First steps

For Sale By Owner is the best way to go. Please put up a profile as well. Best wishes!

Read Deans book and follow exactly what he says to do in the book. Start out by putting out bandit signs out every week and find an agent to start submitting offers in the area your thinking or investing in. Best of wishes to you

Thanks for the advice. I have Dean's book and I need to follow it to the letter

I am embarrassed to say that I have had Dean's 30 days to fast cash for quite a while and I read it and started to do some of the steps. However I realize that the most important steps are building a buyers list and having an agent to submit offers

right Keneke the buyers list is key, something to get first-find out what they want/where, what price, what kind of home or properties they want & establish a relationship with them, keep in touch with them once a week. Keep it up and I would say as above follow the book like you say to the letter my friend.

The Buyers list is the most important. Ali says that should be like 85% or more of where your time is spent. He recommends working to build your buyers list everyday!

Thanks for the encouragement

Today I Called a few Realtors. The initial calls went very smooth but I started to feel uncomfortable when they started asking a lot of questions like, who is your lender, how soon do you want to buy, etc. They also want me to come into the office to meet. I feel a little uneasy since I don't have any buyers yet. Guess I'll have to start working on that asap.

I'm Starting to contact a bunch of Realtors and I'm wondering whether I should spend the time to meet with each one I call or how to determine which ones to meet with. Any ideas?

I understand the importance of the buyers list and talking to agents but I need something clarified. OK, one must have a real estate license to access and list houses on the MLS and to legally sell houses. When we print business cards and flyers how do we state what we do?, I have seen some examples such as "I buy and sell homes" or "I buy houses any condition" etc using the verbage of selling and buying houses but we do not need a license to be an investor, how is that? I'm confusing my own thinking, someone please straighten me out.

I would look for a rei club in your area, and attend their monthly meetings; get some business cards printed, and make sure you exchange cards with other investors, talk with them and find out if there are any investors that need a birddog. Ask them what they are looking for, what type of property, what price range, what area, etc.

Don't just read DG's book 30 Days to Cash; make sure that you take action after you read every section. If you don't understand something, go back and read again, or come to this site and post your questions here.

Wishing you success,

Thanks for the great advice Valerie. What I'm finding is that without a solid list of buyers I feel like a fraud talking to a Realtor especially if I'm being shown a property.

Iam having trouble locating the Fountain Valley REI club in Orange County, CA. Does anyone have referrals for REI clubs in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California such as Van Nuys, woodland Hills, Reseda, Tarzana, West Hills, Northridge, Encino or Burbank? I would sincerely appreciate any info. Keep following the plans laid out in Dean's books. Continued Success To you all!

I understand the importance of Going to a REI club and networking but it is going to be very difficult to go to meetings at least initially. Does anyone have any suggestions on networking through online investment clubs or websites? Thanks

I have contacted a number of Realtors and they want to meet with me to discuss my investing objectives. I feel uneasy about requesting a list of cash buyers and discussing other options without having a strong list of buyers to back me up. Has anyone else had similar experiences?

Hi Wendy,
First of all, read Dean’s books, read the DG blogs and watch the Weekly Wisdom videos. The answers are there.

Now for the fun stuff… you do not need a real estate license buy and sell properties. The term FSBO stands for “For Sale By Owner”. This would typically be someone that is selling their own home without having a licensed agent represent them.

There is a way of wholesaling properties where you are not going to technically “buy” the property yourself. The object is to get in contract, which puts you “in position” to buy the property, but you assign (sell) your rights in the contract to another buyer and you never actually own/buy the property itself, because you assign the deal to another buyer before escrow closes. You get paid for the sale of your “rights”. This procedure is also known as bird-dogging.

Here is an example using arbitrary numbers, where your end-buyer will fix up the property to flip it or keep it to rent out, etc.

Basic Outline of a wholesale deal:
• Locate a distressed property or a property with a distressed seller (after repair value is $100,000 and the estimated repair cost is $20,000).
• Negotiate a VERY low purchase price with the seller (let’s say $40,000).
• Market the home to your list of buyers - with a price that is higher than your contracted purchase price (let’s say $50,000).
• The end buyer closes escrow with the seller. The seller gets $40,000 and you get $10,000 as your fee. The end-buyer can then fix up the property and his total cost is approximately $70,000. He can then sell the property for a profit. Everybody wins!

Without a license, you will not be listing homes for sale on the MLS, but you can usually do a basic search for active listings through a public portal of the MLS.

A few reasons to have a real estate agent working for you is:
1) To be one of your sources to find properties. Sometimes, homes on the MLS don’t sell and the listing expires, placing the seller in a position where they may be more inclined to reduce their sales price just to get rid of the home. Homes that are owned free and clear give the seller the most flexibility as there is no loan to pay off.

2) To help you find comps to determine values. The MLS is a great database that an agent can access to find similar homes that have recently sold, which can help you determine your buy and sell pricing.

3) To write offers on your behalf if the situation requires it (not all situations do). Perhaps your agent finds a great deal on the MLS that will work for your buy and hold strategy. Your agent gets paid and you get a great deal. Remember, your agent is a business partner, and they need to feed their family too. They won’t stay with you if you don’t make them money. Do you want to work for free? I think not.

4) To list any of your properties you plan on retailing - hopefully getting you the highest sales price and giving your agent a commission (which makes your agent very happy).

As far as business cards, it is a decision you are going to have to make. I suggest you mentally roll-play and think of what you might want to know about someone who is giving you a business card. What can you offer an investor, a buyer, a seller, etc. Maybe you might want to have more than one type of card depending on who you are giving it to.

Now look... you got me started. I had better stop before I write a book.
The best of luck to you and please don't stop. Persistence is the key to success.

Thank you, Tanstaafl.

Maybe you should write a book! You really supplied sufficient information and I now have more appreciation for the agent and their position on the investment team. Rest assured I am reading Dean's books cover to cover. Your suggestion on role playing I am also finding helpful as that opens windows of oppotunity for improvement, I can play the part over until I get it right. I'm working on the cards and I have already found out that you never want to be without them.

Thank you again for the info, your encouragement and your time.

Wendy

Keep on keeping on!

Hi Keneke,

(I see you are from my home town. I left there in 1987 but I love much about the area).

Although I have not been in that situation (being an agent myself), I would think that your best bet would be to try to locate a fairly new agent. They will be most willing to work with you because they need to start building their client base as much as you do. A more experienced agent will likely be busier and might not be as willing to do the amount of work you will require of them, without the agent seeing a quick financial pay-off.

Newer agents will also be less likely to detect, or even care, that you don't have much experience. They just want to do business.

Just let the agent that you are meeting with at the time know that you are serious and you want to help them take their career to a higher level, and that you can work together - as partners. Try to make sure you have a clear idea of what you want from them, before your meeting.

Hi Tanstaafl,
Thanks so much for the advice about selecting a Realtor. That is very helpful!

Hi Ken,

Nice to read your journal and wishing you success! Any updates?

- Tom

Foremost get a free download of Dean's book, 30 Days to Real Estate Cash. Read and follow it to the letter. When you get to Matt Larson's script to find a real estate agent follow it precisely. It works rather the agent is experienced or not. When you complete this section on finding an RE agent you should be well prepared to interact with the RE agent. I am meeting up with an agent from Keller Williams Agency next week simply by following Matt's script and this was my first attempt to find an agent who works with investors. I was able to get all of the information that Matt talks about from the agent in our very first conversation. You can do this if you just have confidence in what you are being taught here. Be patient, persistent and take action.

Hi there,

I am a Broker/Realtor and wouldn't mind one bit if you called and explained your wants and needs. If I knew you were serious, and I saw there was truly a value to creating a relationship with you I would certainly help you. Why not, we will both benefit.

Best of luck,
Jule