All Forum Posts by: Jesse Davies

You're welcome, Austin! And trust me on this, my blood boils over Zillow controlling the lead flow in my area. For example, there is a smaller brokerage in my area that uses one Zillow account for all 15-20 agents, so they have 5-10x the number of "recent sales" and "reviews" that the average agent in our area has and it's infuriating that they are allowed to dominate a web presence like that. At the end of the day I have to remember that true leverage in RE sales is in having an emphasis on acquiring listings and not merely in attracting buyer leads. This is why I only pay a small amount to access Zillow for minimal features and instead the majority of my efforts on prospecting. 

Hey Austin, I know you're mainly upset with the way he handled himself and that blows. Something to consider is that most buyers want a real estate agent to represent them and it's less likely for the buyer to purposefully call you instead of reaching out to a realtor. Realtors can be shady, though FSBO's can also be shady, and because realtors are governed, most buyers feel safer having a licensed professional on their side instead of a seller who they are completely certain they can trust. It's a tough situation to be in.

Also, regardless of his attitude, he wasn't asking for $3000 referral fee for doing nothing and simple receiving a phone number from Zillow, he was going to charge $3000 for successfully navigating a buyer through the purchase of your home. 

At the end of the day you shouldn't be surprised if 90% of people go through an agent on Zillow instead of you.

 Thanks Mark! Looking forward to digging into the community more over the coming weeks!

Thank you, Rubelyn!

TL;DR Looking to learn about the first steps I can be taking in my local area to begin with flips. I can leverage my RE license, though need help understanding financials!

Longer Intro below...

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Thanks to the team at BP for developing such a great community to learn and grow!

I am a licensed agent operating on the Seacoast of NH, and was introduced to BP by a family member who kept telling me how great the resources are, and I am blown away that I didn't know about this community long before now.

I do not currently own any real estate.

My wife just graduated from UNH with a computer science degree and now has a great job at a national insurance company as a techie. This has resulted in our income has increased dramatically!

Prior to getting my RE license in April of 2015 I owned a mildly successful home inspection business for three years and a short lived landscaping business prior to that. Being an agent is the first truly successful position I have been in, both in regard to personal development and financial stability.

My primary expectation at this time is to wait on purchasing our first home until our income is more predictable, and I am curious if I would be able to do flips in the meantime to grow our wealth without ever occupying a home.

To name some of my strengths would be:

1. My local connections

2. Licensed RE agent, so I have access to lots of great tools of the trade to find and assess property

3. I'm naturally a risk taker, so I don't feel I would be trapped in fear of failure

To name some areas where I need the help of others would be:

1. Not understanding how to run the numbers on the front end. I do not know the most important questions to ask to determine what a good deal is.

2. Because I am building a full time RE team, I am limited on time to put into remodeling, so I would need to learn about cost effectively working with contractors from the very beginning

3. Obtaining financing...not sure how hard money lending works, risks involved, tricks of the trade or management of the funds once provided. Definitely where I feel most helpless!

Thanks for reading and I look forward to engaging with the community more and more over the coming months and years! Feel free to reach out if you would like to meet up in person or chat in another fashion. I am always excited to share my knowledge and learn from other professionals.