Deals: ON Market vs OFF Market

[Brandon Chaney]

I've been having conversations with clients who absolutely despise "On Market (MLS) Deals" even when they're priced under listing price. I've gotten some explanations that I've taken into consideration but I wanted to open the floor to get some better insight. I'm a REALTOR in Los Angeles who focuses exclusively on distressed assets. I wholesale my deals (ethically, by the book(is there a book?)) and....well...some of them are "On-Market" MLS deals. I'm the direct contract holder every time. Doesn't matter if i'm 200k under list price and a 65% deal...which is rare in this market., some of these people won't even look at it. 

Can you explain this mentality? Is it pure lunacy or is there some real truth behind it?

What are your thoughts?

[Lee Ripma]

@Brandon Chaney Clients who say they only want off-market deals don’t know what they are talking about. The skill isn’t having off market deals it’s knowing when a deal is a deal. The great thing about on market deals is that you know the seller will actually sell. I have found lots of great deals that were on the market. I’ve also found great deals that were off market. It’s not about where it is, it’s about if it’s a deal or not. There sometimes are on market deals sitting in plain sight on the mls, even in hot markets. I’ve bought many of my deals right off the mls. 
One reason people may say this, which is legitimate, is when they are an agent. They don’t want to be setup with an mls search when they are already agents. In this case they would only want a deal that was off market OR a deal that has already been negotiated to a good deal.