Does anyone have a good letter that they send out to Realtors that will
Not have every Realtor calling you with a bunch of non investment type propertys.
Have Realtors call you with expired listings where you may be able to work something out with them where they may get a 2 percent commision if it closes.
If required , have the Realtor list a short sale if required by the lender.
Have the Realtor call only if they have a steal of a deal.
I am just looking for a good letter that works and doesn,t have every
Realtor in the county calling with a bunch of crap.
I sent a letter out to several hundred realtors and I didn’t get any crap listings. Unfortunately I didn’t get any good leads either.
What I got was calls from 4 or 5 agents telling me that it’s a great idea (lease purchasing vacant/expired/dead listings) but that they sell everything for full price cash and none of their sellers are interested in waiting for their money because they don’t need to.
It doesn’t matter how long the house has been on the market or how long it sits vacant, the listing agents keep telling me the same thing. And when I get fed up and fax them an offer they call and say: “Oh, we just got a full price cash offer so the seller won’t be interested in yours.” 3 months later the houses are still for sale, but with different agents, who tell me the same thing all over again.
It’s so stupid you just have to laugh
It’s a lot more expensive but you’re better off mailing active listings yourself and just wait for the sellers to get tired of their agent and call you, then sign the deal up to start when their listing expires.
I cannot believe that they actually tell you that the seller won’t be interested in your offer!! You would think they would rather just submit the offer (seeing as how they are REQUIRED to!), instead of pissing someone off who knows the business and, in turn, getting notice from the RE commission!..Go figure.
Anyway, I had been in contact with a realtor once before about investment properties. I didn’t mail letters, I called them. And believe it or not the very first one I called was willing to help me. She spent hours showing me properties, and was never put out by it, or refused to submit an offer. Granted, she was very new (about 6 months, and had her own business instead of working for the “big ones”), but with that said, she knew what she was doing, and had access to MLS-so what else do you need, really?
I’m a Realtor in MD and LOVE working with investors. ;D I actually post ads looking for more to work with. I
I think most realtors would be open to working with investors and find it hard to believe that people are actually not receptive to you or your letters. Maybe just a simple face to face meeting in a Realtors office would get you right in with someone willing to work for you.
Have a great day and good luck finding the next perfect investment property!
I am a Real Estate Broker in Portland Oregon and specialize speciffically with investors for the last 18 years. I can feel your pain as I get it in reverse.( Investor wantabees who want to work with me)
I choose to work with Investors because I find it a lot easier to learn the habits of my Investor and then cater to thier needs.
My advise to you is to search for Fixer uppers in the area of your interest and then find out who listed them. Make sure that the Broker makes listing and selling investment properties thier main stay of business and not just the one property you happened to call about. You could also look at properties that are on the market that have just been rehabbed ( all fixed up ) and then again make sure the agent specializes in that area of the market.
Allways work with people that you like respect and understand. Be very Candid with your needs and expectations. I will always respond in kind as I only want to work with people that I like and can help.
Herb
I’m a Realtor in SC and I send e-mails to other Realtors, as well as potential tenant-buyers, attorneys, code officials, etc., via an autoresponder. I have it send them one immediately after speaking with them on the phone, 7 days later, 7 days later, 14 days later, 30 days later, 30 days later, 30 days later, …ad nauseum. I do this so they keep me in mind if they should have properties that just don’t move.
I also have a new proof of funds letter handy each month to fax for REO offers. I make sure it is for at least $100K to show them I’m serious about my offers. Granted $100K isn’t much money anymore, especially in CA and FL, but it helps for my market in SC where houses are still pretty cheap.
I’m a realtor and an investor in the Atlanta area.
I too love working with investors and helping them out.
MLS has some great deals. The good deals sit on the market for about 2 weeks, while other good deals might sit a bit longer because the listing agent might input the info. wrong and the listing will not come up on the screen.
However, GA MLS system has deals from $30k to $120k and many of them are foreclosure/preforeclosure deals.
I’m working on a duplex that’s listed for $77k and the COMPS come to $160k.
Another house that my client bought was listed on MLS for $109k, he got it for $100k. The comps in the area are $180k.
I’m glad that I’m an agent. I can check out the MLS anytime I want.
Wholesalers are great, but don’t miss out on MLS ya’ll.
I have made a lot of investor friends here in Atlanta by helping them out with finding deals on MLS.
My advice is to build a relationship with a Realtor. Then they will give you what you want, especially if you make them $ via commissions. Short sales might be a good place to start.
DougOn: Agents that don’t understand the world of creative investing can be a pain. However, if you find one, rather have a good relationship with one they can be invaluable. Particularly w/r/t comparables. They can also be great to have on your team if you do short sales. And Team is the operative word.
Thanks but no thanks. I spent 6 years looking for a realtor to work with and each year all that happened is that I grew more and more frustrated. To think of how many more deals I could have done if I hadn’t wasted so much time trying to find a good realtor, or get realtors to present my offers… ugh, it makes me sick.
In the same time I’ve found several excellent and highly creative lawyers and mortgage brokers. But haven’t yet found a single realtor willing to do what needs to be done.
If you find them useful, that’s great for you. My thoughts echo the words of Ray Como:
Investment real estate is totally different from residential real estate, which most realtors are trained in.
Realtors get tired of wanna-be investors who want everything but not wanting the realtor to make money! Why should they take 2%? The owner (not you- the buyer) pays the realtor.
There are plenty of deals (HUD, bank-owned, short sales, etc.) on the MLS. You just need to narrow down your search criteria. And find a realtor who understands your buying needs. Realtors and Investors need to form a team for their mutual benefit, not just the investors’ benefit.
Wildflower, in my case I would have to pay the realtor out of my pocket since I buy creatively. And I tried that. In a last-ditch effort to work with realtors, I offered every realtor in my market the same opportunity:
Bring me your listings that are going nowhere and I’ll pay your selling side commission (2.5%) upfront, and your buying side commission (2.5%) plus a 1% bonus on the backend, and your seller gets their FULL asking price.
Out of hundreds of realtors a grand total of 2 said they were interested, but when it came to actually making the offer to their sellers, all they did was make excuses why they “thought” the seller wouldn’t agree.
So that was that. I decided I wasn’t going to waste my energy on people who don’t want to work with me anymore, and redirected it to the people who do, namely… the sellers themselves.
To answer your question about agents taking 2%. My answer is they shouldn’t, they don’t deserve even that much.
If you look out in the general populus, you’ll find general agents. Investor agents are usually long-time members of investment clubs. They also have off-market investment deals and don’t really advertise except for listings.
Letters aren’t going to do anything because agents are bugged by everyone under the sun once you have a license. People buy agent lists and blast postcards, emails, calls, etc. Real estate is about relationships and the best thing to do is to show your value first, then help other people win.
Find good investors in your area and ask them which agents they use. If the numbers work, just put the agent fee on top of what the owner wants to net, which is what they do anyway. We’ve also had luck in our market contacting agents on pending contracts. It’s not a huge percentage, but it puts us on the map with agents who have good listings. They like how proacctive we’re being and we’ve picked up a couple of contracts that were falling through before they went back on the market.
Of course, the best deals aren’t even on the MLS, so maybe you can get in good with an agent who creates/finds deals.
Dee, I’m the #1 investor in my area for my niche so… I guess I should ask myself.
Anyway, you can’t convince me to try again with agents, I’ve had enough to last anyone 10 lifetimes. And I’ve learned how to use agents to my benefit without having to deal with them at all. Here’s how it works…
I let the thousand or so agents in my market do all the running around and spending all the marketing dollars to shake the sellers out of the bushes. Then I work a deal with the seller when their listing expires.
I don’t need to convince people here of anything. If you don’t like the advice, that’s fine, but the threads here are for other readers as well. If you’re the #1 investor, then you know letters to agents aren’t going to work. I suggested some things that I think would work better.
DougOn: judging from your website, you’re located in Canada - correct? Not sure if things are done differently there… But I echo Deeinaustin & others when I say that relationships are key as far as Real Estate Agents are concerned (or other members of your team for that matter). I guess I’m saying that also for the benefit of others reading this thread.
And I’m saying this to benefit everyone reading this thread who doesn’t want to waste their time like I did.
Here’s my story:
I started investing in 2000. I bought a few properties conventionally through agents. Then I moved on to buying creatively, and from 2001-2006 while doing deals directly with sellers, I tried everything I could think of and everything suggested here and on other forums to work with agents on creative deals.
I emailed them, sent direct mail, phoned them, met with them, bought them meals. I tried agents I’ve known since I was born. I tried agents I’ve never met before. I tried agents with decades of experience. I tried agents fresh out of the licensing course. I tried male agents and female agents. I tried agents in their 20s through to agents in their 80s. I tried buyer’s agents. I tried listing agents. I tried making hundreds of offers. I tried making offers on houses I’d seen. I tried making offers sight unseen. I tried making offers with no deposit. I tried making offers with a huge deposit. I spent an enormous about of time, effort, and money to build relationships with both buyer’s agents and listing agents. I tried building relationships with the broker/owners of all the major brokerages.
As you can see I’m incredibly stubborn about admitting that there’s no way to make something work. But even I finally had to admit defeat and redirect that time and energy into what does work.
rgchamp, yes I’m in Canada. I guess things are different here because it’s clear that agents don’t want to build a mutually-beneficial relationship. Mortgage brokers, lawyers, inspectors, insurers and appraisers all do, but agents don’t.
As you can see from my last post, I have developed a relationship with agents that works extremely well. They bring me all the deals I can handle and I don’t even have to pay them
Unfortunately the propblem ive had with realtors are they are less knowledgeable than someone that picks up a book at the local store. MOST not all" im not referring in any way to those dedicated to their craft of real state sales" work from their real estate office waitng for the big score to walk in and want them to sell their house. Most will not have deals on their plate because they just dont have access to the deals. Going to a bank and asking for a number to their foreclosure department doesnt work either. Try and find an reo asset manager for the area, ive found deals across the USA through one good one. Thats where i would start, the average real esate agent wont get you anywhere. Letters ive found wont help you much either. Zig Zigler i believe" i read the book a very long time ago" was a car salesman and the best in the USA said to pass out business cards everywhere you go. The more you pass out the more chances you’ll have to find deals or sales. This has helped me tremendously. Joing local realesate clubs, do everything you can to find deals and contacts. Never give up, you may not get a single response then out of nowhere it happens, you get the score. You could potentially make one deal that makes you more than your entire years salary then the only question is what will you do for the rest of the year. Have fun with it, enjoy yourself, the deals are everywhere and will become even better as the year goes on.
