Agents, your comments please - Posted by Doug (ON)

Real Estate Investing Auctions
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Posted by Doug (ON) on March 07, 2006 at 10:17:06:

Brian, thank you for adding another perspective and even more detail on the “agent condition”. For a long time I’ve wondered whether agents want to actually MAKE money or if they’re in real estate for some other reason. Your and Natalie’s comments explain the situation, they want to make money but not if it means doing something different.

As for how it works for me. If you’ve done any creative deals you should know that there are two markets: The Retail market (the one where the house expired) and the Wholesale market (the one with either low prices OR great terms, or both in some cases).

So a house that expired on the retail market, may be a greal deal at that price with easy terms.

I haven’t tried to convince a seller to do anything in years. It doesn’t work. I just let everybody know that I do Lease Options, and the sellers who are interested raise their hands. In my market that’s about 1 hand for every 30-40 sellers.

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Agents, your comments please - Posted by Doug (ON)

Posted by Doug (ON) on March 05, 2006 at 19:16:02:

MODERATORS: In an attempt to keep within the forum rules, the following link has had all contact information removed. I have no interest in soliciting business from this forum, I only want comments on the content of the page.

Agents, please share your comments on the new agent page on my website.

www.homeseveryday.com/agents.html

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Re: Agents, your comments please - Posted by Natalie-VA

Posted by Natalie-VA on March 06, 2006 at 17:10:26:

Doug,

If I followed that correctly, you are offering 1% upon possession and the other 2% at settlement. I’m not sure of your price ranges, but I don’t know many agents that would settle for 1% now (to split with their broker) and then MAYBE another 2% in 2 years.

Even if you found an agent who was interested, I would think that their Broker would say “no deal”.

–Natalie

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Re: Agents, your comments please - Posted by Charles Parrish

Posted by Charles Parrish on March 06, 2006 at 11:13:55:

Doug,

I could not get the links to work.

I think your concept of marketing has merit, but as you and I know agents are very insecure about their leads.

I suggest telling them exactly what is it for them, how your program works and how fast they will be paid for the referrals.

I do something almost like your concept in dealing with agents; you are welcome to contact me about this concept as an add-on to what you are doing. My auction company sold over $10,000,000 in real estate auction sales last year and expect to double that this year.

We communicate with agents and the public via direct mail, calls, ads, seminars, radio and trade shows.

The message is; Consider the “reserve auction” method of marketing the leads they can’t list, the listings that are about to expire and also to put themselves in a position as a principal by using the “Reserve Auction Method of Marketing”.

The pitch to the seller is; “Mr. Seller, you may want to consider the auction method of marketing, there are no commission, no settlement costs, property is sold in as is condition, not contingent on anything, fast settlement and the sale and settlement is predictable.”

FAQ’s

  1. What if the auctioneer does not get up to my “reserve price”? YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ACCEPT THAT BID AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO MARKET THE PROPERTY OR HAVE ANOTHER AUCTION.

  2. How long will it take to have the auction, where will the auction be conduction and how long will it take? FROM THE TIME YOU MAKE THE DECISION TO SELL, IT WILL TAKE 2-3 WEEKS TO HAVE THE AUCTION SALE, YOUR PROPERTY WILL BE SOLD IN FRONT OF YOUR PROPERTY, AND IT WILL TAKE ABOUT 11 MINUTES FOR THE AUCTIONEER TO DO HIS MAGIC. SETTLEMENT WILL TAKE PLACE WITHIN 30 DAYS FOR ALL CASH (CERTIFIED FUNDS).

  3. I understand there are no commission and settlement cost, but what will it cost me to have the auction. YOU ONLY PAY FOR ADVERTISING (MARKETING), THIS COULD BE AS LITTLE AS $400.00 OR AS MUCH AS $1,500 OR MORE FOR HIGHER PRICED PROPERTY. THE MARKETING IS FOCUSED, PROACTIVE AND EFFECTIVE. THE SHORT TERM MARKETING IS WHAT BRINGS PROSPECTIVE BUYERS TO YOUR PROPERTY BIDDING AGAINST EACH OTHER PUBLICLY FOR YOUR PROPERTY, NOT AGAINST YOU PRIVATELY.

Wishing you good luck with your marketing program and your site.

Charles Parrish

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Re: Agents, your comments please - Posted by Brad Crouch

Posted by Brad Crouch on March 06, 2006 at 03:09:34:

Doug,

Just a thought that comes to mind . . . if an investor became an agent,
for whatever reason (access to the MLS or the networking possibilities,
perhaps), wouldn’t it naturally follow that he or she would also take
advantage of those networking possibilities?

For example, on these “throwaway” listings . . . if the other agents
knew that they could receive $500 as a birddog fee on all transactions
that closed, by giving those leads to the investor/agent they already
knew or had prior experience with, why would they seek you out?
Would their financial compensation be greater?

What kind of hoops would the agent have to go through (if any), in
order to get paid by you? This is not really clear on your website.

Aren’t the networking possibilities one of the main reasons an investor
would get his/her license?

Just curious,

Brad

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Not an agent, but… - Posted by Jim V

Posted by Jim V on March 06, 2006 at 24:22:31:

The page appears to be a template, with no changes to the basic color schemes. Your fonts appear to be a default font, they should compliment the “feel” of the page/site.

Without going on forever, perhaps the best thing to do, for you, is to start over with an original look, and content that cannot be found anywhere else.

That’s given in a positive sense, I’ve made some really “butt-ugly” sites in the past, the web today isn’t quite so forgiving.

Good Luck.

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Re: Agents, your comments please - Posted by Doug (ON)

Posted by Doug (ON) on March 06, 2006 at 17:20:15:

They would rather get nothing?

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Re: Agents, your comments please - Posted by Doug (ON)

Posted by Doug (ON) on March 06, 2006 at 08:59:33:

Thanks, I’ll make it more clear that I’ll pay a 3% commission on those throw-away listings too.

They don’t have to jump through any hoops, just bring me willing sellers and they get their money.

I suppose that networking is a significant reason for an investor to get licensed. But I’m not licensed, and I’m not seeking investor/agents. I want the other 99.99% of agents to send me their “bad” listings.

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Re: Not an agent, but… - Posted by Doug (ON)

Posted by Doug (ON) on March 06, 2006 at 09:02:35:

I’m not interested in redesigning the page. There’s abundant evidence that the “look” of a website is totally irrelevant to its success. (google, craigslist, this site)

I’m only interested in comments about what I’m offering to agents.

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Re: Agents, your comments please - Posted by Natalie-VA

Posted by Natalie-VA on March 06, 2006 at 17:25:23:

Yes, they would rather get nothing.

That’s like going down to the grocery store and saying, “I’m only willing to pay $1 for this gallon of milk. It’s that or you get nothing.” They’ll take nothing.

On a similar note, as an investor, I can buy properties all day long and make 10k on each one. In my opinion, it’s too much work to settle for 10k. I would rather get nothing and wait for the 30k deal. I would think most agents and their brokers would think the same way when it comes to their commissions.

–Natalie

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Re:Crappy pages get crappy results. - Posted by Jim V

Posted by Jim V on March 07, 2006 at 24:17:54:

Doug,

It’s obvious you have ego issues, so I don’t expect you’ll take anything to heart.

Your page isn’t Google, and it isn’t Craig’s list. There are reasons why they can do what they do and be successful.

Web success is about knowing your target market, and providing something that target market needs or wants. It’s fairly obvious you have no idea what your “target” needs or wants. When you know what they want, then you can begin fulfilling that need.

“I’m only interested in comments about what I’m offering to agents.” pretty much sums up why you’ll never have any kind of on-line exposure.

Best of luck with your project.

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Re: Agents, your comments please - Posted by Doug (ON)

Posted by Doug (ON) on March 06, 2006 at 18:20:01:

This is unbelievable to me, so excuse me for repeating it in scenario form to make sure we’re on the same page.

  1. You listed a house 3 months ago (or 6 or 12 or whatever), and it hasn’t sold.
  2. Your listing agreement is about to expire and the seller has no intention of renewing with you.

Now you have two choices in front of you:
a) Forget about it and get nothing.
b) Make a 2 minute call and get 1% commission now and another 2% later.

You’re telling me that you and every other agent you know, would rather choose A?

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Re: Agents, your comments please - Posted by Natalie-VA

Posted by Natalie-VA on March 06, 2006 at 18:40:40:

Doug,

You said, “Make a 2 minute call and get 1% commission now and another 2% later.”

It’s not that simple. I can’t simply make a 2 minute call. I still represent my seller and it takes a little more time than that to review the contract and take it to closing.

Secondly, it’s 2% later MAYBE. I have no assurance (nor does my seller) that it will ever close.

And, don’t forget, the Broker makes commission decisions, not the agents.

I don’t know…maybes someone else will chime in and agree or disagree with me.

–Natalie

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Re: Agents, your comments please - Posted by Doug (ON)

Posted by Doug (ON) on March 06, 2006 at 21:11:32:

No, you’re probably right. It would explain the reaction I’ve got in the past to similar attempts to work with agents for creative deals.

Ok, so if the agents don’t want to be paid then I might as well just call or visit the seller and buy directly from them, right? We’ll just write the contract up to begin when their listing expires.

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I believe you are right - Posted by Downriver Brian

Posted by Downriver Brian on March 07, 2006 at 07:35:51:

Most agents are very lazy. They do not think outside of the box, and the box they do have is very small.

I work with investors almost exclisively, I run an add now and then that costs $150 and has gleaned me over 170 leads on each run from investors all over the nation that want killer deals in Michigan. I shared this fact at my brokers Wednesday meeting, and not one out of 50 agents followed up to get a copy of the add so they could run it themselves. NOT ONE! But I hear complaining there all the time about how “bad the market is”

Your proposal requres a lot of “out of the box thinking”. And those who posted prior to me are right…even if the agent was game, the broker may chop-block it right there.
Broker’s and Agents have the following priorities:

1.Follow Each And Every Rule To The Letter So They Don’t Get In Trouble. If it’s “different” it’s suspect as not fitting into the rules…not because it’s a violation…but because they don’t know whether it is or not…so they assume it is. Crazy huh?

  1. Getting Deals Already In the Pipe To Close So They Can Get Paid

  2. Finding More Clients To Get More Deals In the Pipe So They Can Get Paid.

  3. Servicing Existing Clients (this always goes last, because once they are locked into a contract, it’s easy to belive that with the house on the MLS some agent somewhere is going to magicly bring the buyer to the table…they even belive this in a market with fewer buyers)

So I guess you are right…you’ll need to just go after the deal once it’s expired.

But how is that going to work for you? If the house didn’t sell…it’s probably overpriced and the sellers refused to lower the price in order to sell it. In this case, how would the deal be good for you at full market value?
What you propose is to hunt down unmotivated sellers, and somehow convince them to lower their price AND sell on terms where their credit is in the hands of someone else for two years while you and/or your tenant/buyer take over the payments.

This sounds like a trick bag to me.