No luck finding an agent...should I find a seller first?

I tried using the exact script in Dean's book as well and I got not response. So I went on craigslist and placed an ad with the headline: Local Investor Looking For Local Real Estate Agent. The text of the ad read: I am a local investor looking to hire an aggressive real estate agent to help me purchase houses in the local area. If you are driven to succeed and are willing to work for an investor who is looking for win/win situations, please send me an e-mail with your contact information.

I only got one response to this ad and I have sent that agent a more complete description of what I wanted to do. We traded a couple of emails and that is the agent I am going to interview tomorrow.

I was also searching for homes on the internet. I went into one agency's web site and signed up as one of their members to get free access to all of the local MLS listings. Within 5 minutes I had received 3 e-mails from the agency. They didn't know I was an investor so I sent a responding e-mail to them explaining what I wanted to do. After trading a couple of e-mails with one of the agents we came to the mutual decision that we did not have the same goals in mind.

You might want to try both of these options to try to find an agent.

I have also placed ads looking for buyers and have had no response yet, but I am confident that when I get my agent in place and I start looking at properties I will be able to start making some offers and getting some of them accepted and then assigning them to buyers.

Good Luck on your search for an agent.

Thanks Patrick, I'll try that...So you would recommend landing an agent 1st before looking for properties/sellers? I was thinking that if i found a prospective property with a motivated seller that they would be more inclined to jump on board. Also is finding a mortgage broker just as good/same? Usually agents know of good brokers that they are used to working with anyway, should I find a separate one? wouldn't that make the whole closing process more complicated? Just curious.

As for finding buyers, I just joined two investors groups that have meetings next week; hopefully I can find some potential buyers in there. Then again, is that different from your average buyer? Investors usually look for good deals so if I tried selling or assigning a property to them are they most likely to reject it than say you're average buyer that just wants a home?...I just want to make some kind of progress so it feels like this is going somewhere. I guess i should start a journal so people like yourself can chime in on my slow moving process cause i know i'll have more questions as i go along...thanks again.

As you can see, I don't have much more experience at this than you do and I'm sure that you would get a lot of different answers from different people. I haven't done any deals yet so anything that I share is based on theory and not on practice.

I am only doing what I feel most comfortable with. I thought at first that I needed to find buyers before I started looking at properties. It's kind of like the question what came first, the chicken or the egg? The reason that I felt as though I needed to get an agent on board first was because if I have a good agent working with me then the agent can do a lot of the work for me like getting comps, making sure I have the right paperwork done, maybe even helping me find a broker to get the deal done. I'm even willing to pay my agent a little more than the basic commission they would get from the sale if they help locate a buyer before I have to close on the deal (thanks for the idea Yuri!)

I have made contact with a broker who responded to my request for information. He knows Dean's strategies because he has read Dean's books so I will go to him if I need to but I haven't solidly set on a broker yet.

I don't know if I've helped answer any of your questions but I hope that I was able to help you out.

Well, i tried craigslist and It's been a while since I've been there but apparently now it costs 25 bucks to place an ad. Is this right, or am i looking at something different? Are there any other sites that i can place ads for free?

you can truly find a RE agent at a local REI Club

I placed many ads with key words like "lots of equity," CASH BUYERS ONLY and ghost ads ( an ad about a property that does not exist, I would say 3/2-$65,000 equity and I got a ALOT of response within 1 day. I love craiglist using it i created my buyers list of at least 20 INVESTORS also use facebook.

please let me know your strategy so far i have had BAD experiences with them-very harsh.

Yes, I joined 2 clubs yesterday and they have meetings next week that I will attend...my only concern is, being that they are also investors would they become potential buyers for me since I'm looking to do what they are doing? "buy low-sell high." we'll see i guess.

Yes I did some clicking around and placed my ads under real estate. One looking for real estate agents and the other looking for motivated sellers. We'll see if it works in a couple of days or rather next week cause of the holiday...In terms of finding buyers do you tell them you already have the properties or do you say you simply will find it for them? I was thinking of finding the homes first then the buyers and agents will follow...I don't know if that's the right way to go though.

you can find out what they are looking for, how low its a deal for them and try to get them a great deal-you make a profit
do an assignment or finder fees-no money out of pocket

With investor clubs? well, as far as i can tell, one of the meetings is a fairly small group of 20 or so people that will get together at some restaurant and hire a speaker like dean to talk about real estate. then i guess we would go around networking with each other and talk about deals being made i assume...i'll let you know how it goes. What was your BAD experience so i can look for the signs when i attend.

Yes, that's what i plan on doing since my funds are dwindling fast. i'm out of work now and hopefully assigning deals can get me back on my feet. Otherwise i will be the one facing foreclosure in the next few months (scary thought)....but in order for the assignments to take place i would need to find a seller willing to give it up for less and a realtor willing to take it on...I guess i can start by looking for FSBO's and calling them up.

with agents, well lets say i have heard a lot of "its unrealistic" comments and "' i dont work with people who follow get rich programs. yep i heard many ..., i gave up on finding one-my bf is taking the res 101 and 102 classes. Hopefully RE agent nightmare will be over soon!

what a pleasure it will be to prove them all wrong.....ahhhhh

Yeah, i'm kind of getting the same reaction from the agent that sold me my current place which is why I don't think he'll be convinced unless i do get the seller/buyer/agreement to show...hopefully the investors meetings will point me to a good agent that would be willing...we'll see.

I know exactly how you feel in regards to finding an agent. However; I think finding an agent is very important , next to creating your buyers list. It took me a while also to find an agent who would work with me. I sent emails and letters with very little results. I then looked up Realtors online and started visiting offices. I would call first and ask the receptionist to put me on with an agent who is familiar with investors. It took me about 10 agents before I found the ONE. Just understand that most of them will turn you down and give you that attitude "it will not work". Fine! Move on until you find the one who is ready to listen and has experience. It is important that you work on creating your investors/buyers list because that's the most important thing to an agent , knowing that someone is actually going to buy the property. I just found my agent about 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately; it was bad timing because he just went on a 2 week vacation. However; before he left we looked at some properties and made a few offers. They were turned down but we were not far with our offer price of around %50 of market value. I know that when he gets back, I will get my first deal. I just added more buyers today so thats more ammo for the target. Havaing an agent has made it much easier to target properties and is less work for me. So don't give up and find your 007. Goodnight!

I always say "Success is the sweetest Revenge" You go for it and prove them all wrong. I will be rooting for you. (Did I spell rooting right)? Well you know what I mean.

ok guys I will try...but I really hate hearing that from them..darn they are sooo lazy. NO offense to any agents on here!!! lol we will see if I find the ONE