All Forum Posts by: Steven Williams

Thanks everyone for the connection requests and the tips you shared to help point me in the right direction as I rebuild my foundation out here in the Bay Area. It's going to be an fun adventure!

Hello,

I've been wholesaling in Utah for the last couple years and have completed about 70 transactions so I have marketing and negotiating with sellers down pretty well... But i just moved to Walnut Creek, CA this week and will be starting from the ground up. I'll need cash buyers, investor friendly title companies, hard money lenders etc. Is anyone on here having success as a wholesaler in the east bay or surrounding areas?

Also, where are all the Nor Cal fix and flip guys hanging out? Any good REIA meetings with investors who invest locally out here? I just got back from a Meetup group here in Contra Costa but there wasn't a single fix and flip investor there and everyone seemed to be investing out of state. I'd love to get things going in my own "new" back yard.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Steven

Thanks for all of your great responses. I haven't read any books from gurus that have told me to wait for a listing to expire or anything of that sort. I simply didn't know what to do and I simply saw an opportunity. I didn't know the laws and wanted to know if I was crossing any ethical boundaries.

To me, my plan seemed logical and I didn't feel that it was devious in any way but like I mentioned above I'm still new. I highly value integrity and ethics otherwise I wouldn't have brought this question to the form in the first place but would have just found a way to tie up the deal. I'm here for learning.

I am also very competitive and I will strive to make as many deals as possible while playing within the rules and ethics of the RE business.

I do have a cash buyer lined up for this property who is able to close as long as i get the numbers I need.

I've been investing in real estate for only three months now and have only done one wholesale deal. Luckily everything went smoothly and we closed in less than ten days. The money was good but hearing the sellers say how thankful they were to be out from under the property was even better.

Once again, thanks for all of your wisdom and input and I wish you all success in your RE ventures.

-Steven

Thanks for your post.

So because the agent wasn't the procuring cause of the sale no commissions are due. Do you suggest that I just wait 5 days until the sales agreement naturally expires and then proceed from there?

I agree with your post. I don't think i'm cutting out the agent and I don't think that he is an enemy. He just happens to be in the way at the moment and hasn't helped me or the seller with his efforts. I'm still not sure what he should be paid for. Every month that goes by, the seller is losing money.

I can see this becoming a huge debate on ethics and I think that would be very interesting because i love philosophy. However, I would like to know what my legal obligations are here.

I agree that one should always use the ethical approach.

I also agree that people should receive a commission when a commission is due for their labors.

I'm new to real estate investing so my perspective may change over time but for now this is how i ethically see it.

I have worked a commission job for several years and and have never earned a penny for "trying to make a sale".

For example, I sold pest control door to door for over four years. It wasn't rare for me to make a sale right after another pest control company had just done their presentation. I have also lost sales because of another competitor.

There are many other scenarios from my commission only jobs that have shaped my ethical beliefs on how commission should be paid.

I believe that even though the agent was a good guy and tried hard to sell the property that he hasn't "earned" a commission. (I wish I got paid for all of the times I tried to sell something. I would be rich haha) The agent couldn't sell the house in over 5 months, even though they have dropped the price far below what the agent claimed they could sell the property for.

I could even argue that I have a moral obligation to help this distressed seller get out of the property instead of just passing on this deal because the numbers won't make sense with the agent in place.

Of course if I found this property on the MLS or found it because of some marketing that the agent put into place, then I believe the agent deserves their commission. But that's not the case... In fact, I spent thousands of dollars on direct mail. Should I not be paid for my marketing efforts?

I hope you don't perceive this as an attack because it is not. This is just my philosophical perspective and i'm not saying whether it's correct or not. The ethical issues in this post can be discussed and debated. However, what are the laws?

I have recently talked to a motivated seller who received a piece of my direct mail. The numbers are tight, however, if I can work with the seller directly and he doesn't have to pay the realtors commission I believe that I can put a deal together.

The listing agreement expires in five days, however, I would like to tie this deal up TODAY if I can.

Here's the details-

1. The property has been listed for over five months and the seller is not happy with the agents performance.

2. The listing agent played no role in connecting me with the seller. I didn't even know the property was listed until the seller contacted me directly.

3. The property needs a ton of work and won't qualify for a standard FHA loan even though the sellers agent originally told him that it would.

Here are my questions:

How can I tie this property up without the listing agent TODAY?

Is it unethical for me to ask the seller to cancel his listing agreement with the agent five days early?

Can I sign a "postdated" agreement with the seller that is dated five days in the future?

Can I sign an agreement TODAY that states that I have the rights to purchase the property directly from the seller as soon as the listing agreement expires?

Any advice and or answers would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, @Trevor Peterson I'm sure there is a way that we can work together. I'm mostly focusing on wholesaling and owner financing right now.

Thanks @J. Martin I've been to some of the local REI groups but I will have to see if there is a bigger pockets meet-up in my area!

@Dmitriy Fomichenko Thanks for the welcoming!