All Forum Posts by: Brock Lile

Hello!

I'm finally serious about getting my feet wet wholesaling in my state of Washington after reading tons of books and listening to many BP podcasts on the subject.

I've been working on a website to help with lead generations and I was going to create a page stating "We Pay Cash for Leads That Close!" The idea was, I create a lead generation funnel by becoming known in my community for closing on deals, then pay the person who sent the lead out of my profit.

This got me thinking, is this legal? It seems to me from everything I've read that it is, but before I seek out a real estate attorney, I figured I'd post here as there is so much knowledge on this site. 

The reason I wonder if it's legal is if a finder's fee would be considered compensation to facilitate a real estate transaction, which would require a real estate license. Is this correct?

Does anyone do this?

It seems like it'd be an effective strategy if I built a brand in my small town and surrounding areas where people knew they could send me a lead of someone they knew, to make some quick cash if I closed on that deal.

Assuming this IS completely legal to do, it leads me to a couple different questions:

1. How could I keep from having random people out knocking on doors and pestering the neighborhood? What if this creates an environment where people I don't know are soliciting property owners in my name? Maybe I'm overthinking this. My goal would be to plant a seed in peoples' minds that "Hey, my neighbor needs to get rid of his property...I'll give him Brock's info!" 

I would NOT want to create an environment where people looking for a quick buck become a headache around the neighborhood and consequently relating back to me.

2. Should I encourage people to have the owner of the property contact me or would it be better for me to cold call the property owner based solely on the information the lead gave me?

Thank you so much for the help.

Have a great night!

Brock

@Roland Paicely Thank you sir!

@Trevor Lybbert Thank you for the reply. The hang-up is in the contract with my current job saying that I won't seek secondary employment. Maybe I was naive in thinking I could just get the license solely for MLS access. My current contract for my job says nothing about self employment or starting my own business, though, and that's where I see the opportunity of wholesaling would work well for me. One last question; if I do get my license yet it's considered inactive because I don't belong to a broker, I would still be required to inform the public that I'm "licensed" while wholesaling, correct? I'm thinking now that I shouldn't get the license. I'd have to tell everyone I'm licensed but could never actually do anything with the license. Thanks so much.

@Roland Paicely Thanks Roland. So essentially employment by a brokerage to some degree is necessary to have an active license and access the MLS? Have a good one.

Hello everyone, I hope you're all having a great day. So I'll quickly describe my situation. I have a job that I love. The pay is good, the benefits for my family are great and I generally like going to work in the morning (usually). This puts me in somewhat of a weird position. I've been wanting to wholesale since my work schedule is very random but very flexible and would work well for meeting with property owners. I think wholesaling would be a great way for me to enter the real estate scene; a subject I'd love to become involved and invested in. Ive read that having a real estate license can be an advantage in wholesaling, as it gives you access to the MLS with the ability to comp properties. I know it is not a must. I started my online RE license course for Washington State, until I realized half way through that for my license to be active, I have to get a job working for a brokerage. Until then, as I understand it, my license would be inactive and basically useless. So with my full time job, working for a brokerage just isn't in the cards for me. Should I continue to see this through and finish the course anyway to receive the license or was this a waste of time and money? Maybe there's no point to me finishing the course and I should just eat the cost? How do others aquire their license without being full time agents? Does everyone that wholesales with a license also hold full time agents positions at a brokerage? What are your thoughts? Thanks everyone. - Brock

I just stumbled across this today. I thought maybe some other people would like to take a look and play around with it. I did a forum search and didn't find any posts about it.

Redfin calls it the "Data Center"

https://www.redfin.com/blog/data-center

Thanks everyone

Hello everyone.

My wife and I were talking last night and she actually brought up an idea I didn't have an answer to. I'm sure someone here knows.

I bought my current residence in '08 via an FHA loan. I recently got married to my wife, who's never owned a home.

Could we apply for an FHA through her, since she has never personally held property? Or is she ineligible for an FHA now that we're married?

We thought maybe this would be a strategy worth considering if it were possible. I have a feeling it's a no-go, though.

Thank you! 

@Christopher Jenkins as @Sunny Chopra said, house hacking can be renting out one or more of the rooms in your residence (through things like AirBnB). Or, it can mean owning a duplex/triplex/quadplex, living in one unit and renting out the rest. 

What does your employer match? If nothing else, contribute up to the maximum they'll match. Otherwise it's free money left on the table.