All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I'm licensed, he's not. I was going to pay him from my LLC as "marketing" or "consulting." We both belong to the same apprenticeship group so I don't feel comfortable burning bridges. I rather not wrong others even if they do wrong me. Guess I need to take assertiveness lessons. :)

It started out as a investor deal but the seller wanted more so it became a realtor deal. I feel regardless of the outcome I should compensate him fairly. I thought $550 for passing along a name and phone number seems "fair." Guess not.

Still... it comes out to be 23.8% of my net, so ouch. My credit cards rates aren't even that high.

Follow up on my previous forum "saga." :) I got a lead from another investor (name and phone#), found a buyer and got him to cover my realtor commission of $6,000. (3% of $200k sale price) After deducting my broker's fees I net $5,500. At the beginning I verbally offered the investor 10% of what I would be getting, or $550. He verbally agreed and seemed happy to get some money for just running some ads and answering a phone call. I worked on this deal for 2 months, jumping through hoops and getting the seller and buyer whatever they needed to close the deal, putting up with lawyer nonsense, even agreeing to kick in $300 for termite treatment which the bank requires before approving the loan. So today I got an email from my investor "friend" saying he talked to a few other investor friends (with whom I also am acquainted) and they all decided that a fair referral fee should be $1,000. I know I wouldn't have this deal without him giving me the lead, but I'm a bit miffed that he now wants more, and that brings down what I take home to $4,200 before taxes. I know I should probably be grateful to have something rather than nothing, but does this seem right? The closing is supposed to take place tomorrow. I do honor my promises but I don't appreciate last minute surprises.

I need your words of wisdom. Help me get over this sour taste in my mouth.

One thing I must do now is 1099 him because the fee would be over the $600 threshold. Sorry, Uncle Sam says so. ;)

Thank you all for your feedback. I negotiated with both parties and got the buyer to pay me 3% ($6k) for the deal when it closes. Just got the paperwork signed last night. It took this long because the seller's lawyer held it up. Anyhow they signed on the dotted line, and will close as quickly as the mortgage is approved. Best part, buyer found out his childhood friend's grandparents live a couple of doors down.

I do appreciate the licensed status. I've been having much better luck too after I switched to a 100% commission brokerage.

When I started thinking about getting into real estate, I thought becoming an agent will help me learn the real estate business and give me the "insider's edge."

All that licensing class and broker taught was how to be a conventional agent. I've always been more interested on the investing side and I have to learn all that on my own. I've paid more fees to maintain my license than I ever made on commission. While some investors favor having a license and others don't, right now I'm not sure how it's going to work for me. I just switched to a new broker so hopefully it will help me more than hold me back. But the idea of making more money is very tempting! :) Not to mention all those anti-investor agents out there telling you what NOT to do when they have no clue themselves...

My broker is actually pretty supportive as long as everything is properly disclosed. But yeah, I do waffle between keeping and ditching my license when something like this comes up ...

Thanks Joel. So I should take the listing and just make a straight commission? My broker's advice is to get the listing (of course!). But I will not be able to "share" the commission with any unlicensed persons like my mentor.

Please don't laugh if I'm going about it the bass ackwards way. Here's the story. I am a licensed NJ agent and a new investor. I got a lead for an estate sale. Went to see the house with my wholesaler mentor. The seller wants more than we're willing to pay. On a whim I posted the property on Craigslist, and I got an interested buyer the next day! I showed the property to the buyer and gauged what he would pay. I never discussed money in front of both buyer and seller together, only separately in private. It seems buyer wants to pay $200k and seller wants to get $200k. Now both are waiting for me to act. Knowing that a buyer is interested, my mentor tried to lock up the property at $185k cash but seller refused. What's the best way I should go about it? Should I get the property as a listing and try to negotiate a higher commission? Should I "buy" the house and assign the contract to the buyer? Any suggestion is appreciated!

** I should add the buyer is putting 20% down but will require bank financing, and the house needs total rehab. And of course I have to share my proceeds with my mentor and referrer. Gotta spread the wealth! :)

I'm used to gurus charging $$$ for their short sale courses so this is a breath of fresh air.

Short Sales "By the Numbers"
[LINK REMOVED]

I just registered and watched all their short sale training videos in one day plus read almost all of their posts and boy is my back sore...but it's worth it! I searched BP forums for any reference and can't believe they're not mentioned...or maybe I didn't do the search right, I don't know. It's too deep into the night.

They seem to have a beef with Realtors in most of their posts, but as a Realtor/aspiring investor, I do agree with many of their points! I think it's worth a look.

At the end of the video training they did promote a $197 VIP program for their forms and consulting package, but since they're in FL and I'm in NJ I'm not planning to get that. Please try it out and let me know what you think.

My only (very teeny, bitty) let down is that the course is more agent-centric than investor-centric. It talks mostly about how to prepare and submit a short sale as an agent having the listing. I like the ideas it presents on marketing to sell the property. I hope to see the process as an investor and getting into the details on contracts and the mechanics of short sale flipping. Perhaps next time?

Barry Cunningham and Barry Johnson are the hosts. I love their direct, no BS style. They really tell it like it is.

I was thinking about plunking another $997 for another guru course. Thank God I saw this first. :D

Haha, I can't avoid Realtors -- I am one! :)

I agree about the gurus, though. Every time I watch one of these webinars I buy something. It's like they know to hypnotize me long distance! It's not all lost however, I do take away something from every book/course, but after every course I buy there seems to be 3-4 similar ones pop up that look newer or better. So I'm getting a bit more cautious now and do my research BEFORE buying them.

Curiously with the challenges of getting short sales approved, gurus are now teaching about buying defaulted notes as a way of controlling properties in a short sale. I'm taking one course right now.

What can I say? I'm an info junkie.