All Forum Posts by: Joe McCall

Attn TN Wholesalers & Realtors...

Has anyone ever heard of laws in TN (laws that are actually in the books) that say realtors are not allowed to buy and or sell a house, "for sale by owner", outside of their brokerage?

I understand that every realtor has to disclose that they're an agent.

But can a licensed agent buy a house (FSBO), fix it up, then sell it (FSBO), OUTSIDE of their brokerage & all the realtor's paperwork???

Or put it this way... Can a licensed agent NOT buy their own house to live in, from the FSBO section of Craigslist? And then 10 years later, when they want to sell their own house, they're not allowed to sell it FSBO? They have to list it, put it on the MLS, and pay commissions to their broker?

I have a friend who is getting his license in TN, and his broker is telling him he can't buy and / or sell a personal property outside of the brokerage. And this is coming from their attorney. It's not a broker rule. It's TN Statute... they adamantly claim. 

I have never heard of this before. And frankly, if this is true, I'm going to stop recommending that investors get licensed. That is absolutely ridiculous and fascist. 

When I got my license in MO, I was taught that you CAN buy and sell properties on your own, as long as you fully disclose your an "owner-agent". 

Just a couple thoughts... (That was a great podcast with Rick Ginn. I just did a new one where we talked about probates. It should come out in a few weeks.)

Make sure your questions are few and brief. 

A few favorite questions for a call center to ask sellers... after you get their name and address...

1) We're investors who buy discounted properties quickly and for cash. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions to see if your property fits our criteria? (Or maybe better yet... "Do you mind if we ask you a few questions about your property to see if this is something we'd even be interested in?"  It's all about positioning.)

2) Is the house currently listed with a realtor? (If yes, thank them and end the call. It is very rare in my experience to do a deal with a property that is listed with a realtor. You're spending too much money with these call centers to deal with these leads.)

3) What's your situation? Why do you want to sell this property?

4) What's your ultimate goal with this property... To sell it quickly or for the highest price possible? (Or, "Are you looking to sell in the next 30 days, or are you just testing the waters to see what kind of offer you can get?")

4) What's an email where we can send an offer to?

Finally, keep it all really simple. Each lead falls into one of two categories. They're either a Suspect or a Prospect. You make appointments with the Prospects, send blind offers and follow up monthly with the Suspects. 

I am glad you got licensed.  You can certainly do lease options as an agent, using traditional listing agreements.  So instead of "wholesaling" the lease option, just do a listing and get a 3% commission.  Yes, you will have to share it with your broker.  But you can maybe get 3% on the front end, and 3% on the back end?  There's no broker law that says you can only get one month's rent as a commission on a lease.

BTW - I don't recommend working with brokers that take 50% of your commission. Crazy... Try to find an REI friendly broker that will let you keep 100% of your commissions.

Hi Cherilyn, thanks for listening to the podcast! That's awesome. 

No word yet on 3.0.  2.0 is still really good.  And I have been updating it over the last year, here and there.

Feel free to contact my office if you have any questions.

Wow - it's crazy to see these old threads resurrect again...  I am actually back in Prague right now, for another 3 months, with my wife and 4 kids.  I have been taking a lot more time off than I did last time...  We are traveling around Europe a lot more.  

We are still wholesaling deals in 3 markets - St Louis MO, St Pete FL, and now Memphis TN.  We do about 2-4 deals a month - not a ton - but enough where I don't have to really spend more than 5 hours a week on the deal side of my business.  

I mainly do deals by partnering with local wholesalers.  My team does the marketing, prescreens the leads & does all the follow up.  Our wholesaling partners negotiate the deals & sells them to their buyers.  

I also sometimes partner with coaching students on deals.  I really like the podcasting and coaching side of the business.  Podcasting and coaching is very leverage-able - really easy to do from anywhere in the world.  (And my students are seeing great success too.)

Tammy, I'm real sorry for the problems you've had in reaching me. Trust me... It has not been intentional and I have never purposely ignored your questions. 

I just sent you a refund for $297. You can keep the course. 

And again - if you have any questions, please contact my office directly. 

Tammy, it's not true that I am not answering my students questions anymore.  You can call my office here anytime: 888-930-3341

You can email my office at: [email protected]

You can submit a help desk ticket here anytime: https://wholesalingleaseoptions.zendesk.com/anonymous_requests/new

All of my students know how to reach me anytime they have a question.

I just find Facebook a huge distraction and waste of time.  90% of the people that were active in the group were not customers of mine.  They were not people who have ever bought my course before.  Besides, I think BiggerPockets is a much better platform for forums than Facebook is.

I have two smaller, more intimate and private facebook groups where I spend more time and answer questions.  If you want to be invited into those groups, let me know.

By the way, if you would like to talk with me personally, please contact our office and my team will schedule a time for us to talk.  There's no need to call me out in public in a forum like this.  I would have appreciated you personally reaching out to me first.

If you ever bought anything of mine, and you want your money back, please let me know and I will gladly refund your money.

Thanks - Joe 

Of course it is.  If you can wholesale deals in your own backyard without ever seeing the house, why can't you do it from a cafe in Prague?

;)

I hope everyone reading my comment above knows that I was only joking! I have an insensitive sense of humor. 

Hey Ben...  Be careful...  Wholesaling is highly illegal, not only in all 50 states, but especially in Nashville, TN.  If you get caught doing it, you will go to jail for the rest of your life and have to pay millions in fines.  Your wife too.  

And watch out for all the get rich quick gurus and scam artists out there who will tell you it is easy to do. They're evil. Wholesaling is super hard and no one ever makes any money doing it. No one. Ever...  

Oh... And make sure you only listen to advice from broke people who have never done a deal before. Usually, the ones who are the most educated, and who have the highest number of comments on forums, know what's best for you.  You'll probably be safe enough and stay out of wholesaling jail if you listen to them.  

But other than that, welcome to BP! 

;)