I am working on my first bird dog deal. The buyer want me to find single-family homes with 3 beds and 1 bath. The homes can be either vacant, FSBO, or has code violation sticker. I can take the time and travel across some ransom areas I know nothing about or I can find some better way. The better way I was going to do was search online at the FSBO webpages to get my deals. The problem is the buyer I am bird dogging for is on to that little trick and is not interested in homes found on FSBO sites. If I was to travel around random areas to find these deals, it would be the hard way.
The only thing I could do is look at the houses from the outside while not knowing if they are 3 beds and 1 bath. The only way to tell that information right off is to get it online. That is the tough part when physically looking for deals, which is I only get an outside view. I was considering getting help from a realtor. The thing about them is I don’t know if they can locate vacant, FSBO, or homes with violation stickers. Often times the homes they locate for me are homes taken over by real estate agencies. Those are not the ones the buyer wants. They have to be the three types I listed above with no real estate agents involved. And how will the buyer know the difference anyway if I found the deals online at some FSBO sites? I would guess as long as the deal is a good deal then it shouldn’t matter how.
a good buyer wont care if the deal is listed provided it IS a deal. it’s just the numbers. some say they don’t want it listed, but it really wouldnt matter if the numbers are good.
FSBOs - call the owner
Violations - city owned or private? if city owned…good luck. if private owner, mail them
I didn’t think it matter either. I was looking at their website where is says they do not want properties found on FSBO websites. You still think I can pull this off? Whatever it is has to be 3 bed 1 bath single-family. I just don’t know any less complicated ways of doing this since they do not want properties found on the FSBO web.
In some cities you can call the office associated with putting the code violations up and ask them for a list of properties. You might need to go down and flirt with the receptionist but the list could turn into gold for your buyer.
The other way - the hard way - isn’t always the worst way. Drive your car to an area that generally fits your buyer’s description of what they want. Park, walk the hood with a notepad. It doesn’t take long to figure out if it’s vacant, if it has a red meter tag, if the weeds are high, or if the trash hasn’t been taken out for a long time. Make note of the house and move to the next one. I have a door knocker who does this and turns up a couple hundred properties a month. If you don’t have the money or resources to mail to the vacant’s owner, turn the list over to your buyer and either charge an upfront fee or get paid at closing or do both. Charge a smaller upfront and then a % of the deal.
The hardest part is finding the deal. So, you have a considerable amount of power when you bring the deal to the table. Best of luck.
The buyer is getting even more specific now. He wants houses that have 3-4 beds 1-3 baths built in 1950+ and gave me a list of areas to stay away from. I was not given all this specifics at first as I wish I did. It would have saved me the trouble of sending out leads that didn’t match all these requirements.