Agents Leveraging Off-Market Lead Generation?

Question

Hello BP agents!

Who out there is building their sales business by stacking on top of their investment business?

Listing the deals that aren't a fit for off-market  - either bc of the seller's situation or fit for your portfolio?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Matthew McKee · Answer

“Top dollar” is a bit misleading. I’ve never structured an off market deal where the seller makes less than they would have on market. Sure the asking price might be higher but after time, cleaning up the property, home inspection remedies, now seller concessions, agent fees/co-agent fees, transfer taxes and half the escrow fees; they are down from what a good off market deal could look like. Especially with OWC, cutting out a third party lender will always make the seller more money.

Nate Sanow · Answer

Yes, I’ve done this. I’ve chosen to usually only try to wear one hat at a time. If licensed you are judged by a different standard of ethics than a wholesaler or investor who sends out their acquisitions person and can hide into oblivion or just back out if the deal doesn’t make sense. So in some ways it can backfire.

For example i recently had a couple of good leads. I was more interested in the acquisition of a property than the listing of it. But what they needed was a realtor, looking back - and they found a super random one and …. Well I lost that business opportunity by wearing my investor hat and only really talking about buying directly.

Or vice versa awhile back I listed a property in rough condition for a seller who was a widow, and it took us a long time to sell on the mls due to the first two buyers backing out, and one of the two strung us along on financing extensions etc before just walking away. Looking back it would have been better for this seller to get less money from a direct buyer due to the urgency of her financial needs. Thankfully we did still sell for top dollar, help her buy something free and clear and have cash left over… but she was actually in the hospital over her stress. (Literally).

My point is the balance is hard. I don’t even know if it exists. If your like me you have to have some absolute focus and not chase everything and begin to accept that you won’t be an option for everyone and live with that.

Ricardo Hidalgo · Answer

I always try to present all options and the risk to each choice made. I have increased my sales business tremendously by being on the investment side. I think that builds trust with the customer because you know your numbers and can effectively show them the scenarios. I always mention I'd be willing x amount but if you are wanting list, we can always try this number and make adjustments.

Eliott Elias · Answer

A lot of opportunity right now with buyers, being a buyers agent is actually fun now. Ball is in our court

Doug Pretorius · Answer

@Michael Leeson I still see a few agents doing variations of Craig Proctor's "I'll buy it if it doesn't sell" system although they usually stack so many stipulations into the purchase side that it's obvious it's just a sales gimmick and they don't really have any interest in buying the property.

Back when I started investing I met one listing agent who bought his own listings sub2 if they didn't sell. His fellow agents bad mouthed him and there's obvious ethical issues, how DO you prove that you did everything you could to sell the listing when your back up offer is to buy it? But his clients seemed pretty happy with his performance. If I remember right he was doing around 100 listings a year and bought about 20 of them.

Nate Sanow · Answer

No that’s a great, clear message. Granted this is just my opinion but I think it’s good. I might emulate from you a similar bullet point of options and you and I both probably need a printed version for appointments.

I was really speaking into the difficulty of actually closing the deal. I find sellers get soooo easily confused. There are first time buyers, right? Buyers who never bought a house are scared of every little part of the process, etc… but then there are first time sellers, or fist time since 1985 sellers or whatever and they are like that, too. They tend to be really suspicious and a crowded message that isn’t succinct enough for them and gives them too many options tends to, in my experience anyway, slip through the crack. I guess I’m just being honest and transparent and beating myself up.

Michael Leeson · Answer

@Nate Sanow great points. The fiduciary responsibility as an agent is clear.

I’m not interested in wholesaling but being able to offer 3 options depending on the sellers need:

1) I can buy this from you now to help you out of a bad situation. 2) I can bring an investor to buy off market. 3) I can list for you and help you get top dollar.

Do you still see potential conflict of interest there?

Agents Leveraging Off-Market Lead Generation?

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