Realtor Short Sale Leads

[Account Closed]

I'm trying to get short sale leads from realtors. I buy short sales from the bank and resale them using a double close to a new buyer for a profit. I use the realtor to look for buyers as I'm negotiating with the bank for a lower price.

But can I contact other realtors who don't have short sales listed and have them search the MLS for me to find short sales? How would they get compensated?
Thanks.

[Moe M.]

Originally posted by LuckyOne:

Thanks Justin and Stephen.

I'm new to short sales.

So you are saying on the A-B side you get your own lead with NO realtor involved, right?

Is it better to
(1) find your own leads
(2) use a buyer's agent
(3) contact listing agent directly

I haven't been successful yet directly contacting the listing agents with short sales with my benefits to their client and the realtor.

In states such as Maryland there are very restrictive laws regarding investors/foreclosure consultants contacting homeowners in default. Maybe I will look in other states.

Thanks for all your help!

LuckyOne,

We here in CA have some very restrictive statutes in place also for anyone who is pre-foreclosure (NOD).

We actually market for direct homeowners and also work with listing agents in order to maximize marketing. Of course the best way is if the homeowner comes directly to you so you can have the absolute control and pay less commissions. In this case we don't pay on the A-B and only pay 6% total for the B-C.

When contacting listing agents we offer 3% on the A-B to the agent and 6% on the B-C. As someone had pointed out earlier, this gives incentive for the agent to call us first whenever they get a short sale.

The challenge on contacting listing agents that already have a short sale listed is you lose some control. Did the BPO already get performed (which is critical and most agents don't know how to try and get the BPO favorable, but that's a whole other conversation), did the agent already submit a completed short sale package -- if so, was the estimated HUD-1 favorable? Did the agent already start negotiating -- if so, are they doing it the conservative way which is to submit 3 or 4 offers and let the banks accept the highest one which will kill any chances of a spread? Also in my experience, a lot of listing agents don't get it and think that what we're doing is shady or they think that it will complicate their short sale.

My partner and I spent (still do) a lot of time cultivating relationships with agents and we only have 5 solid agents that "get it" and understands the benefit of working with investors. This is after countless conversations with agents who either never got it, or got it but doesn't produce.

The challenge with using a buyer's agent to bring you short sales is that unless they are bringing you the homeowner directly, you are now going to have another hand in the pot as far as paying a fee to. Unless you can work out a high-volume, low referral fee deal with them: basically $500 referral fee for every short sale listing they bring to you.

Any rate, good luck to you. The deals are out there, you just have to cultivate the relationships.

Moe