Hey guys, I was wondering what Will I tell an investor over the phone about my service to him/her as a bird dog if I have no properties? I dont want them to feel as if I’m a waiste of time so let me know
thanks
Don’t worry about how someone will respond to what you are or are not. If they are negative about what you are trying to do for them, then you have no need for them. There are plenty of people who see good reasoning for a good birddog and you can’t let yourself worry about it.
Find good deals and the investors will come. It worked for me.
thanks. Yea thats what I was doing but once I tell them I have no properties right now they usually say well call me when you have something…Like im waisten there time by calling and I dont have anything for them.
Don’t sweat it. Get out there and find something for them. It seems like there is always someone who wants to sell you real estate, the problem is that most of them won’t produce good properties and won’t work hard to help you. Make sure you are not one of them and people will always come back to you.
They do want to see proof…so give it to them.
tsboss1
We understand. You will not always have properties.
What is your goal in calling these investors? Are you already an experience birddog and just wanting more investors lined up or are you trying to learn the business and looking for teacher/mentor?
If you’re calling on the “we buy houses” type ads, then probably your main problem is that you’re calling on people newer in the business than you are and they don’t know what to say to you any more than you know what to say to them.
If you find an experienced investor, then you need to know what type of properties that they are interested in buying and what is the minimum discount that they will consider. Now, it’s not your job as a RE finder to negotiate ANY part of the deal, but knowing the numbers let’s you know if you do have a potential deal for the agent.
Just to give an example of a RE finder/birddog’s job: Two weeks ago, one of mine came up to me and said that a developer had 8 properties in a particular neighborhood that the developer had built 2/3 years ago and put people in them owner financed. ALL had been left vacant, and he heard that the developer was ready to sell fast.
From that, I drove by the area, looked at the properties, contacted the developer, asked if he was interested selling them in a package deal and now we’re in negotiations.
Hope it helps,
Raj
thanks roger. I just call to try and work with investors to find them deals for a fee so I can build enough money to get started in the game. I pretty much dont need a mentor/teacher because my parents, sister, her boyfriend and others in my family are all in real estate. Im just trying to help out but when I ask where do they invest they say anywhere…doesnt matter, when we all know it does matter. But i’ll try and see what happens today
tsboss1,
Well, now I guess I’m a little confused. Is everyone in your family a real estate investor? If so, then why are you bothering trying to work with other investors? You’ve mentioned four + potential investors in your posts. Are they blowing you off, too, or what?
Anyway, if you’re cold-calling investors, you need to sound professional, that you know your stuff.
If they are interested in using your services, then you say, “I noticed from your phone number that you’re in X area. Is that your preferred area for buying?” That should get you a “yes” or “yes and I like these areas as well”
If you still get an ‘anywhere’ or anything if the deal is right, move on to this: I’ve found that most investors have a particular area that they prefer, their farm area. You don’t have one?
The answer to this question determines if they’re worth messing with. If they still answer “anything that works” it’s very likely that they’re greener than you and you’d be wasting your time. If they are experienced then you’ve just proven to them that you know what you’re doing too. At that point, they’ll let you know what they want or that they’re not interested.
BTW, just a fine point. As a birddog, you help investors find “potential” deals. They only become deals after the investor does the negotiating. If you’re doing more than pointing the investor in the direction of the deal, then you might consider get a RE license. It’s cheaper.
Raj
thanks roger. All my family are investors but my mom and dad arent looking for anything right now because they are about to close a deal and my sis is getting ready to start selling the properties they have and plus they are family so Im pretty sure they would want me to look out for them vs having them to pay me for running across a good deal u know? But I am going to take your approach serious and try it out and see what happens. Sounds like it would work
A serious investor will pay whoever brings them a deal, even family.
Curiously, I’d also think that family would want to make sure that you make it in the business too. So, no offense, but I still don’t see why you need to be working for other investors.
I mean, if my kids wanted to follow in my footsteps, I would want them learning from me, not some bum down the road. Could be just me though.
Raj
yea but my family is done for now…so i need to work with serious investors.
I know more about real estate then everyone in my family. Its just that I have no money or credit to start :‘( :’(
tsboss,
That’s my point. If members in your family are experienced investors (and since you know more than they do anyway :o) are they not interested in a partnership deal where you find, and fix, the properties and they supply the money and/or credit?
BTW, in case you didn’t catch it. If you haven’t closed a deal yourself yet and members of your family have, regardless of what you THINK you might know, I can assure you, they know more. For example, if you really knew more, then you’d know that if you have a good deal, you can find the money, and that while good credit helps in REI, it can be worked around. Better example, your family has closed deals.
If you’re approaching other investors with the type of attitude that you’re presenting on the board here, I can tell you without a doubt that that is your problem. Personally, as a mentor, I don’t waste my time trying to teach someone that “knows it all” already. If I have to try to prove to you that my way works over your idea of how it should, then I’ve got better things to do. If I’m misreading it, then I’ll apologize now, but that’s the way it sounds to me.
Good luck,
Raj
Roger what your not understanding is that when I said I know more then they do about real estate I ment that I know more ways to make money in real estate then my parents do. They know nothing about bird dogging, lease options, pre foreclosures, tax sales, buying notes, wholesaling…NOTHING. All they do is buy a home, fix it, and rent it out…and they dont even like doing it because of there tenants. What investor doesnt know that strategy though to be honest?. I’m not saying I know it all but I know if I had some type of cash and credit, that I could do the same thing they are doing plus more. Im only 19 so therefor I have to build my credit and have some type of income before I can get started. Until then I was going to bird dog for other investors. This is my strategy because my parents will not loan me any money or cosign on a loan otherwise I wouldn’t be trying to bird dog.They are done with deals for now so theres no work for me and thats why I was going to work with experienced investors and never would I tell an investor I “know it all”. What type of sense would that make.
roger?? any response?
tsboss,
Really, I just don’t know what else that you’d like for me to say.
You said that you don’t need a mentor/teacher because every blood kin that you have is in REI. Then you said that you know more than every single one of them and they won’t help you anyway. You also went with poor me, no job, no credit thing, yet you didn’t even reply to my comment that you really don’t need those things if you can find good deals.
Bottomline, IMO, is that you’re not ready for this because your 19 year old “Adults are Stupid” attitude is getting in the way. No offense meant and if I’m wrong I’ll apologize again now. But, I still think that that is the main problem. Just look at the last post. Hard to tell in the written word, but I can just imagine that the last sentence (What kind of sense would that make) would have been with a huge amount of distane and you could probably have added a “stupid” on the end without much effort.
And you really need to get the “I know more about REI” out of your head UNTIL you’ve actually done something. What you know are possible ways to make money that you’ve read here or in books. If it ain’t been done in the real world, you don’t know it yet!
In your head, you know me than I already, yet you’re here asking questions. How do I know that? Well, I know that I don’t mess with pre-foreclosures/shortsales, I know very little about note-buying and less than a little about tax sales. However, I do know how to buy properties at a major discount, fix them and get them marketed for the top dollar or fast sale (and sometimes both).
My best suggestion for you if you’re really serious about this business is to go back to your family and pick their brains some more. Then develop a plan that one of them would be interested in helping you implement.
Raj
omg. I never said i dont need a teacher. Your putting words in my mouth. My parents are the ones who taught me about real estate and I said I know more ways to make money from real estate then they do. I Stated that they only know one way to make deals happen because they havent read anything. Am I wrong for saying that?? They just do what most other investors do which is find good deals fix em up and rent them out or sale them. I know it’s ways to get started with out money or credit and bird dogging is one of those methods I wanted to try. That’s why I came and asked what to say to investors because usually the ones I’ve talked to act like they can buy anywhere at anyprice when in reality they may be just saying that or they want you to have property already. Now I don’t know why you feel I should forget about all the other investors out here and get started with my parents after I just said they arent looking for properties right now but I already have my plan and I told you it in my last message.
Raj gave you good advice. Don’t over complicate things. While most good investors will consider most markets, they have their target areas where they send out postcards, put out signs, etc. These are the areas that they are more comfortable with and that you would have greater success in finding a deal for them. If you ask them what markets they prefer and you don’t get specifics, than, like Raj said, they’re greener than you are. K.I.S.S. As a greenhorn myself, I try to over complicate things and its as simple as knowing what a deal is and knowing where to find them. As for the family thing, I would rather pay my son, nephew, brother than someone off the street. Although I understand that they are not looking right now, bring the deals to them first, a good investor never passes up a great deal. They may also let you know that your deal was not a deal after all. Live and learn from other’s experience and mistakes. Just my 2 cents. Good luck.
Weldon
yea WGGJR you are right. I’m pretty sure they would love my help but they just baught a new house so they arent looking for anymore. This is actually the last house they plan on buying for now so I was looking for an approach for investors I find in the paper or other places and Roger already helped me with that.
Get a Job… You make too many excuses. I don’t want anyone calling me unless they have a deal on the table. What do you want me to say. Thanks Kid for wasting my time. I can tell by your voice that you don’t know anything and don’t have anything so why are you calling me??? I want to talk to people who can make something happen.
LOL ^^^. Thats the thing. I have many more property leads then serious investors. If I figure out where an investor invests, I can call him/her back when I have something which could be the same day. It wouldn’t be a waiste of time if you love money or if you need the help or want to save a little money if using an agent. I also have no need to make any excuses. You must cant read if you think that I’m Making excuses. This thread was started so I can start my carrer, not run from my real estate career which is destroyed by excuses.
I call investors like you all the time that say they invest in any area when I can tell they are bird dogs/wholesalers for other investors…That is why they say they invest everywhere in most cases so they can bring the deals to there investors. This is also why I talked to roger and WGGJR about an approach in which they helped me with so why are you posting something thats negative? I Know how to talk to investors because I have fam. members thats investors but its the guys thats in the papers that I can tell dont know anything, with a few exceptions and if you feel someone thats trying to get started is waisting your time because they are trying to get in real estate as well as help you, then your a real selfish, self centered person.