Dealing with a middleman in a negotiation

[Nathan Stroobants]

I am a newbie at real estate investing. My start is in wholesaling. I want to learn the foundation of real estate investing by finding discounted properties.

I was driving for dollars and came across a FSBO, not yet listed. So I called and met with the homeowner. This was my first lead. I toured the house and took pictures with the homeowner. I got some information about the homeowner during the phone conversation and during the tour. Right when I finished the tour I was about to talk with the homeowner a little more to see how I could help. Then his cousin showed up. The homeowner said you're going to deal with the cousin form then on, since he works as a loan originator and knows real estate. The homeowner left the room while the cousin became the middleman. I found it difficult to communicate through the middleman, such as, offering services other than the highest possible price. When I would talk about selling as-is he brought it back my price being too low. Maybe that was the only thing the homeowner cared about, but I will never really know.

There was a better way to handle this, I am just not sure how. Does anyone have tips on how to communicate with a middleman (or woman) so my services offered get communicated to the homeowner. Or do you have tips on how to control the situation so I am not only speaking with the middleman.

Thank you.