The real estate agents that try to shatter your dreams

I know what you mean Isaiah. I spoke with an agent who told me that I wouldn't be able to get my offers accepted because so many properties have multiple offers on them (I'm in Southern California). I was discouraged temporarily but went to church Sunday and then today, after speaking with another discouraging person, I recieved a phone call from an agent I had emailed. She told me she was willing to put in the low offers I needed her to and her office also does short sales. I'll be contacting people who are interested in doing short sales and get a referral fee for these. This will help me build some revenue to do other types of investing. I think (dare I say it) this may lead to my first deal!

Thanks for the encouragement and keep looking. Despite what some of us are told, those agents are out there.

Way to go !! Anything will get your foot in the door. Much Success !!

Paul T. La Moy
Hudson Valley, N.Y.

Agents are no diffierent when it comes to fear. They are sometimes afraid of the unknown. Their way of thinking can be different. Some are difficult and discouraging because just plain and simple. They are not educated to Dean's technique. So they try to scare you into thinking your doing something wrong. There are tons more that understand the market is tough for them and willing to work harder. You might want also focus on new agents. They are usually a little more motivated. If you can't turn left, then take a different road! Much success to you............Lubertha

A few weeks ago I had an agent showing me a house. She asked how I come up with a bid and proceeded to tell me I was doing it backwards. She tried to educate as to how she wanted me to place a bid. I informed her of the ay I do it. If she is not comfortable with the way I do things I will have to find another agent. Curtly she replied "Oh, well if that is how you are going to do it I doubt anyone will work with you." Untrue as we all know.

Three days later I received an email from her asking if I was ready to put in a bid. I refused as the home owner would not allow me to bring in my contractor unless I put in a bid first. Has this situation of a homeowner refusing to allow you to bring in a contractor before a bid ever happen to anyone else?
Kat

Stick with your terms. It's better to bring in someone professional to make an educated offer. You could also submit an offer subject to a written estimate of cost to repair. This way your not locked into your offer price. And my offer would be lower to start. Continue to stand up to what you believe in. Agents can be tough! Continued Success........Lubertha

You can make an offer, then after it is accepted, inspect the property with your contractor. Ask the seller for repairs (if they do it,you won't have to). If they refuse, you can renegociate the price. This will save you taking your contractor to every house that you want to make a bid on.

Al

After reading the above comments I add my own experience:
We too, have waxed and waned with RE Agents. The last one who was willing to work with us has sort of faded and no longer calls me first when she lists a property or knows of one coming up. I have strong suspicions that her broker, by whom every single detail of every single deal must be passed===
has steered her away from us.This, in light of the fact that on a coupleof the deals, Ihad already done the deals, had it in the bag, but chose to bring her in for a fee, or small commission to help with this or that; my way of taking care of her and making sure she doens't work for nothing. . . . .
We now find ourselves casting about for someone else. .. incidently, on more than one occassion, I did a little sleuth work on my own and learned that my offers were submitted at all. . .because the AGENT thought it too low.. . illegal. .. and unethical but it nonetheless still is happening.
thanks to all
out looking cross-town for another good deal.

Hi Grady,
People seem to be getting a good response by emailing different agent on line with your request's. Someone suggested for me to use the free homes ad magazine's and call on the one that specialize in foreclosures in your area. So I'm trying this now. I'll keep yo posted on how it works out! Continued success...........Lubertha

yeah my dad talked to one of those realtors!

Hello DG Members,

I believe we all have found those people that try to steal our dreams. Unfortunately it happens at every age of our life and we just need to be positive and keep pushing forward. I know how it hurts and sometimes you feel embarrassed when real estate agents do not want to understand what you are offering to them!

Reread and look at Matt Larson's story, he found his great real estate agent "Star". How many agents wish they could attract Matt's business now? How lucky does Star feel about working with Matt now?

You too may be in the same position as Matt in the next year or two. So do not let these agents get you down or steal your dreams! Remember the why you are doing this! You will find the right real estate agent, just keep looking for the diamond in the rough! This is just a test to keep you focused on your dream and it makes you a stronger person. How bad do you want this? Bad enough to find that agent.....today? It may take weeks or months but the good ones are always hard to find. Good luck and continued success. Believe and Achieve! - Joe

To the author or anyone struggling to find the right agent , keep looking and you will find him/her. It took me about 10 before I found my agent Mark. It got frustrating because some tell you flat out that it will not work. What is worst is that some of these so called "Realtors" know less then us new investors. They probably got their license and watch HGTV, so now they know it all in real estate.

The most important thing is to find someone who is investor friendly because they understand you and what you are trying to do. I got fed up with mailing letters that I just starting going to these companies and found my guy. Today I signed my first contract and althoug I was nervous, I know I am heading in the right direction. Now go get your 007!

As a REI you will meet people and you could say...Really, Yes really! People are what make a REI and not all of the time will the people be on your side!It is very important too invest in youself so when you hear...NO, you will know it means...YES!(That one is for Anita)
WE all know, We can sell and buy real estate without a hitch. How is it when you try to get a team member for your REI,INC...Now all of a sudden it can be a problem.People are the recipe!Keep using different people until...You do get the right mix for your team!

P.S. There is something missing from this reply,Please feel free to add to my comment.

I've commented on this a number of times. I know a handful of realtors who were living high on the hog during the boom. They went to realtor school trying to cash in on the easy money, and they did. But when it dried up the bank came and took away all the nice things they financed when the money just fell in their lap.

You have plenty of realtors who survived, but many of those too got accustom to the easy money. They just don't want to work for it, and if they are in a position they don't have to, well good for them - but many aren't. So just keep grinding it out.

Realtors want to work with dream clients - the ones who have financing lined up to moon or cash, will get into bidding wars over a 1 day listing... well that ship has sailed for now, and some are still in denial. Just think, during the hay day, they were making $9,000 for sending a fax and taking a couple calls.

This is why so many new investors have trouble getting realtors to work with them. The thought of spending 5, 10, 20 or god forbid a full 40 hours of work to make a few thousand dollars is not exciting to them. Most don't understand investing either. They understand when a person wants a home to live in, or place to buy as rental... most don't understand a lot beyond that.

I will write an article soon on how to deal with realtors. You really have to pick a few realtors brains to understand the twisted logic that prevents them wanting to do nothing more than show you a house and a send a couple faxes for you to potentially (or eventually) making thousands from your hard work.

For the investor, all they are there for is to send you deals and submit offers. Not to show you around saying "Wow, this room has great potential for a XYZ. The paint color scheme is great!". If you are an investor, they can't sell you on house that isn't a deal, because you don't care about the stuff a regular buyer does. That is a negative in your column from their standpoint. You aren't a "motivated buyer".

If you have a hard time with realtors, this might be a way to position it. With foreclosures you can also stand to let them slide on showing you houses. They are vacant, so you can go and check out the yards, the outside and check it out looking though the windows. At least well enough to come up with a reasonable assignment offer. Sometimes the backdoors are wide open so you can get a better look, but just look from the outside =).

Showing is the one thing most realtors hate the most, especially if they don't feel great about the buyer. So when they don't have to drive, take time out of their plans... all they have to do is sit on their butt and make a couple clicks on their computer and dial a couple fax numbers, you leave them with not many excuses.

I don't mean to rant on all realtors, but a lot of them are like Isaiah described - and it really bugs me that there are so many people out there grinding it out 40+ hours week just to make a several hundred bucks, and they scoff at the idea of spending a few hours of time to make possibly a few thousand.

I don't know if this is legal or not, and I wouldn't even do it out of principle, but I imagine if you agreed to give the realtor some cash for submitting and pulling the offers if nothing closed it would probably motivate them. Again, just thinking out loud... it is so frustrating every time I hear the same story from a realtor who has their mind closed off to anything that isn't a guaranteed, large paycheck for the work they are doing for investors.

Why do you think every realtor only wants to do listings? You can sit on your butt and get paid for putting it in MLS and answering some phone calls.

So if you are reping buyers how can you get the same deal? Basically by not having to show houses. You can sit on your butt and send faxes. Try telling a agent you won't need to see many properties, if any. Once they have made some money they will be more receptive to working for it.

I have my first meeting this morning with an agent! glad i happened to see this on the site ! iam ready!!
IT SHALL BE DONE!

Thanks for the information and always learning from you.

Paul

I am so glad to have met my real estate agent, who I got from Realtor.com. She has worked with REI's before and knows how to work the deals. When I told her I'm starting out doing assignment of contracts, she said that should I need her for anything, I can call her anytime. She's also willing to do the 25:1 deal. She even offered her help to search info about the houses I find through her Title Company. So guys, there are agents out there who would be willing to work with you and you'll find them soon enough. Just jeep searching for the right ones. Good luck!

Just had a argument with my realtor. This helps me keep on track and know that I am doing the right things. Thanks.

Congratulations to RodBB in his pursuit of a realtor who was actually willing to work for him, and with him in mind and not just themself.Can anyone help shed some light my way on Rod's quote "She's also willing to do the 25:1 deal." Thanx,Jeff

Hello Jeff: What RodBB is referring to is Matt Larson's strategy to acquire properties. He will find 100 properties and have his REA make offers on the 25 best deals he likes. He might get one or two offers accepted out of the 25. this is the 25:1 strategy he uses to get deals in RE. You can read about how he does this in Dean's Book, "Profit From Real Estate NOW". You can find out about Matt if you look in the index at the back of the book. Look for the word Larson. There is alot of reading about Matt's deals you can learn there. His has inspired me to try this with my REA. I will let everyone know how it goes for me. Thanks, John

I have only talked to two so far the first one said this is what he does and I should not do it because it is hard to do and a lot of legal stuff I would not understand, he doesnt even know me, how does he know if I would or would not understand!!!! any way I called a friend of mine that was in real estate a while ago and to my suprise she was still in it, she had worked with investors once and hated it,but when I told her how I wanted to help my friends and co workers she changed her mind andsaid she will do whatever she can to help me. I know she knows a lot of people that can be on my team so I need to learn more fast so we can get started. sorry its so long but I am getting more excited the more I learn. Thank you all for helping Diane

Most of them are clueless about assignments. Mine I don't know how its going to turn out, but I have a question, my agent told me that i need to get prequlified before submitting bids, my credit sucks big time, and there is no way that i would qualify for a loan, can any one offer advise?????

All the information is in dean's book and this website to get a property with no money down and no credit. Good luck !!

Paul

Don't worry about the Pre-qualification...Some listing agents want the pre-qualification letter because they want to know if you are serious...They don't know about assignments and all that...They just expect the "easy" sale...

If your agent that you are trying to work with is telling you that you need that, or he/she won't put the offers in, MOVE ON...Don't waste your time...Not worth it...

And on properties that you do need the pre-qualification in order to get your offer even looked at, go to coastal-funding.com and get a proof of funds from the site...They send it to your email, and you can print it off...

If you are just looking to buy the property itself, def having the pre-qualification is a better way of going, cause it will move along the process...Plus, knowing what you really are approved for before hand makes it much easier to find properties in that amount.

But if you plan to assign the property, just make sure you have and/or assigns by your name...And if the offer gets excepted, and both the seller and yourself sign it, you have all the right in the world to assign it...

having an attorney that understands that stuff will help also...

Hope I didn't confuse you or anyone else, and best of luck to ya!

Hi Marc,

I liked your answers and you are pretty knowledgeable in the REI business. I seen many of you postings and do enjoyed hearing what you have to say to our DG family. Thanks again

Warm Regards,

Paul

This topic is just what I came to the site to look for today. I recently sent out emails and used HomeGain to contact real estate agents, and to my surprise, I have received about 10 emails from interested agents in just a few days. I received one from a former investor who has been in the business for 20 years, is a broker and has her law degree. I have also received a reply and a follow up from another agent who has only been in real estate for a year, so he is not like the other agents who made an easy buck in the boom and don't want to do any work. He seems very eager to help and grow with me. I received another from a guy who owns his own real estate business and says he doesn't have to report to anyone.

I guess my question is where do I go from here? What kinds of questions should I ask to qualify these agents when I go to meet them?

You guys are awesome and I appreciate all the wisdom everyone shares here.

Thanks

Hi Vern! Way to go in getting 10 responses from REAs. Some of the questions you should ask are as follows:(1) How long they've been in the invest;(2) If they've worked with investors before;(3)If they're willing to work with REIs like yourself;(3) Are they willing to make low offers...plus a couple more questions and they're on page 113 in Dean's book, "Profit from Real Estate RIGHT NOW." Hope this helps. "Don't stop believing!"

Vern

What did you say in your emails to get such a great response? Anyone else have email pointers? -

Vern,

I went through a lot a agents before I found mine. She is working out great. Our neighbor also has been investing in real estate for years and he told me I couldn't do it either. He worked his way up by buying one property, fixing it and holding it, then selling it so he could buy a bigger one. Seems like the long way to the same goal but he told me I was going too fast. If you ask me I'm not going fast enough!!

These are GREAT comments!
Can anyone tell me (specifically) what the realtor does? I know they make offers, but do they actually do more? Is it up to me in regard to what I feel that they should do? In other words, what is the best use of a realtor? Also, how can the realtor work with an investor and not be in violation of real estate ethics? My realtor wanted to know exactly how she works with me and with her own company-fees, representation, etc.

Thanks to anyone who an help