Posted by John Merchant on February 07, 2005 at 10:28:37:
The term “Birddog” has always been offensive to me, and the ONLY way I work with referrers is my sharing my profits with them 50-50%.
And I structure any deals where I’m finding the money, so that the borrower pays me. That way the cheapie who’s lending or investing can keep his BD fee as I’m not going to be taking any of his table scraps.
Your charging the borrower or seller for your fee is going to cause him/her to look at you as a professional consultant and not just a cheap intermediary.
And paying YOUR referrers is going to cause them to remember you with fondness and send you more business.
Hey, I’m “GREEN”!I plan on starting out as a birddog by finding deals for investors, I’ve had one man offer $500 and another around the same. This is up front before I have found a deal. They just said they would pay me a finders fee of around $500.
Isnt’ this too cheap? I’d like a cut of $1,500 or a percentage of the profit. But, there’s a chance I wont know what the profit is. Any suggestions?
Anita, I see your concern here and if there is any advise I would give is focus on how much you can help the investor and the money WILL follow. Is $500 fair? I dont know that depends? Is $1500 fair? That depends as well. I’ll tell you this much I would pay you a $500,000 “bird dog” fee if the deal was good enough. If you brought me something for 2 million that was worth 6 million maybee a 500,000 fee is reasonable it all has to do with the value YOU CAN ADD, dont think about what you will get, think about what is the most you can GIVE and the money WILL follow. Use this advise in other things and you will see that it is a universal law.
Depends on your situation. Cash poor or lack time or skills to do possible repairs and resell? Finding deals for others might be your nitch. Your future deals could be more lucrative after you’ve proven to these buyers you know value and are making them money. Imagine the time they would waste with you if you can’t produce a good deal. Their time is far more valuable than yours.