There are a variety of streams to fish and using realtors is a valid stream. Like any other it has it’s pro’s and con’s.
One pro is that you have someone else doing some of the work for you while you are working your job. But you must stay on top of these people and be very, very specific in what you seek. You must also be sure to make it worth their while. A buyer agency is something you will want to consider as well with your agent.
As it sounds like you are busy with work, I would not suggest that you spend all day looking at properties (other than trying to get a feel for your market). Driving around all day with an agent is a waste of their time.
You need to NOT waste their time. What you offer them is ease of offer and high volume. This gives them time to drive Harry Homeowner around to look at 12 houses.
I do not have Steve’s course but I have seen that his webite contains a sample Letter Of Intent. I have found that this is a great tool, especially when working with agents. This letter is basically a screening process that is not intimidating to agents.
Your agent can send you a listing of 20 properties. If you were to make 20 offers on them usuing a contract, you will quickly burn your agent out, waste their time and find life more difficult.
But if you send them 20 letters of intent, they can fax them off and simply address the ones that make return calls. Those that call back will already know the type of terms you are offering. This lets you know that they are motivated or at the very least, are in your ballpark.
Of the responses from you letters, you will have a much higher closing ratio. You will not waste time driving around to all 20 houses. Your agent will now have only to focus on the responses received. This minimized their time and effort and provided greater return and higher volume of commissions (win/win).
Take a look at Steve’s forms and see if he does not use a similar procedure. I suspect that he does.
I’m on my way to flipping homes (I hope). I am meeting with an agent tomorrow to get a list of properties to see. Do any of you tell the agent that you really only want to wholesale? She asked me what I was going to do with the properties and I said maybe keep some for rentals, do a couple rehabs,etc. But I want to be honest to build a good rapport with her. However being a newbie the last thing I really want to do is a full blown rehab (although it is in my future plans.) Any ideas? Also thank you Steve Cook for your course. I have read and reread it in the week I’ve had it.
I recently took the Ron LeGrand Wholesale boot camp.
We were told to not tell the RE agent that we plan
to wholesale the place - the reason being that if
the agent thinks that you don’t plan to buy the house,
they may hesitate to work with you. They don’t want
to work with someone who may default if a buyer isn’t
found to flip the house to.
I have not done my first deal yet, so I don’t have
any experience with it. I did go to an agent who
has sent me MSL listings, but she did not ask me what
I intended to do with the houses.
Re: What to say to a real estate agent? - Posted by Al - So Cal
Posted by Al - So Cal on August 05, 2002 at 22:04:59:
YOU HAVE TO KNOW YOUR AREA TO FIND GREAT BUYS
YOU HAVE TO KNOW YOUR AREA!!! NOT SOME REALTOR!!!
THEYRE COMMISSIONED SALES PEOPLE! If they have a brain \in their head they should have enough money to take a good deal down and not hand it to a new wanna-be. You have to quit looking to someone else to do it for you. If youre not the expert in your area you`re not
ready to do anything.
LEARN YOUR AREA AND THEY WILL COME. Sounds like it
could be a good movie. Good Luck.
You may find that it is difficult to resell properties which are already on the open market for anybody to see.
You may find that you do better locating properties on which you have a monopoly position because they are not on the open market and you have a sales contract on them.
Steve said in his course that he did 90% of deals through a realtor and 10% through FSBO so I thought the easiest way was to go through a realtor since I don’t have access to the MLS. I told her to have a list of all properties, not just ones she thought was a good deal. Whether or not she’ll listen, I’ll find out today. I can’t start taking time off from work to look at properties all day until I have at least one deal under my belt. Anyway, thanks for your replies.