It's a marketing phrase with no license behind it. There's no designation, no test, and nobody checks. Anyone can type it.
Still, there are agents who genuinely work this way, and a few questions will find them fast. Ask what percentage of their closings last year were with buyers who weren't going to live in the property. Ask whether they'll pull sold comps and rent comps in the same conversation, since rent data doesn't come from the MLS in most markets and someone who never looks at it will hand you a purchase price with no income side. Ask how they handle an offer that needs an inspection contingency kept in place on a property that's clearly going to need work, because agents who mostly serve owner occupants often push you toward whatever terms make the offer win rather than whatever terms protect you.
The practical difference shows up in volume tolerance. An investor might write six offers to get one accepted, and each offer is unpaid work for the agent. Someone who's set up for that says so plainly and will tell you their limit. Someone who isn't will get slower to reply around offer three.
Since the buyer representation agreement is now signed before touring, this matters more than it used to. You're picking a person and committing to them in writing before you've seen how they behave under pressure, so keep the term short on the first agreement and extend it if they're good.
