RE Agent Interview, I FROZE!

Chapter 4 of YTYRP Titled Greg Murphy. He uses sandwich lease options to buy houses from people in pre foreclosure or who are upside down on their equity.

thanks ill read up on that

Short Sale

Michael Mangham
MD Home Acquisitions LLC

If they are you could do a short sale. The homeowner would have to contact the bank to see if they would approve one. Then you need to start doing research on the market, also you would need to talk to the homeowner...if they are not paying the mortgage, they are probably not paying other bills so they might have liens on the property. This would not be my 1st choice if you are just starting out. Don't be intimidated by the Realtor, they don't get paid unless you do a deal! They need you as much as you need them. Maybe find a smaller company to start with. There is no rule that say's you can't work with a couple of Realtors...some specialize in REO's.
Just some things to ponder...
Barbara

I was just about to say the same thing. What you wanna do is find investor friendly realtors. You can try this with a Re-max agency. Ask the receptionist which agent works with investors and ask to talk with them. You can probably do the same thing with other agencies. Because those who work with investors will understand, and not drill you into the ground like that. You probably wouldn't have to interview them in person, either. You don't wanna waste your time with some agent who will second guess everything you do. You need an agent who thinks outside the box or who is will to like you do. Or, you could also turn the forclosure into a short sale as another strategy.

Don't let freezing up get you down, though.

OK so thats one realtor down, how many more to go?! Don sweat someone trying to belittle you, they are not worth your time. Join your local REI and go spend some time with realtors. It will take time to go through some but you'll find one that will help you. And you'll end up getting rid on this one or that one and finding another on, using more then one. I remember talking to my realtor, who is also a buddy of mine, a year and a half ago about some of the stategies here on DG and he wasn't to sure of what I was talking about and he is also an investor. Well, he is now onboard and putting in offers, ha ha, in fact he has even come up with lower numbers on offers then we did on a couple we were looking at. He is actually trying to get his moving along so he can get in the game now that we have him all fired up again. Good luck with talking with the realtors and all during this, just remember, everyone puts their pants on the same way as you and I.

Ill keep that in mind. When she said that banks dont do assignment deals. How do I respond to that?

lol its was a Re-max agent I spoke to and she has worked with investors in the past. Said shes been an agent for 15 yrs and all the investors shes worked with have just quit.

Banks may or may not do assignments, but some banks will do assignments. It's all about the contracts. If the contract from the bank states the contract isn't assignable, they're right. Any real estate contract is assignable, as long as it doesn't say it's not assignable. Another work around you can use, is a double closing or a courtesy closing at your title company. You can also lockup the property with an LLC, and sell the rights with LLC to your end buyer. At that point, the buyer will pay you, and then they will buy the property.

She could have saved you some time, and told you up front. Just because they say they've worked with investors before, doesn't mean anything. I woulda told him or her my 2 exit strategies are: Lease Options and Short Sales in those situations, and if they're so pressed for time, I would love to setup another time to talk about it more. One bad apple, will ruin the whole bunch sometimes. There's a reason why they quit working with her. But, keep going! lol

im not quitting. I want it even more now. Im not gonna stop until I got this down.

are fine for a lease/option only if the negative equity can reverse itself within the option period. No bank will lend on it if the numbers don't work. So you have to know TRUE numbers that you are working with. And then make an educated guess on where the property will be by the time of your tenant's lease/option. If the numbers don't work, I'd advise to stay away. Yes, there are ways to make money on deeply negative homes, but the risks are much greater and should be reserved until you have experience under your belt.

Also, short sales work best if you are going to be a buyer but you can also use a double close strategy if you can find bona fidede end buyer. No room for error so this is where a buyer's list really comes in handy.

So stay away from them for now. Thanks. Right now im trying to put together my team. Got a few leads on agents and going to talk to them tomorrow. Wondering if being to the point is gonna convince them to work with me. Something more along the lines like "I need someone to throw work to so you can make commission and I can make some too". Really dont know how to sell it too much now to make it sound like a presentation.

I remember tripping over my own words the first few realtors I spoke with! But remember you are gaining great experience each time, and its the rare person who finds their go-to agent on the first try! My advice is to just talk from your heart. You do need to have some idea of what strategy you are going to use, though. As mentioned above - if you are going to try to do sandwich leases, or subject tos, you wont be working with a realtor but directly with the homeowners. So you dont want to approach them with with those ideas. Tell them you are a new investor, and are looking for someone to work with who has experience in knowing the types of properties investors are looking for (bank owned, those that have owner financing possibilities, handyman specials, etc to name a few) as well as open to creative ideas in getting deals done. I agree with the others that short sales and pre-foreclosures are not the way to start out. I actually started out by finding vacant houses to look at, and calling the realtors name on the sign. Then while looking at the property I would have the conversation with them. That way I got experience walking through and seeing what was out there at the same time

listen to Michael above: short sales!
Find a realtor/broker who does short sales; ask if they'll pay you a fee for referring them some short sales... now go out and look for motivated sellers!

wishing you success,
Valerie

lol. Well thats one way to cut it short.

I think that was a great start for him and the realtor honestly did more than she should have by giving him the club referral. Only I believe because he didn't come off as a knowitall and attempt to counter what her response was and come up with a quote from one of Deans books.

This mentality that we agents need any and all who come before us is old, outdated and furthest from the truth. Like that agent said, we don't do research unless necessary. She did nothing but save herself time she would never get back and just didn't want to work with a new investor. No one is owed or entitled just because

He did good his first time

Bill appreciate you butting some clarity to this b/c i was thinking the same thing how in the world a lease option is going to work when their is like negative equity?

I don't know why people are intimidated by Realtors...they are just people too! It would be a perfect world if everyone came in pre-approved with unlimited funds...

Not everyone needs realtors on here, but at the same time there seems to be theme as realtors as if we are disposable tissue when in fact most times we are the best friend you need to get to properties.

Trust me when I tell you most realtors do understand these concepts but we can smell a new investor, fraud, or a new investor who's a smart alec and think they know it all; thats where its a problem

Come in with an open mind and ear and you might get more than you expected.

Realtors and Investors will almost always have a love/hate relationship. Realtors, because they either don't have the right attitude and don't want to waster their time. Think about it, who want's to waste time? Realtors are in business to make money, & I understand. And investors, mostly because they don't have access to the MLS to help with due diligence on a deal and they have to utilize help from a knowledgeable, professional realtor who knows the market & is a great person to have on any powerteam. Normal home buyers go through so many homes with a realtor, before they find their home, so I don't see how that cannot feel like a time waster, too.

How would anyone suggest how to deal with the spotlight question? What are some good exot stratagies you can use with the realtor, to make it worth their while? I mean unless you have a really good friend who's also a realtor, or an investor spends the money to become a realtor, what can a person do in the meantime? We just need to get creative & figure out things we can offer these realtors, so they will want to work with us. Short sale leads can work well, assigning deals to your buyers, and paying their commission on top of deals an maybe even offering more commission for bank reo deals would work, too.

Wendy Patton has figured out a way to work with realtors on doing lease option deals, and it seems to have worked well for her. I agree with you Bill, on negative equity homes, but I would think it would depend on how negative the homes is worth vS. mortgage owed.

As far as the 'right attitude' goes, just because a realtor doesn't want to work with you doesn't mean he's wrong, maybe he just doesn't feel like working with you for a myriad of reasons: 1. Inexperience 2. Not financially capable 3. Just doesn't like you.
Its mostly a love/hate when one party is not upfront and honest and prolonging and responsible for a deal going bust.

Want to make something worth a realtors while??? Be able to purchase a property without controversy or excuses; if you want a contract and plan to flip it, make sure you have buyers already researched and financially capable of buying instead of a bunch of people in the same boat as you that causes the deal to go beyond the 30 day window.

The best creative way....the only way is to make sure when you come to the table, come correct. Have your business papers, financing, etc in place. When a realtor asks for your or your buyers' corporate docs, don't give the "...ummmm,.....ummmm..." deal breaker.
If we ask for your or your buyers' corporate bank statements don't give the "ummmm,....ummmmm,..." deal breaker. If you call yourself an investor, be an investor. Not just someone who read a book and comes on this site asking questions all the time.

Short sales are great, but only when they are approved short sales; otherwise you've got to wait up to 6 months at times. As far as increasing our commissions, have the money in place and don't make promises you cannot keep.

This is real estate; this is not a utopian land of unicorns and butterflys and people dancing around with money flying out of their ears. This is a hard business and you have to more prepare for the worst to expect the best.

Just be prepared

I had my first contact with real estate agent today on inquiring about a property. I was a little nervous at first but after we spoke and I told her what my interest was and what I wanted to do. She was very helpful and I plan on using her in the future.