St. Pete/Tampa, FL Agents Look Find Off-Market Deals?

Question

Hello!

My partners and I are currently looking to BRRR properties in the St. Pete/Tampa area.  We really want to find agents that can pull off-market as well as MLS listings for us.  While we have talked to one agent who has been helpful in forwarding us off-market opportunities, the others we have spoken to say they work exclusively off the MLS.

Is it uncommon for agents in the St. Pete/Tampa area to have an off-market deal pipeline?

Thanks for your help!

Lucie Tighe · Answer

@Jack Hughes is your man for off market deals!

Bruce Lynn · Answer

Some people will certainly have different opinions, but here is my basic thought.

Agents-We specialize in ON-Market properties....properties on the MLS.  That's where we spend our time and money and efforts and it's efficient for us.  Sure now and again we'll have something off market, but that's pretty rare for most agents.  99x out of 100 the seller's are telling us they want to maximize their profits, they want to expose to the biggest market, and there are plenty of investors who buy ugly houses off the MLS.   Super rare is it that a seller calls or we source the lead where they tell us they don't want their house on MLS, that they'll sell at 30-50% discount just to get it off their hands in a week or two and don't want anyone to see the inside of the house.   It helps if you have real cash/not hard money and have a proven history of closing quickly.

OFF Market....that's what you're sourcing yourself.  You're sending post cards...2000-10,000 a month offering to buy houses cash and you're calling those leads before and after you mail.  You do that every month...you're calling and mailing and calling and mailing and calling again.  You're calling those leads 10x.  You're running bandit signs, you're running tv and radio adds "we buy ugly houses", you're knocking on doors of all the houses with 3ft tall yards....you're contacting all the distressed leads.

and those OFF MARKET emails you get from wholesalers....it's just a marketing term.  They're shopping that normally to a list of 1000s.  Show up for the walk thru and see 40-50 other groups of people walking it too.  Put your bid in an envelope that we open at 3pm, then you're bidding against 20 others...for that best and final....which actually may go to another bidder even if you are the highest if they have a history of closing, because 70% of the wholesale deals don't close in my area...often some issue...could be on seller side or buyer side.   Great wholesalers have written bids for you for rehab and allow you option periods and NEVER have you pay the earnest money directly to them, but to the title company and is refundable if the seller can't close it.   I put these words of advise in here, as many will shoot you high on ARV, low on rehab costs, and want no option/inspection period and non-refundable earnest money.   Technically I guess these are off market deals, but to me very much ON market, just not on MLS....and that in and of itself do not make them good or great deals.

Brandon P. · Answer

The only person I can think of in the Tampa area would be @Mick Pristas.

Melissa Haworth · Answer

Hook up with @Matt 'Roar' Gardner he is a Rock Star agent/investor in Tampa area.

Stephen Dispensa · Answer

I'm a broker in Tampa, I also PM flips and renovations for BRRR's for my clients. Here's my take:

1 - As a broker, I have access to a TON of information about ON MARKET listings. The property's are there, the listing agents are there, the prices and property stats are listed. And for my business, the commission is clearly spelled out, so I know I will get paid if I sell an On Market deal to my client.

2 - Off market deals - Two typical ways of getting these, (and a third way that's actually probably the best one, more on that later). Invest a TON of time and resources in cold calling, mailing, etc. I honestly don't know how the guys who do that make it work, seems like endless effort for very little result. The second  way is to team up with one of the big wholesale houses here in Tampa. (No need to name them, if you're on this forum I'm sure whoever they hired this week has reached out to you already.) Sometimes these deals can be OK, but the vast majority of them have all the value stripped out through wholesale fees and unrealistic construction budgets. Throw in some loan fees for their preferred hard money lenders and your chances of making a profit drop to almost nothing.

The third way to get an off-market deal, is to establish a track record of credibility with your broker. I do get off-market deals from time to time, because I am constantly dealing with: contractors, landlords, neighbors, etc. So through pure word of mouth, I sometimes find sellers who want to sell as quickly as possible without the hassle of a listing.

And who do I bring these unicorn deals to?

The investors who closed ON MARKET deals with me previously. The people who I know will close. The people who I know trust my comparative market analysis to price their properties. The people who take my design and construction advice on their rehabs because I do this all day long and most of my investors don't. So my BEST clients, the ones most likely to close, are the ones I pitch those deals to.

When I get an off-market deal, almost every time the reason a property needs to be sold off-market is speed. The seller needs the cash immediately. So the investors I pitch to are the one's who I know have the cash, credit, lender relationships, and processes in place to get the deal done rapidly.

My strong recommendation to the OP is to build a solid relationship with your broker, and utilize them and the relationship you build through on market deals to lead you to off market deals down the road.

Adam Bartomeo · Answer

Agents normally work in the retail sector in real estate. The are there to get the seller the most money they can for their property. Off market properties are NOT what they specialize in nor are the off-market properties they have lucrative for an investor.

You will have to find an agent that specializes in working with investors. Sometimes they are wholesalers and other times they are property managers but in either case they are extremely hard to find because there aren't a lot of them and it is an extremely niche market.

Mike Klarman · Answer

I tried to open this area for my clients.  I have a great contractor down there that I met.  He runs the family contracting business now that has been around 40 years in Florida.  They do everything, GUC, full guts, extensions, you name it.

The problem was that I found in this area was this:

1) The distressed properties are expensive and they need a solid 75k+ in work but the ARVs aren't what they need to be.  Most deals that were sent to me looked like: 235k purchase, 90k rehab, 375k ARV.  Not enough margin at all.

2) The permitting is a complete mess.  It will take you 3 months+ to get permits.  The rehab jobs take another 6 months, then a month or more to sell if flipping.  The project times run 10 months to a year.  Money is tied up too long

There's markets that provide a better return in one third the time.

Mick Pristas · Answer

Thanks Brandon!! I can help with off market SFHs in Pinellas, Hillsborough, and Pasco!

James Mansfield · Answer

Thank you so much for your helpful advice Bruce.  Greatly appreciated!

St. Pete/Tampa, FL Agents Look Find Off-Market Deals?

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