables, or breakout groups. These often lead to more meaningful conversations.
5. Spend time in informal areas like the lobby, lounge, or hallways — seasoned investors often skip sessions and focus on connecting.
6. Identify key connectors or influencers and collaborate on sharing contacts or splitting networking duties.
7. Partner with exhibitors who aren’t collecting leads and offer to sponsor a giveaway in exchange for shared contact details.
8. Be approachable — smile, make eye contact, and start conversations. A friendly, open attitude goes a long way.
9. Focus on offering value — whether it’s insight, a referral, or an introduction. Investors remember those who help.
10. Follow up promptly via email or social media. Personalize your message and reference something specific from your conversation. 📬 

You need to be disciplined and follow this checklist for every event. Unless the event attendee list miraculously falls into your hands, you’re stuck doing the grunt work to connect with investors on a one-on-one basis.

3. County real estate records

• Cost: Usually free
• Best for finding: Small private investors, private lenders, wealthy investors, institutional investors, and proptech investors

How to use property data to find investors

It will take you a minute to get a feel for who is an investor, but it gets much easier over time. Remember that every homeowner is, by default, also an investor. They are all candidates for your home wealth adviser services. Here’s what to look for:

• Homeowners who own more than one home: Use a simple spreadsheet search to identify duplicate owners and spot those with multiple properties.
• Homeowners who paid cash or have no mortgage: They may not be active investors, but they clearly have the financial capacity to invest.
• Homes with mortgages from private or hard money lenders: These financing sources often indicate investment activity.
• Homeowners who hold title in a trust or LLC: These ownership structures are commonly used by investors for liability or tax purposes.
• Homeowners with different street and mailing addresses: Out-of-state or mismatched addresses often suggest non-owner-occupied, investment properties.
• Owners of small multifamily, condo, or townhome units: Investors often hold 25% to 40% of units in these complexes — track those patterns closely.
• Rental listings on public sites: Set alerts for new rental listings and cross-reference them with your property database — every rental is investor-owned by default.
• Permit and licensing data from your county: Check for separate datasets related to rental, short-term rental, and ADU permits that can reveal active investors.

Building your county property database

Here are the types of data that are typically available from county records and will be particularly useful in your database:

• Property ownership: Owner’s name, property street address, owner mailing address, and sale history
• Property characteristics: Physical characteristics of a property, including its size, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, age, and other features
• Property value: Assessed value of a property, which can be useful in determining its potential worth
• Tax information: Property taxes, assessed value, amount of taxes due, and the due date
• Deed information: Sales and legal transfer of property ownership, including the date of the transfer, names of the buyers and sellers, purchase price, and the owner’s mailing address
• Mortgage information: Mortgages or liens on a property, the amount of the mortgage, and the identity of the lender
• Zoning information: Zoning laws and regulations that apply to a particular property
• Building permits: Data on building permits that have been issued for a property, which can be useful in understanding the history of any renovations or improvements that have been made

4. BiggerPockets 

• Cost: Free — $39 a month for the forum; $150 per lead for the Recommended Agent program
• Best for finding: Small private investors and small multifamily investors

BiggerPockets is one of the most active real estate investing communities in the country, with more than a million members. It’s a go-to platform for investors looking to learn, find resources, and connect with like-minded professionals. 🤝  Try BiggerPockets to connect with investors  — whether you’re networking or offering value, it’s built to help relationships flourish.

Join the featured agent program

BiggerPockets offers a Featured Agent program that gives agents increased exposure to investor audiences — similar to Zillow Premier Agent.

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Network with investors on the BiggerPockets Forum 

The free path on BiggerPockets is similar to how you would find real estate investors on a social network like LinkedIn. 

Always have a cooperative and sharing attitude. If you participate and give value, you will build your network, and you will also be noticed by the admins and moderators on the site. At some point, you may be invited to moderate or speak on a webinar or at an event!

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5. FreedomSoft

• Cost: Starts at $197 per month
• Best for finding: Niche investors, out-of-state investors, vacant homes, foreclosed homes, private lenders, hard money lenders, and corporate investors

FreedomSoft is a powerful platform that helps organize and segment investor leads. 💻 

You can download raw property data from your county assessor and treasurer departments, and you can also subscribe to data services that will apply market analytics to enhance and organize the data into lead lists and marketing campaigns.

FreedomSoft allows you to search and organize data by recognized categories of investors. Target filters include:

• Known and out-of-state investors
• Vacant or foreclosed properties
• Cash buyers
• Private and hard money lenders
• Trusts, corporations, proptech companies, and more

Plus, it includes tools for skip tracing, automated follow-ups, email/text outreach, and lead funnels.

Types of real estate investors

Understanding the different types of real estate investors can help tailor your approach and messaging. Each type has unique goals, risk tolerance, and deal structures.

Investor type	Typical focus & strategy
Private investors	Individuals using personal capital to buy, hold, flip, or rent properties. Often flexible and relationship-driven, operating locally. May be new or experienced.
Institutional investors	Large firms, hedge funds, or real estate companies managing pooled capital to acquire significant property portfolios. Focused on scalable opportunities and often seek agents who can bring them consistent deal flow.
REITs	Companies that own or finance income-generating real estate. Public REITs don’t typically work directly with agents, but private REITs may engage local sourcing.
Proptech investors	Technology-driven companies or startups disrupting traditional real estate (e.g., iBuying, short-term rentals). Prefer agents who are tech-savvy and data-minded.
Syndicates & partnerships	Groups pooling funds to buy larger deals — often commercial or multifamily. Agents working with syndicates must understand how to pitch deals to groups and often deal with a managing partner or sponsor.
Buy-and-hold investors	Focused on long-term rental income, prioritizing cash flow, stable markets, and property management. Value local market knowledge and deal analysis.
Flippers	Seek properties to renovate and resell quickly for profit. Often look for distressed homes, foreclosures, or undervalued properties.

Benefits of working with real estate investors 

Investors can be demanding, but the potential reward is significant. 💼 Real estate investors buy and sell properties year-round, no matter the market conditions  — this consistency means it’s a great idea for agents to work with investors! 📈

In the first quarter of 2024, investors purchased approximately 44,000 US homes, accounting for 19% of all homes sold during that period  — the highest share in nearly two years, according to a Redfin report on investor home purchases. 

Here’s why working with them can be a career game-changer:

1. One client can fuel your business: Some investors transact so frequently that they can sustain your deal flow for years.

2. Investor activity is widespread and growing: Every market — urban, suburban, mid-sized, and even rural — has active investors looking for opportunities. Tapping into this consistent demand can open up steady, year-round business where others aren’t looking.

3. It’s a less crowded space: Most agents don’t target investors, so competition is lighter.

4. They buy year-round: Unlike traditional clients, investors don’t follow seasonal patterns.

5. Agents can leverage this experience to invest themselves: Working closely with investors teaches you how to evaluate deals, analyze markets, and spot opportunities — skills that can eventually help you build your own real estate portfolio. 🏡

How to vet real estate investors  

Not every investor lead is worth pursuing. Here’s how to separate the serious from the tire-kickers:

1. Use public records to check purchase history and financing methods.
2. Introduce them to a broker or planner to assess buying ability.
3. Disqualify those who can’t (or won’t) close deals.

That last step is essential because you need to cut your losses and move on from investors who may be willing but are unable to invest! 🔎

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

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