my agent is frowning on the idea of...

Is this the first agent you have spoken to?
You can ask her to try it your way for a period of time and see what happens, in the meantime though talk to other agents and see what develops from that.

Angela

take Angela's advise scout out a few more agents to work with you on your team. I apologize in saying this, but your agent doesn't have a magic 8 ball. She doesn't know what the lenders will accept or won't until they response back to your offer or not.

I agree with shopping around for other agents. Don't limit yourself to just one agent. There are agents out there who are willing to do it your way.

I definitely agree with everyone! You will find the right agent. This system you are trying to use has been proven by many people on this site. Your agent needs to see the picture in what your trying to accomplish and understand that once things bet moving you will be bringing them a lot of business down the road even though it may not look like it.

Here's a suggestion that worked out well for me. I live in a pretty big city and can find any resource on craigslist so i put up a job offering post for a real estate agent saying exactly what i was looking for in an agent and a few things I would expect them to do. I got good responses! Then once i got some leads from the ad I would cross reference them with a third party seeing if anyone has heard or worked with them.

Eitherway definite keep searching til you find the right team members. Dean says the agent you use in your first deal or while your getting started may not the one you use to make it to top! We all have to start some where!

If you stay with that agent and she says the bank refused your offer ,ask for it in writing so you have proof of it really being submitted.

Why in this economey Put up with having to beg a agent to put in offers is beyon me RE agents should be begging investers to put in offers instead of trying to hold the price of property up( it will rebound) But for now be realalistick.So as every one else has said shop arownd and try other agents.
Bill

Agents are afraid of the Strategy. SHe's not refusing to submit the offer. Just has an opinion on the technique. I would consider the work relationship that you both have together. Especially if she is willing to try it. People have doubts. It's not what she believes, it is what you believe. Prove her wrong! If the trust is there. Sometimes it's just a small commnication issue. I would work on making it happen. How many times have you seen people drive way across town because they've seen the gas cheaper by 2 cents a gallon. What did you lose in the process? The effort it takes to find another agent can sometimes be more time consuming to do instead of just resolving a small issue. Continued success...........Lubertha

I agree with Lubertha. You need to SELL your plan to your team. If they refuse to buy, then you move on.

Al

Lubertha

Thats wisdom. Thanks for your input. I really like the "gas Price" example!
It is important to kick a tire or two, give it a test drive and see whats under the hood. May be a diamond in the rough.

Rod

Guys,

thank you very much. I appreciate all of your input. Being this is my first deal still, Agents are using larger terms and talking so fast when critizing my strategy, It's hard for me to fight back and convince them.

Tell me this.

If i submitt an offer that getts rejected do i lose my EMD???

Anyhoo, Ive noted and written down everything you guys have said and im ahit the ground runnin with it...i have a meeting with My agent on monday and i told her im prepared to submitt an offer. i'll keep you posted...

thanks again guys(and gurls) lol

-Larry

Larry,

You won't lose your EMD if the offer is rejected. The only time that the EMD would be lost is if you didn't have an out clause in the contract that allowed you to get it back. Make sure that your offers include a time frame for you to get out of the deal without forfeiting your EMD. If you get the deal and decide to keep the property, it only goes toward your closing costs when the property closes.

Re-read Dean's books and look up the terms here on this web site. This will make you feel more comfortable speaking with your realtor about your deals. The more educated you sound about your deals, the more likely the agent is to trust that you know what you are doing. Of course, the ultimate will be when you use your system and you close on a deal that your realtor didn't think that you could get.

In my market here in SW Florida, a lot of the REO's are going for more than the list price. That doesn't make them a bad deal necessarily because they are still being purchased for well below FMV. The bottom line for you is to remember that you know what you want out of the deal. If you can't get what you want out of it, walk away and start over again. Rome wasn't built in a day so be patient and persistent and you will eventually make things happen.

Good luck working with your agent (whether or not you continue to use the same agent)and on your deals.

Patrick thank you.

greatly appreciated...

i just picked the book back up and will be brushing up on the terms and such...

one last thing before i leave...

deans way of coming out with a offer price.

just to clarify.

he want to use the fmv....of the property, and minue the right deductions such as repairs and a percentage off due to the time its been on the market the surrounding properties, and so on...

but if the listing price is already under the FMV, do i take my deductions from the fmv still or the asking price.??

ive been doing it from the asking price, but i just wanna get your opinion!

thanks again guys...

your a great help.

LARRY

What formula are you using for your offers? Right now in CA, I can't use a 50% off minus repair formula, the market is too hot. Too many investors in the market, so I have to up my formula to maybe 58 to 65% then minus repairs to stay competitive. In some markets, I have been told that they are using a 68% forumula. If your agent is telling you that your offers are too low, you may want to look at your market. If you have low inventory (like CA) and lots of investor competition then you may want to adjust your MAO. Remember, a thousand dollars is better than having no money. The idea is to get your feet wet and do deals.

KimmyJ
Press on...

"I have to up my formula to maybe 58 to 65% then minus repairs to stay competitive. In some markets, I have been told that they are using a 68% forumula."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK. So, do you do 58% of the FMV or the actual bank amount?

In my case, the bank is owed 54K but, I know the realtor is going to list it about 70K.

So, 58% of 54K = 31,320 ... but, 58% of 70K = 40,600

For my offer, I was calculating offering 65% of the bank balance which is 35,100 and subtracting my 11K estimate. I am starting my offer at 25,500. Am I correct with this?

Going in at 58% or 68% of the FMV will take me over the cash I have available for purchase. They may actually BPO it higher than 70K.

FMV is what the house could sell for if it was totally fixed up. The price is based on the last 90 days of SOLD comps not listing prices or BPO. So, if you have a house that has a FMV of 100K and it needs 10k in repairs. This is how the formula would work.

ARV $100,000
x .58
______________
= $58,000

minus
Repairs -$10,000
______________

MAO $48,000

You could probably wholesale this deal for 60k.

Now, you are not going to offer $48k up front, but a little below your MAO so you have negotiating room. The important thing is that you need to know how much the house is discounted off the FMV. If the house was listed at 90k than I wouldn't even chase the deal because basically the bank is asking full price minus the repairs. That tells you the bank is unrealistic. If you can find a house that is discounted maybe 15-20% than you can probably get the bank to discount another 10-15% depending on if you can close quickly and offer all cash. To find out the discount take the asking price and divide by the FMV price and that will give you an idea of how much they're discounting the house. Of course how long the house is on the market is also an indicator on whether the bank is negotiable. Sometimes the listing agent forgets about a property and doesn't request a reduction, so the house sits. That's a great opportunity to try to get them to take your offer. Hope this helps...

KimmyJ
Press on...

Sometimes real estate investing is like football and you have to change the QB and go with the "hot hand" for the right game. Thus, if your real estate agent becomes a little shy of "low offers" see what other options you have for other agents. Sometimes the listing agents can be a little more eager because they can make both sides of the commission. try to meet other agents and find sevral or at least a few you may be comfortable working with.

The best way to gather information on FMV of homes is to ask your real estate agent to provide comps of similar homes that already sold in that area. Look and track the list price, the sales price and the days the home was on the market. Try to look at results for the past 6 months. This should give you a feel of what homes are selling for and assist you with crafting your offers. Also, look into a local investment club to network and discuss the local areas near you. You may find out some good information on various areas near you. Good luck with real estate investing. Believe and Achieve! - Joe

Larry,

A Letter Of Intent can be used to do a PRE-OFFER. Think of it like this, if your agent has to submit 25 offers in one week, how is she going about doing this? If you ask her to submit offers using purchase contracts 25 times in one week that is a lot of work for her. It is also a little more high pressure to the LA (Listing Agent)to show the seller the offer, plus there is wasted time of waiting for faxes to be responded, signatures that are needed, disclosures that must be acknowledged, and a deposit check must be submitted as well.

Instead you can have the Agent or yourself create a Letter Of Intent. This way your offer and terms are submitted without having to acknowledge disclosures, its only one page, and it takes alot less time! Try presenting this idea to her. Like some of the others here have suggested that you Realtor is not totally against this idea.

The best thing to do is to respect her time! Explain how you can streamline submiting offers, and this way with a LOI the offer is on paper. Have a line for the seller to accept your LOI. This way there will not be any question of price or terms when it comes to the Purchase Contract.

Once she gets an accepted offer she will be stunned. I had an agent that was not thrilled about shotgunning offers, but she tried it anyway. We submitted 43 offers on a Monday, on Thursday at 9:00AM she called me to say she did not want to be my Agent anymore because of all of the negative remarks we had recieved from all of the low offers! I said no problem thanks for your time.

Then at 11:00 AM she called back saying she didn't believe it but we have an accepted offer! Plus the Listing Agent thought the LOI was a great Idea and such a wonderful way to save time! Then we proceeded with a Purchase agreement and disclosures and a EMD.

Unfortunately the property had way to much mold to deal with and the Sellers would not lower their price anymore. They were listed at $55,000 on FMV of $72,000 and they accepted $30,000. $25,000 right off of their asking price! This stuff works!

Just keep on keeping on!

Kimmy, Indiana joe, and Greer..

you guys are awesome...its an amazing feeling that theres still good people out there willing to help.

Kimmy- Im in CA. southern to be a lil more precise. right around Palm Springs, and yes there is a bunch of competition. sooooo many REI's. i'll definately take your advice and shoot for less money and focus on more deals. Its too many people around here jumping on houses.

Iniana J- I think if she's still wont let me submitt low offers...I'll be talking to the listing agents directly, very good idea, ive seen that mentioned somewhere, but it never really struck me until you said it again. thank you for your advice...i see you around the boards all the time and appreciate you advice.

Jgreer- LOI, what an awesome idea. i would love to use this. my real quick question would be. Does the LOI have to include Contingencies? or could it be a simple offer, with a my name and price..? or would i have to be a lil more detailed such as why im offering so less.?? i would of love to hear your agent the second time she called you back...she musta been real humble...lol.

all in all thank you again you guys...i continue to learn.

-Larry

so, i have a meeting with another agent tomorrow...we been exchanging emails...and ive told her a lil on how i plan to go about business, and she's already kinda leaning on the no side...i told her i'd call and meet tomorrow and we could discuss how i do things and if she would like to work with me if not....then listing agents here i come...

Let us know how it goes.Just dont loose site of what youn want to acomlish.
Bill