How To Be A Bird-Dogger and GET PAID FOR IT!

I just wanted to add the link to your other thread, with the contracts from you and coach nstreet. Thanks for pulling it out. Just wanted to connect it to this thread for anyone asking.
http://www.deangraziosi.com/node/3330

Al. How do I obtain MLS listings? I too thought only realtors can do this. I have been dealing outside of the MLS world and would love a chance to have access myself.

Many RE Companys and some Agents have a link to MLS listings on their web sites. Do a web search for "your town, Realty, MLS", or something similar. I have subscribed in the past to this service, but I am concentraiting more on investing now and spending my money on that.

Wish you success, Al

Realtor.com has listings from all over the country, but they are not always current. Some Realtors do not subscribe and do not have their listings on that site. It also takes some time to get them loaded, so you do not necessarly get them when they are "just listed". I don't know how overstock.com works, but I assume Realtors post their listings. If you can get a direct link to your local MLS system, you will have the most current information available.

Al

Thanks for the advise. I've met with the bank again yesterday and went over the reason the loan was denied. We then discussed options of what i need to make it work, since she uses my inome versus all my rental properties, and why the income were not used as my income. Well, i was told that if i really have a rental property in Utah, then they would need proof of a rental agreement and copies of checks (12 months) which the tenant has made. Dah, they should have told me that from the beginig instead of making me looks like an idiot. I called the tenant in utah and she will be more than happy to provide me with copies of the checks. Now with that in mind, i'm good to go and approval is issued. Once i get the copies of the checks and the copy of the rental agreement, the loan will be processd and hoping to have it close on November 4th. The mean time, i will be meeting with my perspective rentee and get the contract ready for her to move in on Dec 1 into my current house, and i will be moving into my new home. Horray! Thank you again Anita!

Lolo

Anita, i forgot to mention the bank will finance 95% of the loan instead of a 20% down payment. I've established 20% equity on the property already and just a little money out of pocket. No realtor and the concession will also apply into closing. Cool huh! Thanks again!

Lolo

Sorry everyone, i didn't mean to side track. Just wanted to give Anita a quick update. OK where were we? Oh talking about MLS and other search engines. I haven't found any properties on search engine or MLS, but most of the properties i've found or if not all of them on the newspaper ads and word of mouth.

Lolo

This shows how new I am. I thought only realtors could pull MLS.

Thanks,

Sean

Great post Anita and everyone else.
I was wondering if there is a contract available that bird doggers can use. One that a bird dogger can send to potential buyers, stating terms and fees.

Thanks Zeek

Anita:

What are the screening/ interview questions you ask? You've posted all of this awesome information without the very key ingredient when your targets contact you.

Whom, besides investors, do you target with your postings?

How are these postings worded?

Are there any other biz docs re: bird-dogging that I will need to arm myself with to further protect myself and my potential client as pertinent to my home state( CA )?

Where would I go to print copies of these docs that would be cost-effective, yet efficient and timely?

What type of biz license would I need to apply for to register my services? What would the license cost me?

Just some thoughts as I sit behind the keys while attempting to put the pieces of the puzzle you laid out for us in here together for the final product.

Thank you for your thoughtful insights.

Don

you are very welcome...and I am so proud of you. Let me know how it all works out .

Hi Zeek

I guess you missed this one, but you use a promissory note to spell out pyment terms and a non-disclosure agreement to keep any info you give them confidential

Hi Don

Well I like craigslist.com and backpage.com and also a few others. You would word them, letting them know you are not a real estate agent but you offer a locator service that that could benefit from. I like to use office depot for copies and you should only need a promisorry note and a non-disclosure agreement.

Check you local court house for licensing cost, you may want to ask for the home based business license if you are in cali.

Hi Lloyd and others,
Check out Credit Unions. Nationwide,they have money to lend.

I got the loan approved in Utah, and now the local bank want to jump in the competition. However, the local bank wants copies of the cancel checks provided by the tenant. Appreciate the info. Definitely will look into that!

Lloyd

Thank you so much for posting, you are providing me with so much information. I am new at REI and have 2 partners, we are dicussing starting with Bird-Dogging. We attend a REI club here localy and have made contact with serveral REI that would like to use this system to find properties.

Do you have any words of advise to set up the process. Should we set up our LLC first?

Hi Anit, I just bought Dean's book, and have not completed it yet. Should I wait until I complete the book before I start to bird-dog or should I start now? I really would like to jump in now, because their are so many vacant properties available in my area. Could u give me your opinion?
Thanks Lady5p

Well good going with the contracts with the other REi's. There is no need to start your LLC right now because as a bird-dogger you really have nothing to protect in way of real estate assets.

You may want ot do some partnership papers with your partners just to spell out what your relationship and duties are in the group.

You should start by using what ever resources you have at your disposal to find and/or locate properties that will bring your investors a good profit. Den\an has a great Foreclosure Alert Syetem you can get, also there is backpage, craigslist, facebook, MLS systems and more. So just try till you find what works.

All I can say is finish reading the book and then go from there. You want to be fully armed when you get ready to jump in. So read the forums on here as much as possible and finish the book

Anita,

do you think the FAL would be good for a birddogger or do you think that the "other" investors already have this info? I am also interested in assigns, so, I know that the FAL would definately work for that. By the way, Anita, do you use the FAL?

Thanks

thanks for the info. just finish reading dean's book, a little nervous getting started. i'm ready to kick the fear to the curb and do it. you all are so encouraging. keep up the good work....

Sandra, i wud appreciate some insight on the MLS search after you do some research tonight.....Anita, where can I acquire these agreements forms at? Thank all of you so much for your insights!

Jeff....Soar to the heights of success!!

as a bid dogger I'm still confused about one thing. I found acouple properties that were boarded up. Some had numbers to a realtor, because it was a reo, but some didn't have nothing, besides the boards on the windows. Before I looked for these properties I talked to an investor where he wants to buy etc. He told me and I told him I'm a birddogger, and he said he usually pays 1,ooo dollars to biddoggers. Since I found these properties how do I introduce him to them?
Do I give him the lists, and he takes them, makes money, and leaves me dry. Would the traditional way for me to get paid up front before I hand him the lists? And what exacily is my job as a biddogger? If there's no contact info on the homes do i contact the county recorder and find all the info for the investor? or is that his job?

As Anita pointed out in section 5 above, you get them to sign a non disclosure agreement (also called a confidentiality agreement) that prevents them from leaving you out in the cold. You also get them to sign your promissory note if they choose to buy the property. If you look back to page 1 of this thread, you'll find a post by Anita with a great Confidentiality Agreement. I'd like to see them myself. BTW, $1,000 is a good fee.

reighnie

What's the best way to calculate FMV? I found a real estate agent's website that has MLS searches for my area as well as several statistics for each specific area. One of those statistics is the Average Price per Square Foot for houses sold in the past 90 days. As I said, these statistics are for specific areas. My city of about 51,000 is broken up into 5 specific areas. For the sake of approaching investors, is the Average Price per Square Foot of recently sold houses a reasonable estimate of FMV?

Thanks,

reighnie

As a bird dog, how much information about needed repairs will an investor expect? Do I need to actually tour the house and detail the damage? Is what's described in the MLS enough? Is walking around looking in windows enough?

Thanks,

reighnie

To answer your question about Average price per sq. ft. being a good indicator of the properties FMV, Well, thats a YES and NO, you can certainly use it to HELP you in determining the FMV, however i would go by the COMPARABLE SALES METHOD, Here's exactly what i do: I will look at previous properties that have SOLD(No Refi's) in the LAST 6 months or LESS, then i take the information and match up it's exact specifications like; the age of the property(they DEFINTILY need to be compatable), BEDROOM's, BATH's, and NO MORE than 20% more or less in SQ.FT, meaning if the SQ.FT of 1 your "COMPS" is MORE than 20% of your subject property, then i dont use that COMP. So, i then ADD up all of the SALES PRICES from the COMPS, then DIVIDE by the number of COMPS that you have used. That will give you FMV, example:

12 amber way 3/1.5/2 1232 sq.ft. SOLD 9/23/08 $172,800
234 amber way 3/1 1087 sq.ft. SOLD 8/12/08 $165,000
23 colonial dr. 3/1 1321 sq ft. SOLD 6/29/08 $178,000

ADD $172,000+$165,000+$178,000=$515,000/divide by 3=$171,666 FMV

Hop this HELPED, SULLY

When searching for comps, does comps include for example updated kitchen, finished basement as compared to unfinished, or does the comps only compare sqft, # of rooms & bathrooms etc...?

It depends what type of COMPS your comparing, meaning, If your comparing COMPS off the MLS then, Yeah, they probably will have that information, but if your just getting your COMPS off a site like Zillow.com then they're NOT going to be as specific. MLS COMPS are much more DETAILED than getting COMPS from anywhere else, SULLY