All Forum Posts by: Carl Schmitt

This is interesting. I've never really taken the time to think about it. I wonder if it would pan out the same way in my situation. My mother is also an agent and we work out of the same office. If I brought a buyer to one of her listings, I don't see how it could be considered dual agency. Our office is a "designated agency". To quote directly from the MA relationship disclosure the definition of designated agency is "Only the real estate agent listed below represents the consumer named in the form. In this situation any firm or business listed above and other agents affiliated with the firm or business do not represent you and may represent another party in your real estate transaction". Dual agency is legal in MA and I don't think that two related agents would fall into the dual agency category. When you enter into a dual agency situation, it becomes a conflict of interest, according to MA. You cannot disclose any "material information to either party, unless required by law". When spouse one has a listing and spouse two brings a buyer, they both have relationship disclosures already signed. If either party released private info, now they are breaking their responsibility to their customer. I could be way off, just my opinion. I did pull out the relationship disclosure sheet and a dual agency consent sheet to reference, though!

A former boss inspired me to get into real estate. He taught me that I was never going to have a boss again.
Also, after working in the construction field, I decided that it's too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter to be working outside. I started reading the Rich dad, poor dad books and now I'm an agent working towards investing as soon as I have the cash and credit.

If my parents had the money to give me for a down payment, I'm not sure I'd be able to take it. Sure, it would be nice to have the help and in 30 years, I wouldn't be able to look back and say that I did it myself.
Now, if I switched the roles and my kids wanted to start their investing career, I would want to help them. I'd say it depends on your kids goals.

I'll give my opinion, not my advice because I am not succesful...yet.
This is a big topic for myself, also. I heard a while ago that in order to be successful, you need to find somebody that has what you want, and do what they did.
The way I would interpret that quote, if you are interested in being a landlord, it doesn't really pay off to learn from someone that rehabs.
just my 2 cents

Maryann,
You might know her, actually. She's right in your area!

As far as influencing a BPO, I don't think you can illegally influence a bpo unless you offer a bribe. I think that any agent doing a BPO in an area they are not familiar with, would appreciate the help from a local agent. Then again, it depends who you speak with. According to some people, you should not even be doing a BPO if your plan is to flip it. That's illegal...(sarcasm)

I agree that it's scary for homeowners. It's scarier that she was teaching a room full of realtors, who will then go and inform all of their homeowners,

Maryann,
I knew you would like that one! By the way, I'll be calling you this week about the property we discussed.

Charles,
I agree. I think any time you take on the title of "expert", people expect you to be flawless. I know that is not something that I want people to think about me because it is NOT the case. However, I don't think it hurts to know what you're talking about either...

I'm sure all the "flippers" out there read the subject and said, "That's not true!". I would say it all depends. The reason I'm writing this is because as I was speaking with a "short sale expert", she informed me that "flipping a short sale is illegal." Of course my response was that it can be done illegally, and it can also be done legally. She insisted that profiting from a short sale was illegal, period. After telling me all of this, she then said that you MUST be in default in order to do a short sale. As I've learned from this site, that's not the case.
Last, before I had to walk away, she said that it was "impossible" to do a short sale on a second home/ income property. I've also learned that this was not true.
I suppose the moral to my story is to not listen to someone because they say they're an "expert".
Anyone that has a comment, I want to hear what others are thinking.

If I heard it correctly during the MA license classes, you don't need a seperate account for each deposit. As long as the deposits are not mixed in with your personal funds, you only need one account for all the deposits. It's probably best to keep a spread sheet of each deposit, also.

I'm an agent and I try to work only with investors, however I find it hard to turn down others. Anyway, if your plan is to list the property, and as part of your marketing, let your investors know it is for sale, I see nothing wrong. It's no different than canvassing the neighborhood after you list the property. In my opinion, you're not doing the very best you can for your sellers if you don't let every person know that it is for sale.