All Forum Posts by: Ken Mitchell

when wholesaling as a realtor, be sure to have prospective buyers or sellers sign a "non-representation" agreement. this is ususally tagged onto any contracts as an addenda

if you're a licensed agent, giving a birddog cash is like putting a noose around your neck.

if you have a birddog in the deal, you absolutely can not just pay them out of your pocket unless its the 50 bucks sonmeone else was talking about earlier. to pay them any decent fee, you need to fully disclose to the seller that there's a birddog working and being compensated. also,you need to let the seller know what they're being paid because if you don't, you're breaking the law to my knowledge....

if the seller is ok with these terms, simply add the birddogs fee to the purchase price of the property, refer to a "finders fee" in the special provisions section of your contract should you have one or simply attach it as an addenda, and at closing take the birddogs fee out of the sellers proceeds as represented on the HUD1. YOU CAN NOT COMPENSATE A BRIDDOG OUTSIDE OF THE HUD1 FORM UNLESS IT'S A NOMINAL SUM LIKE THE 50 BUCKS DISCUSSED EARLIER.

i won't profess to being able to make sense out of the real estate laws in my state. thats why i have a real estate attorney, who, if you think about it, has as much or more on the line than i do.

if it isn't a contract assignment or a double close, it's always been the lawyers idea of doing the deal this way and i would doubt any governing body would find objection to doing business like this as long as all parties involved know exactly whats going on (full disclosure), the funds are accounted for on the HUD1 form and the birddog isn't representing anyone in the deal, which they are not.

shady, no

illegal, not around here

creative, to bureacrats maybe

your other option - make the birddog assign a contract to you.

what would you call a contract assignment. technically, a non-licensed person is bringing two parties together for the purposes of selling a property.

"What service are they being paid for? Bringing together a buyer and a seller and only collecting a fee is and when the deal closes (documented on the HUD-1)? " bingo.

"Similar to how many people speed on the highway so people start to think the law has changed."....

educate me. what law has been changed and what was the law in the first place? since when can 3 (or more) consenting, informed and properly declared parties involved in legal enterprise be considered illegal in NC or any other state for that matter.

based on this, is it illegal to assign contracts with unlicensed birddogs?

i'm saying that in NC, it is common practice, and leagl afaik, to pay a birddog a fee, whatever it may be, as long as all parties are aware of it...ie, full disclosure.

we do this, commonly, by refering to this person or entity in the purchase contract, represent the funds owed to this person on the HUD1 closing statement and then actually paying them out of the closing proceeds.

as far as being licensed goes, the birddog isn't representing anyone in the deal, simply being paid much like any other contractor offering a service. they aren't practicing the profession of real estate agent nor representing themselves as a skilled member of any such community.

so again, in NC, as long as the seller and buyer alike understand that this person is in the deal, know what this person is being compensated and that this person isn't representing anyone as an agent, its legal, to my knowledge, to pay them whatever they want.

i may be wrong, i've done this many times and never had a closing attorney dispute it, but you can pay anybody anything you want as long as it fully disclosed in the contract, the funds are accounted for on the HUD1 form and paid out of the closing proceeds.

1. the property owner may not have time for a retail sale. you didn't mention how you were paying or how quickly you could close but a retail sale on an 1840 property in doubtful condition could be a tough deal. if they say no to your offer, get the listing and make a commission....

in NC you have to disclose to the seller that you're a realtor but it may different in your market.

2. if i were given a couple of tickets to a game or some wine for a birddogging fee, i'd quickly be erasing your name from my contact list. i compensate based on how much equity they're bringing me.....treat them right if you can afford too and they'll be calling you first with their best deals..

may i suggest a quick trip to charlotte. it's sunny and 65 today.... :lol:

funky layouts usually mean one thing in the end....the budwieser crew was in there mucking things up.

from what i've seen, most homes built after WWI usally have decent floorplans as built and ones built before that were modified to accomodate indoor plumbing, which can lead to disaster

point being...seldom do floorplans start out being funky, somebody usually makes them that way. be sure to have a detailed inspection done on the property to make sure it hasn't been structurally compromised.

nice avatar.... :wink:

i've never heard of anything going against a title that isn't public record but you learn something everyday.

the challenge with advising about this stuff is thats its different in every market. i think we keep proving this with just about every post we do around here. so if your reading this, i guess we've pretty much shown that it's worth your time to check it out but maybe not so much once you've figured out how easy or hard it is. it may make sense for you, it may not.

i can do a quick search of county records in 10 minutes on a deal i'm close to locking up which is about as long as it's going to take to ask someone else to do it and then talk with them again to get their report on it. everything here is on record in one of two places and if it's isn't, you aren't getting paid for any claim you may have against a property. and again, just looking for major, glaring issues that could muddy up the closing.

good luck!

You certainly need to pick and choose your battles! It isn't hard to get caught up in something that just isn't productive.

speaking of marketing....i've found some of my best contacts at the courthouse auctions. even though not many people are buying at the steps here, all the better investors will periodically "scope it out". sense our courthouise is centrally located and parking isn't too bad, i'll occasionally hang out in the para-legals work area doing computer work and running comps, introducing myself to anyone that comes around. as its centrally located, should something come up, it isn't difficult to get to wherever you need to be. not to mention, many beautiful professional women there.......

it also pays to understand how to record a deed. you technically don't own a property until this is done and every once in a while, your lawyer just may be too busy on a friday afternoon to get up to the courthouse to do it. spending 45 minute dinking around with that can really payoff in a pinch.