All Forum Posts by: James Sutton

Thank you Joe, many perfect examples of what I was talking about!  

I just do not understand the point in trying to do it without representation. Seller pays your agent so why would you not want your own agent? People are skeptical of an agent that will represent them and have duty to them, but not about the listing agent?? Do investors really have that low of an opinion of agents that they prefer to risk dealing with one that by law is representing the other side? You guys also realize there are plenty of listing agents that WILL NOT show you their homes, and WILL NOT do both sides of a deal, as they see it as unethical. Why would you not want an agent that will pick up the phone every time you call, and answer little questions when you're not in the midst of a deal. I agree, some agents are more like parasites, I am suggesting you spend a little time finding a good Realtor, that way you can save time later by having them do their job for you. If they turn out to be a parasite, find a new one, eventually you'll find a good one. To me that's a better mentality about it than just saying to yourself up front that having a buyer's agent is useless, no matter the circumstances. Look at it this way, if they save you ANY time at all, and they cost you nothing, should be worth it! PRO-TIP: The commission is only variable if the listing says that the commission is variable, so you know upfront if you can possibly get more off the price by not using an agent yourself, the vast majority of listings are not variable commissions. What the MLS says goes, an agent is not allowed to negotiate the commission offered by the listing broker, at least here in TX. Good luck on all your endeavors!!

As a Realtor for the last 10 years I can tell you that there is all kinds of reasons you need a good agent on your side.  First, all the listing agents you might call to show you their listed homes (or off market properties they're wholesaling or whatever) are working for the seller, or themselves in the case of the wholesaler.  If you're buying on market properties, your agent gets paid by the seller, but even if you're paying them for their service when using a wholesaler, it's well worth it.  Let's say you get a list together of homes you want to see, you can spend your time calling them all and trying to get in touch with them all and getting them to meet you to show you the house individually, or you can have your agent make all those calls, figure out how to show them all to you and do it in one day, without your agent you wont see them all in one outing.  Your agent knows things that a listing agent will not tell you, about the neighborhoods, and surrounding areas.  Imagine you find several homes that seem to interest you. You have listing agents show them to you. Now you have no professional to discuss the various houses with to make an real informed decision on which one to buy, several seem like such good deals, what do you do??!!!  With a professional fiduciary on your side, you can confidently make a much better informed decision.  Not all agents are as good as others though, so if you're new into investing in real estate, find a good Realtor.  I used to tell my high school students this and it is good advice for all of us at all times - 'You do not know what you do not know' which is why 'true wisdom comes in knowing you know nothing' - Socrates

I am a Realtor in DFW area, I have a client that would like to sell and rent the house back if possible. I went to 'find deals' section and the clicked 'add property' and it tells me I need to be logged in. Clearly, I am logged in. Perhaps I need to upgrade my subscription or something? If anyone here is interested please give me a call, my phone number is on my profile (should be for all to see). I do not want to break any posting rules here so I won't give many details here. List price is 359k and you can cashflow $500 renting it back to the seller.  Please if anyone can tell me how to post details of a deal, let me know!

I'm a Realtor in the Dallas area, I service all of DFW but mostly the greater Dallas side. What I'm seeing is only a little different than it was before the virus closed everything. In high demand areas, well priced homes are snatched up in 1 day just like before. But all of my buyers are in a holding patterns, just waiting for normal to return. I think that the number of sellers waiting for normal is probably equal to the buyers waiting for normal, and therefore the sellers market we're in will not change all that much. Now, I am assuming that we're pretty much at the end of the shutdown. Surrounding counties didn't lockdown at all. I do think more buyers will decide to move to surrounding counties a little more than before as some will have made a successful transition to working from home and will want to move further away from large population centers where they can get more house and land for their money. I do believe there will be an increase in foreclosures, but I do not think the banks will want to foreclose too much and too quickly. There will be opportunity for investors for sure! I do agree with Brandon P. that the most impact will be on the higher end markets as far as any significant price decreases but depending on what state you're talking about the amount will be significantly different. California and New York will once again be hit much harder than Texas just like the last major event, but I do not think this will end up being a major impact event on the majority of real estate. I sure hope I'm not wrong!

@James Wise

WOW James, thank you for that very detailed list of your day!!!  I will definitely use the lead gen tips you included!!! Thank you very much!!!

I have watched many webinars on this subject and even paid once for a "system" to help me list REOs.  The system told me to do the things that @Brian Faust mentioned above along with tips about getting BPO work.  I decided it wasn't for me and promptly asked for my refund on that system

Here in Texas the most you can give to a non-licensed person is a $50 gift card.  I think all 50 states have similar laws/regulations.

I am an investor friendly Realtor in the DFW area. I can place bids with HUD. I've done flips myself so know what to look for when touring a potential investment. I know how to find turnkey rental investment properties on the MLS, most Realtors do not know how to do this. I also get wholesale deal offerings from local wholesalers that I can help investors buy and deal with. I'm available 24/7

I am a full time investor friendly Realtor servicing the Greater Dallas Area