All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Greene

@Ryan Zickefoose - she doesn't need to be a larger brokerage because the fees will be more and she won't need the training. To find out who is investor-friendly, drive for dollars and see who is listing investment properties that you would be interested in. There you might find an investor-friendly model and a mentor for your wife.

I wrote a blog just about this on BP. You can find it here - https://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/10015/64388-5-steps-to-finding-an-investor-friendly-brokerage

@Drew Kimminau - if you are looking to join a brokerage just to look for deals for yourself you need to be up front about that and present a plan for how many properties you intend to acquire this year. You should be able to give them your track record and you really need to have a USP as to why they would want you there. The larger brokerages will take you, but that won't make sense for you. You should be driving the neighborhoods to see what agent and agency lists investment properties and then call them. You want the highest split possible since you don't need the branding of a bigger agency and it doesn't seem like you will need training if you don't plan on working as an agent. The MLS fees will be the same for any agency so you can find out who is investor friendly by seeing who is listing the on-market properties you would want to buy.

@Jonathan Jewell you don't want to make offers that you are actively trying to reduce in the inspection period. You need to do your initial due diligence on the property and make an offer that accounts for the work you think needs to be done on the property versus how reasonable the price is, as well as taking into account the ARV. You won't develop a good reputation (no one will want to sell to you) if you constantly offer asking price and then hammer them over every nut and bolt.

There are so many offers on multis here that all of my investors are taking the properties as-is, doing a pre-inspection with their contractor or at least including a limiting clause in the contract to show they are not looking to nickel and dime the seller.

@Luke H. - I have used Call Ruby in the past with success. They will give you a local number and respond with your script and they are very personable. 

@James McCray you have to tighten your lists on ListSource so you don't waste your time. You need to target the highest equity for every parameter, but you can pay a monthly and ListSource will create the lists for you for absentee and everything. You can only scale to homeowners in the home for 10 years or more, but to add to that you can adjust the homeowner's age higher to be more effective when looking for empty nesters.

@Hadley Benoit - any price compensation is purely up to you in terms of how much it will cost to get them out. After several cash for keys deals you might be able to evaluate and give yourself a fixed number to balance against the cost, but in the beginning, you have to think two month's rent at the absolute least, maybe even three to be safe. 

However, if you are asking if the REO companies will consider that a factor in your offer reduction percentage, they won't. They could care less whether it is occupied or not, it's just the cost of doing business on your end. If you are able to see the property and make contact with the tenant during the showing window, you may be able to get more of an idea of whether you need to factor this in. They could be on the way out, the could be planning on staying forever - get as much info as you can on site.

@Nick M. - most CRMs enable automatic lead flow from Zillow to your CRM. When the lead comes in on Zillow it is added to your CRM with all the information contained in the contact. CRMs can also generate an auto response text and email for these leads.

@Chris Lawrence - depending on which site you are on, you may be paying a 5% buyer premium on your purchase price. Make sure to look out for that as you need to factor that into your valuation. Also, be prepared to know your top number. Most auction properties in my area always respond (from an online bid) with a note that they are moving to highest and best offers and you must respond or leave your offer as-is.

Important: For condos, make sure to find the property management company that runs the development and confirm the HOA fees. BUT you must also confirm whether or not there are any pending assessment against the association (new decks, exterior redo, etc.) AND whether there is any pending litigation against the association. These are a MUST because they will not be disclosed and the auction company will not be liable for this.

@Cornelis Uys - best option is the local county's Sheriff's Office. Just Google the county and sheriff's sale or foreclosure auction and you should find one for each area. If you can't find it, call your target county and ask for the website. If they don't have good access, you can use Zillow to get about 50% value on their preforeclosures listed in each area.

The school doesn't matter at all. The instructor could make a difference in terms of learning. I think less laid back would be better for your broker's license because of all of the potential compliance issues you will need to learn about.