Wholesaler won't remove lockbox

[Alex Harris]

Interesting situation I have. I have a seller who lives in Texas and owns a property in Alabama. I live in Virginia. She contacted me thru my site stating she wanted a cash offer on her house. She explained that she had already been working with an investor (who I found out was a local wholesaler) and he had lowered the price multiple times and finally come to her lowest price at $18k. At the same time he let the contract expire and they had a falling out. I tried to get her lower eventhough it was a GREAT deal but she wouldn't budge so I made the offer after seeing the interior/exterior pics (which were great). She accepted and I've already received many calls from craigslist marketing, etc.

ISSUE: One investor drove by and called me stating that there was a lockbox on the property. I found out that it belonged to 1st wholesaler. She gave me his contact information and I contacted him asking him about the property, his contract with seller, and to ask about lockbox. He stumbled around and basically said that he still had an equitable interest in the property. I asked how if the contract expired and between a bad signal and his stumbling, I didn't make out his answer. I have had seller to call, text, email him to remove lockbox and I have also called a couple times and left a voicemail. What is the best way to get this lockbox off?

If I was local I would handle it myself and reimburse the wholesaler for lockbox. I sometimes will hire a field inspector to take pics of properties and put lockbox on property which I had already found a couple in the area.

In my eyes I've put 2 possibilities together if he doesn't respond but I don't know how I feel about them:

1. Try to convince field inspector to cut lockbox off

2. Turn negative into a positive solution. I typically joint venture virtual deals like this with other wholesalers in the local markets for 50/50 splits because sometimes I NEED somebody on the ground besides a field inspector. I was thinking about telling him to be my man on the ground for something small like a bird dog fee. It kinda makes since but to me but it also seems like I'd be rewarding somebody for non-communication and stubborn. Another wholesale recommended I do this.

***I know I could have just asked "How can I get this wholesaler to remove his lockbox from my property" but I thought some details might help