All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Greene

@Thomas Weidner - bring in a few agents and don't worry as much about their presentation, but focus on how much they pay attention to you and connect with you. Do they ask you questions about what you want out of the deal? Do they ask you questions to build a relationship? Anyone can show you statistics (and they are important - see second set of questions) and use a canned listing presentation, but the agent that will sell your home and get you the best price and work the hardest for you is one who pays attention to you and focuses on you when they are in the house and also points out negatives of the home, not just positives. You DO NOT want a listing agent who will list it at any price, you want one who knows the market enough to tell you that you are too high or too low and why.

Important questions to ask:

1. What is your sale price to list price ratio? You want this to be close to 100% or more.

2. How many listings do you have right now?

3. How many listings did you have in the last year?

4. What are your top three marketing avenues? Everyone gets it on the MLS and Zillow, what are you going to do that is outside the box?

Start there. I hope this helps.

@Carlos Jonathan Fuentes I have a system for this and it is something to pay attention to, but as others have said the agent-investor relationship is one built on trust so sometimes you will lose and just remember what went wrong.

If I am working with investors looking to buy and live in the property or hold, I don't ask for a buyer agency agreement, but I use something like that by getting an agreement on the contract that they will be paying a commission. I write the contract up for the off-market seller and include the commission to buyer on there. But, see next bit about working off-market sellers for a commission.

If I am working with investors looking to flip and I source the property for them, I charge the off-market seller a small commission for bringing them the deal and I run the deal as dual agency to keep the transaction friendly and on track. I do not charge the flipper a free because we have a handshake agreement that they will list the flipped property with me.

In all aspects, I disclose the commission to both sides and make it clear on the second point that I will end up earning two commissions, but I will show them how I earn it by bringing the deal together and then marketing the high-end flipped property to the max.

I hope this helps. PM me for more info.

@Toni Annis - I wrote a quick blog just for this purpose about finding an investor-friendly agent in your area. Check it out - https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/10015-investor...

Do not just use the listing agents and do not just pick any agent. To have a successful agent-investor relationship you have to know they understand what your investor profile is and that they are willing to play the long game (write a lot of offers and hope for a lot of deals).

@Andrew H. - this blog I wrote on this topic might help. https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/10015/64388-5-...

It all comes down to your goals and what you are offering and what you expect to receive.

@James Kojo - You should be giving an updated proof of funds with every offer to beat all the other who don't or won't due to "privacy concerns." If you want to buy houses for cash you want to let people know you have the money to do so. As @John Hickey said, once you show them that you are serious, they will come to you. You have to be as transparent as possible and that will help everyone know that you come through and you have the cash to close quickly.

On the agent side, when I am a listing agent and I request a proof of funds for a cash buy and there is any push back, we don't even look at the offer because a cash offer without a POF is not an offer, it's a piece of paper. As a buyer's agent for my investors, I ask them for a proof of funds up front, before I start doing all this work finding foreclosures and off-market opportunities and using my resources to help them. I need to know we are in it together and that when I call with an off-market property in their desired area with a solid ARV, they will be ready with funds to show up and close.

@Bryan Mitchell you will never get direct access to who controls the property if it's been on Hubzu. They will probably re-list with a lower reserve or send out for more standard MLS driven REO listing.

@Jared Viernes - you are there to help solve a problem for the seller if you are a buyer or buyer's agent. You want to get the best deal, but to do the most service and create that win-win of course so when a seller is telling you they need to get out, you find out why and how you can help. With the first agent, you just ask if their client has authorized them to give you all of this information. Maybe they have and there is a reason.

@Jasmine Williams - If you want to understand a better way of using your sphere to generate business without excess costs, read The 7 Levels of Communication by Michael Maher. It will point you in the right direction of relationship building. The first question I would ask you is what are you bringing to your sphere of influence right now that would make them want to do business with you, other than the fact that you are friends? Are you giving them market insight, finding hot deals, finding out what they need in their home and helping connect them to the right person... 

In regard to Zillow and online leads, the majority are long-term leads and garbage, but if you call every lead you get from Zillow or Realtor dot com back in one minute and then follow up every day for a week and then every other day for a month, it's pretty much a guarantee that your ROI will be phenomenal. Most agents quit after one phone call.

@Jared Viernes - the longer you are in the business and the more clients you deal with, the more you will find that many sellers are difficult and many sellers do need to get rid of properties at all costs. As long as it is approved by the seller, the agent can make those representations to get a quick deal. In regard to the second one, some sellers want to be there, some sellers want to field the calls for showings, some sellers can't stay out of the business and don't think their agent is ever doing enough.

If you got your license to invest and you have two sets of owners desperate to sell, the question is: did you acquire both of these properties at a price that works for you and solves the owner's problems?

@Jonah Richard - my 203k lender referral has reliable contractors that understand the 203k portion and they help manage it together to make sure it stays on track. PM me for info and I will send you their contact or direct to the 203k contractor.