Earnest Money

I have used the electronic e sign papers for offers but the offer must be assignable or you will need to use transaction funding. Also it sounds like you are going after REO or foreclosure properties and the fact you have no mney will make this very difficult I ran into the problem my self. You need to start out with owner sellers FSBO'S and you can make th earnest money $5 or $100 you will gain knowledge a lot easier starting with fsbos banks want earnest money with the offer and if you make too high of an offer and can't sell the deal to an end buyer you can loose your earnest money. I'm waiting to start REO'S untill I have a slush fund saved up to play with.

Actually, not only can you do the non- assignable deal with transactional funding, you can take the property in an LLC or trust and sell the LLC or Trust. You can also do a "Dry double close using your buyers money to fund the a to b and the b to c. OR you can have a trusted buyer and put him/her directly on the contract and collect your fee.
You don't need a slush fund to do REOs if you have real cash buyers in place.
(which you need anyway!)

Michael Mangham
Mentoring/Team Building Nationwide
MD Home Acquisitions LLC

How interesting to sell the LLC or Trust to the end buyer. Never would have thought of that one. I actually like the very last selection. Have a trusted buyer and put him/her directly on the contract and collect my fee. This would help greatly with REOs. The catch is to have a trusted buyer. I have even thought about starting by just bird dogging to build relationships with cash buyers that I pass these deals off too. Thanks for the tips! Keep them coming

Michelle

Yes you are correct but I think I'm coming from a similar place as melody here is an example.

I found cash buyers through recent sales and contacted them one in general wanted something very specific and I went and found it and put it under contract at the price and area he wanted. I try to finalize the deal and he backs out because he found something the day before and I only had 3 days left in my inspection and had to back out because I could not find another end buyer if I had the $1000 earnest money I could have stayed involved and found another buyer but when you are playing with what little money you do have it's scary to imagine losing it because some buyer found a property earlier in the day. banks here want at least $1000 within 3 buisness days so if you don't find a buyer in 3 days and you don't have earnest you loose the deal. It just makes it easier to have the $1000 and take a chance on making 10,000 but when you are penniless it's easier to deal with fsbo's. And the last thing you want to do is look like a chump to the Bank because next time they may throw your offer away. You are100% correct there is a way to do this with no money but I guess im just trying to say its so much easier to deal with owner sellers and learn the ropes.

Have you ever bird dogged to build fast cash?

I have tried, somewhat, but had no luck in finding investors that want to work with me. It appears, obviously, to be a very low risk way to get started in this business. Can you, or anyone else that has been kind enough to answer this thread so far, offer your take on how well and lucrative bird-dogging can be?

Thanks.

Melody

In my short experience, you still have to do your due dilligence in building your buyers list first. You are going to come across all types of investors and you should categorize them all. Some will be retial buyers, some will buy and hold buyers and others will be buy and flip investors. Get information on all of them and don't forget to obtain their buying criteria.

You will meet others that just want a property finder, or bird dogger. They will normally have their own bird dog profile or will verbally tell u what types of properties they are looking for and that is what you will find for them. I have a bird dog agreement in writing worked out with the one guy I am working with so he pays $1000 for every property that I find for him that he closes on. Some will pay $100 to just find a property that fits their criteria weather they close or not. Yes this is very low risk but can be very low reward!! Still if you look up Bird Dog in the search criteria box you will probably come across quite a few entries regarding the good and bad of bird dogging.

Good luck and take action!

Michelle