Angry/ dismissive agents

[Michael Greer]

There is a property that has several small homes on it that are being rented out. It's a great little money maker property and it's been on the market for months.

Where I'm at, it is very difficult to secure any conventional loan with multiple houses on a parcel.

I reached out to the agent and expressed interest in the property and asked if the owner would consider owner finanacing.

The agent got really nasty even after I addressed their concerns over their commission.

I've recieved similar condiscending attitudes from agents when I bring up owner financing options despite me being very professional

Anyone have insight as to why? 

[Charlie MacPherson]

@Michael Greer As a former Realtor, my experience with retail buyers and sellers (not necessarily investors) was that:

1. Buyers looking for seller financing were not financially able to make the purchase. That means that they could not even come up with closing costs for a 0% down VA or USDA loan, 3.5% down for an FHA loan or even 3% down for a Mass. Housing loan.

In other words, most often these "buyers" were dreamers, not buyers.

2. Sellers almost invariably needed all of the proceeds of the sale to buy their next house, so holding a note for a buyer is a non-starter.  Holding a $50,000 note meant that they either could buy $50,000 less of a next house or had to take a $50,000 larger mortgage on it.  You can see how this makes no sense for most sellers unless they were downsizing.

Because of these factors these buyers were a waste of time and effort, especially in a red-hot seller's market where I had real pre-approved buyers lined up around the block.

One thing that investors often overlook is that Realtors (with very rare exception like Redfin) are independent contractors working on 100% commission.  No salary, no benefits, no expense reimbursements, no company car.  Their only money making asset is their time.

Speaking from experience, that means that every time I go to meet a buyer (or a dreamer), I not only pay for the gas and wear on my car, I'm also burning up time that I could have spent with a real buyer who is likely to transact.

The bottom line is that dealing with dreamers - which includes nearly all "new" investors - is financially destructive for the Realtor. 

Your job is to prove to the agent that you're not wasting their time.  If you do that, you'll get more cooperation and better results.