Is this too much to ask my realtor to do?

[Ashley Benning]

Hello, BP! I have realtors in California, Utah, and Arizona and am actively seeking my first property to fix and flip or--even better-- BRRRR. While they are sending me automated MLS listings (except for my CA realtor, who I think maybe forgot to set that up for me because he is crazy busy right now), I am doing the legwork of sorting through the listings and trying to figure out which ones are in need of significant repair. I then try to guess based on images and description what kind of renovation would be required, and then I email the realtor (or his team, in the case of my CA realtor) to ask for comps for the ARV. Once they send me the ARV comps I can run my little formula and see if it is worth offering.

I want to have a good relationship with my realtors, and definitely make sure our time together is valuable for both of us. I hope they will enjoy working with me and want to continue to work with me throughout my REI career. Here are my questions for you realtors and brokers:

1. To make my numbers work, I will usually need to offer lower than asking on these properties, sometimes significantly lower. When clients ask you to submit low-ball offers, are you annoyed? Am I making a faux-pas by requesting that my realtor make low offers that have a fairly good chance of being rejected? I mean, you never know unless you make the offer, but I also don't want my realtor to think I'm just wasting his time. And I don't want to waste his time.

2. Is it a significant amount of work to submit offers? I mean, I would LIKE to be submitting a handful of offers every week for properties in every state, and see who bites. But I hesitate to ask my realtors to do this because I don't know how much work is involved in this. If it's just a matter of a phone call to place a verbal offer, that's one thing. But maybe all offers need to be written out, and maybe it is a lot of time?

3. When I ask for comps for ARV for properties, is that something automated or does that take significant time for the realtor or his team to do? Ideally I'd like to create a funnel where I'm going through the MLS and picking 10 rehab properties each week that look viable, then asking for ARV comps for all those and based on those numbers narrowing to 3-5 properties on which to offer each week in each state.

I appreciate your insights.

[Ivy Wang]

It takes me anywhere from 10-30 min to do comps for ARV. It takes me anywhere from 30 min-60 min to write up offers. Most realtors want to receive written offers as there are other terms than price that need to be determined. A verbal offer is rarely done, unless you're an agent on HGTV. I don't like when clients are unrealistic and make low-ball offers unless I truly think they can get it for the "low-ball" price. My clients hire me for my professional advice, including how much to start at negotiations. I would not like writing up 5 low-ball offers for a client, unless I had a lot of extra time or an assistant.