Best way to find forclosures as a bird dog for my investor?

[Investyoung]

Iam bird doging for my investors and he is mostly looking for foreclosures and i was wondering as a bird dog what things can i do to find foreclosure's..

What are some of you all doing..

[REIinIL]

I hit the court filings for foreclosures. Very easy to do in my area...they are all online.

[Investyoung]

So do i jsut go to the court house and ask for a list.
Amd if finding foreclosures id this easy then why do investors need bird dogs cant they go look as i am going to look

[Roger J]

What exactly do you mean by "foreclosures?"

Are you looking for property that has already been foreclosed and is not bank owned or are you looking for property that is in the PRE-foreclosure arena where the homeowner still owns it but is in about to lose the property?

For REO's (bank owned), all you need to do is search the MLS.  But the investor should already have an agent doing that, so I don't know what you could contribute.

For the Pre-for's, there a several options, including the courthouse.  You cold-call, door-knock, post flyers, business cards, signs, etc.

Biggest question is if you are birddogging for this investor, then why isn't he telling you what to do and what to look for?  That is the whole point of a birddog.  The investor should "train" them to find the type of properties that they want.  A hunter doesn't get a dog, take them into the woods and say, "SHOW ME THE BIRDS!!!!"  They train them first, then go hunting.

Raj

[Investyoung]

So what all info should i get from him? and what all things should i ask him..

And yes Pre forclosures

[Treens]

Hi InvestYoung,

I just started bird dogging this month.  I found a local company online that offers referral fees for leads.  The nice thing about this company was that they had some paperwork that outlined what they wanted.  I sent my first leads, none were accepted and I was told why not...  So I found out more about what they wanted or did not want.  Then I just sent 10 leads and they bit at 4 and 1 of them they were already pursuing.   I am learning so much, just from my rejects.

Ask your investor if he has written information on what he is looking for.  If nothing is written down, ask the following questions in order to get some clarification:

1.  What MLS areas or zip codes do you prefer?

2.  What MSL areas or zip codes do you refuse to deal with?

3.  Do you want lots, single family homes, multi-family homes and/or commercial properties?

4.  Are you looking to do cosmetic rehabs or total gut rehabs?

I asked my investor about pre-foreclosures and she said that she gets those sent directly to her once a month, therefore, I won't waste my time on that.  I get out there and drive with a camera to find 'ugly' houses that will probably sell way under market value.

Happy Hunting!