All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Greene

@Jim Kelly - I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for, but a catch-all who does a great job on the phone is www.callruby.com. I have used them before and they will follow your script you give them. They will also call you to tell you that you have a call and if you don't pick, they will ask your questions, take a message and send to your email and phone.

@Jason K. - in this part of NJ, it depends on the agent, the proximity of time as a known property off-market to on-market, and how involved the bank is in the process. The banks do want to maximize their profits, but they also want to move the REO property. Our area is inundated with investors and "investors" who are driving the prices up of bad properties and then they get them under contract and flop the deal because they don't know what they are doing. We have an off-market lead funnel we use to identify deals before they hit the market, but your best bet in our area for on-market deals is NOT day one on the MLS, it's having a hot sheet set up by your agent that tracks all REO/short sale deals that are back on the market. In those cases, they don't want to set up a whole new process like in the beginning, they want to put the deal right back on. Get in touch if I can help.

@Cecilia Hake - buyer agency agreements are for peace of mind for the real estate agent. They are generally unenforceable against you or not worth the legal trouble to pursue. The agent could use it against a new agent to try to get a referral however.

The real question is how hard do you think a regular agent is going to work for you if you aren't committed to them. Investors like to see a lot of properties and if an agent shows you 11 properties one day and then you call the listing agent on a property the next day, you might understand why he would be aggravated.

Personally, we don't have our clients sign buyer agency agreements ever because I feel like if I do my job as an agent, the clients will stick with me because I have a unique value proposition that other agents don't.

@Mo Gold - send me a PM and I will connect you.

@Monte Blunk - all counties should  have a list of all pending sheriff sale auctions. That's a great, free place to start although these will be much later in the process. Shockingly, Zillow is not terrible for identifying pre-foreclosures, but only 50 pct will still be active. Auction.com and Xome.com are ok, as is Foreclosure.com, but compared to off-market, you are late to the party on all of these.

There are several companies that provide off-market data like Rebo Gateway and List Source, but they really only work the most effectively when paired with a corresponding Yellow Letters (or similar) postcard of letter mailing because there are so many records.

@Noah Scott - you want to find real estate investors for what you are looking to do, not agents. You have much more of an opportunity to learn about REI with a seasoned investor. First, see if there are real estate meetups in your general area or a REIA organization. Also, drive the neighborhoods and look for under renovation flips. Hop out and ask if you can take a look and find out who the owner is. Once you find two flips being done by the same person of entity, that's who you want to see if you can help. When you offer a real estate investor free help to learn, many will accept. Do free value first and see where it goes, the education from the right investor will be invaluable

@Corbin Wafford - you will be able to tell from how they talk about investing. Do they even know about Bigger Pockets? Do they have any investor/client flips going on now? All of my clients know my investment portfolio and where I invest and why. As an agent, I dig for deals to service my investors. Yes, an agent will not say they will take the A deals, but if they have a lot of their own deals going locally, instead of client deals, they will be taking the A deals.

@Corbin Wafford - the only drawback to an agent with investor experience is if they are too active. If they are you will get the B and C deals and they will take the A deals for themselves. I don't invest in my market area right now because I want to give all opportunities to my investor clients. If my top people pass or are too busy, I may take a look at it for myself. So yes, they should understand the needs of an investor to be able to help you and that usually means they do it themselves.

I agree with @Carter Crowley - good agents, the ones you will stick with and never question what they get paid, will never negotiate their commission because they earn it. @Chris Igard - you are just working with the wrong agents. The seller pays the commission as well so most of the time there isn't anything a buyer's agent can do about it.

From the other side, if a buyer/investor asks me to cut my commission, I already know they don't value the work that I put in and I let them go so it can go both ways. When you find the right agent, you will never question what they get paid by the seller and on the listing side, you will know that they earned it through marketing and results.

@Corbin Wafford - just be honest with them and let them know you are looking for a different angle from your agent or to start fresh with someone else. Even if you signed a buyer agency agreement, they aren't enforceable so just be honest and move on.

When looking for an investor-friendly agent, ask them if they invest and when they say yes, ask them where they have properties. Ask them if they flip, buy and hold - if they understand what you want to do, you will know right away. An investor-friendly agent talks the talk and understands comps, block values, rehab costs, etc. If they don't, they won't help you.

Many agents are too lazy for investors because it takes seeing a lot of properties and running a lot of comps, but that is because they aren't seeing the big picture.