@Tanesha Mills
I like your descriprion of the bird dog description but I also agree with @John Kent that if you are doing steps 1-7 then you should just wholesale the house yourself. I like the term Property Locators too, so much I bought the domain name PropertyLocators.com.
The problem that everyone talks about with paying "bird dogs" that are unlicensed comes from contact and promises between the "property locator" and the seller. They are the ones that will get in trouble with the state becasue they are unlicensed.
I have an Agreement that they sign, and ask them not to get involved in negotiations, repairs and mortgage balances. If they do this then they will have to get a contract signed and assign it to the wholesaler, which makes them a wholesaler too.
I created a software that tracks everything and they basically have two options.
1) The traditional way of driving around and getting addresses of vacan houses, boarded up, high grass, tarp on roof, FSBO's, rentals, etc. and uploading them to the system.
2) Assign them a tracking phone number an place ad advertisement on their back window of their vehicle. They can also use that number for business cards, door hangers, flyers and anything else they leave behind. They pay for their own advertising but in some cases will will pay for the lists on names to mail to.
Tracking the deals and giving them status updates is critical to building a good network or referral leads. They are also concerened about getting paid so we took the worry out of that too, and as you suggested, we pay them automatically with Paypal through the UI of the software.
The other critcal factor is training. I would not suggest placing ads on Craigslist , unless you want to talk to a bunch of time wasters. There is a way to do it but it's a two step process to weed them out. You definitely need a place for them to go to get training, watch videos, download forms and marketing material designs, etc.... You can also educate them how you buy houses, what you are looking for and how you will pay them. The main point is that there isn't a cookie cutter approach as each investor depending on the state can run their business how they want to in regard to Property Locators and referral marketing.
@Michael W. A bird dog can (technically) bird dog for more than one investors but it's highly unlikely because in a way the investor is their mentor guiding them on what to do, In my opinion the only way a bird dog should give the leads to more than one investor is if the initial invesotr wasn't interestd in making an off. If this is the case then it probably wasn't a good deal and not enough meat on the bones to wholesale to his cash buyers list.
@Anthony LaBate If you'd like me to answer those questions from a wholesaler perspective please feel free to contact me. Maybe I can help you work bettor with the investors. Your situation is different becasue you have a license but totally doable.
@Benjamin Cowles @Norma H. I am subscibed to this thread now so if you have any questions regarding property locators and/or building a network of referral leads let me know.
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