Posted by Rob FL on November 05, 2002 at 09:32:58:
Find a good buyer’s agent. They will work for you and will assist you in finding the right properties.
If you don’t want to go that route, I would pick up the Realtor magazines at the local convenience stores. If you look through enough of them, you should be able to find out who sells bank REOs.
Can you use an RE agent to sell wholesale deals? - Posted by Kristine-CA
Posted by Kristine-CA on November 03, 2002 at 19:37:33:
I am wondering about the pros and cons of using an Realtor or agent to sell my deals. These would be deals that I have contracts on or options on.
Can an agent bring a buyer to me, even thought I’m not the owner? These would be investor buyers, cash buyers that I could assign my contract or assign my option.
What I’m really asking is what kind of listing or deal do I have to make with them to make everything legal and fair? Can I pay them out of escrow like any normal purchase?
I’ve had several agents approach me about this, but only one actually understood what I meant by assigning or double closing. And she was totally game and asked me to call her with my next deals (she brought a great offer to me recently, but another buyer got there first.) She said I didn’t have to list with her. She said it would be a commission only deal.
With so many out-of-town investors in my area, the agents may have better selling leads than I do.
Pros and cons? Any experiences? Have any of you agents ever sold a deal for someone with a contract or option.
Thanks, Kristine
There is a free way to wholesale them - Posted by ronald rye
Posted by ronald rye on November 06, 2002 at 22:39:34:
There’s another free way to list your wholesale deals to other investors. Apparantly they’re in competition with creo because their url is blocked. You can search for them on a search engine (The US Land Company) or their url is (take out the spaces)
www.u s l a n d c o.com
You CAN, but should you? - Posted by rm
Posted by rm on November 05, 2002 at 15:37:23:
I would only recommend using an agent who has connections.
Like the other gentleman who posted a reply (Rob-FL?)
Unless an agent has a host of investors they can market to, they’re not going to be too helpful- particularly when time is of the essence.
Also, you’d best be doing a fair amount of volume if you want an agent to cut a deal with you. Don’t even bother with an agent in a traditional company- the brokerage probably won’t allow it. Find an independent broker, or a RE/MAX, Realty Executives, Keller-Williams agent. They’ll have much more flexibility in arranging their own terms.
Good investing!
Can you use an RE agent to sell wholesale deals? - Posted by Ron M
Posted by Ron M on November 04, 2002 at 13:23:36:
Hi Kristine,
I don’t have a lot of experience in flipping deals, but as the owner of a fsbo advertising web site I have had a lot of dealing with agents.
Typically, an agent isn’t going to sell your property unless they know they will get paid by someone. I recommend determining how much you are willing to pay in agent commission before even sitting down with an agent to discuss an arragement. If you’re flipping a property, you will have to build the amount of commission into your cost analysis.
Most agents, if not listing the property on the MLS, will expect you to pay them a “cooperating brokers’ commission” of 3%. If they indicate they have a buyer for your property, but haven’t negotiated a contract with you in advance, I would tell them to go ahead and bring their prospective buyer to the property to see if the buyer even wants the deal. If the buyer wants the deal and the agent submits you an offer with a 3% commission written in, you can either accept the offer or counteroffer with $1 or more. Keep in mind, if you counter with $1, the agent will say bad things about your mother and tell their buyer that you are a liar and a cheat.
If the agent tells you up front they want 3%, you can invite them over to see the property and discuss what you are willing to pay. Keep in mind, if they ask for 3% they just mentioned a number and it can only move downward from there.
Keep a guest registry and have everyone who looks at the property with you, sign it. This will keep an agent from taking your buyer and then trying to sell them back to you. If they look with an agent, have them sign it and place the agent’s name next to theirs. This will keep it straight as far as who own what buyer.
Also, remember that commissions are completely negotiable and you can always add the negotiated commission onto the price of the property if it is a fairly insignificant amount such as 1%. Just tell the agent that the property is really worth much more than what you are asking and they can sell that fact to their buyer. Afterall, the agent is really working for themselves when it comes to putting a deal together.
Finally, there are some agents in our area who are willing to list properties at a 1% sales commission. I recommend against this as the other agents in the marketplace are unlikely to even pay attention to an MLS listing that pays them 33% of their normal paycheck.
Happy Investing.
Ron M (WA)
Re: Can you use an RE agent to - Posted by Rob FL
Posted by Rob FL on November 03, 2002 at 21:27:41:
I do lots of flat fee listings for investors looking to flip their property fast. Probably 15 so far since the first of the year. It works out well for everyone. I get paid a small fee when it sells. The investor only pays the big 3% commission if another agents sells it. If they sell it themselves, all they pay is my small fee for listing it.
If the Realtor understands what you are doing, this is a fantastic way to sell the property. However, you don’t want to be obligated to pay a 6% or even 3% commission if you find the buyer on your own. Which happens often with wholesale flips.
Re: Can you use an RE agent - Posted by ChrisC
Posted by ChrisC on November 05, 2002 at 12:47:00:
Ron -
I just received an email “delivery failure” on the Internet. Just wanted to say thanks for the reply.
ChrisC
Re: Can you use an RE agent to - Posted by LenNJ
Posted by LenNJ on November 04, 2002 at 08:09:06:
Rob
Are you an agent as well, can you ellaborate on maybe a deal or the way a typical deal will work when an investor either approaches you with a property or to find him a property, I always like to hear how an agent combines creativity with being a REA.
Re: Can you use an RE agent to - Posted by Rob FL
Posted by Rob FL on November 04, 2002 at 09:46:57:
I have a broker’s license which allows me alot more leeway. I’m basically the boss.
Whenever someone has a property they want me to wholesale flip as a Realtor, I first send out an email with info on the property to about 70 investors. If none of them bite within about 24 hours, the property gets listed in the MLS.
I also have MLS scanning software which can send daily or weekly emails to clients looking for specific proeprty types. This is great for investors looking for fixers and foreclosures.
If you want you can send me an email and I will direct you to my website which has more info.
Re: Can you use an RE agent to - Posted by ChrisC
Posted by ChrisC on November 04, 2002 at 21:34:37:
Rob -
Regarding working with brokers & agents, I am trying to get my foot in the door as a Wholesaler, any suggestions on how to find RE people who sell REO’s for the banks? I’ve looked in the yellow pages and there’s no clue who does what.
Thanks,
ChrisC