I am a wholesaler on Long Island, I currently have 2 people who birddog working for me. 1 that I found on a bulletin board for Long Island Real Estate and another is an aunt that I trained. I want to get many many more of them cause it allows me to basically pick a deal when I want one.
What do you recommend for getting people to be my bird dogs? I would rather find people who are already trained and willing to work. People who bring qualified leads all the time.
I have already lined up a list of 6-7 buyers… now I need the birddogs to find me the properties.
Sounds like you’re approaching the business in reverse. Buyers are always very easy to come by. Who doesn’t want a 200k property for 125k? Finding the properties is the hard part.
Bird Dogs= What do you have to offer them other then money?
Do you have years of knowledge that you can share? What kind of a program do you have in place to let them know you care about them. There are only a few “good” bird dogs out there and typically don’t stay bird dogs for long if they’re good at the business. It’s up to you to create a winning formula to bring them in, nurture, train, motivate and keep them loyal. Bird Dogging isn’t easy and especially in the beginning when you have no network. Most get into the business and out of the business VERY FAST! If you’ve ever trained and lead a successful sales team the tools one uses for that are the same as working with bird dogs.
If you have a path for them to follow, create accountability and pay them for the little things they do for you ( like find vacant property owners information ) you will have success getting bird dogs up and running. Once you have one successful one and a system in place you’ll have people lining up at your door to want to be one as well.
Always remember the bird dog you train well today is your competitor tomorrow!
Would you be willing to help me set up this system for finding wholesale homes?
This sounds exactly like a system that I would like to implement. I am looking to vertically integrate my company and eventually cover all aspects of the business. I want to have birddogs in house, who refer the homes to me and then I ship em off to my Rehab crew.
So far I have some people just calling the listings FSBO in the paper, but its turned unfruitful for wholesale properties. Should I have them drive around? One of them that I know has access to MLS…
How many properties have you evaluated (inpspected or gone thru with an inspector or gone thru with a contractor or gone thru with a seasoned investor) top-to-bottom and done a real analysis on?
First, you ask will I help you. What’s in it for me?
One thing I’d invite you to take a look at is anytime you ask for something present it in such a way that the other person finds it appealing. You asked for something I’ve spent years learning through trial and error. I have no reason to answer you anyway but no.
As far as finding properties I wouldn’t teach or train anyone on anything you can’t sit down and do yourself and have had success with yourself.
If we’re calling MLS expired I sit and let them here me make the calls for a day before they start. Then I listen to them and coach them. Then I have work sheets for them to follow and fill out and require they send those to me each day. Then I pay them for those sheets because I know if they do the work they’ll get better at it. And the system goes on.
Just make sure you put what’s in it for them! People are motivated by money and other things, what other things are you proposing to them?
When I first started I actually worked for free while someone taught me the ropes. They threw me a bone here and there, but it wasn’t about the money. I wanted to learn the “business” so I could do it all myself in the future.
Sorry if I once again offended someone on these boards.
Well I’ll be honest. I haven’t completed a deal yet. I have begun to look and am finding it extremely difficult to find a home that I can purhcase for 70% of the value - the cost of repairs. So far I have looked at all the homes listed on MLS for my specific area and nothign seems to compute.
I have also highlighted the newspaper and begun making calls to the FSBO ad’s in the paper to see if they are motivated or not. Some reason leads me to believe that the retail market is not where I want to be when dealing with buying homes at wholesale prices.
Ya know, you can ask anyone that knows me and they will tell you how much time and effort I am putting into getting this to work. I have lined up 6 buyers, an attorney, several realtors, and gained access to an MLS system since I begun. My support team is basically built, and the only reason I was lookign for bird dogs in the first place was to ease the time it takes to go between deals once they start.
I only asked if you could show me how you train not cause i was trying to steal but generally I see people help on these boards out of the good of their heart. I apologize once again.
The whole point of my presentation is when ever you talk to ANYONE present it in a way that they are going to want to do it.
I would talk to a bird dog and ask them if they want to make some extra money, are they interested in RE investing, would they like to be able to buy properties below market? If they answer yes I’d make them jump through some hoops to see how dedicated they were. if that worked out I would invest the time.
I’d suggest focusing on one thing. Maybe calling expired listings or calling FSBO’s
In your message you deliver in the calls you need to focus on the seller not you. If you focus on the seller and have their interest in mind you will find success. It’s not about a formula it’s about solving problems. If you’re focused on a formula the people on the other end of the phone are going to feel that.
I suggest some books on sales. Especially David Sandler’s “you can’t teach a kid to ride a bike at a seminar”
As far as your approach with bird dogs I’d focus on yourself and getting your skills up. If you haven’t ever done a deal I doubt some one that would make a bird dog would want to work with an un-experienced person. What if they find a motivated seller and you can’t get it closed? They have to have absolute certainty that if they do all this work the person they’re giving the deal to can make it happen. And if they can’t no one could have. I not trying to discourage you but rather get you focused on what you need to be. Getting your own skills up and some deals closed. Good luck and I hope this helps!
<<Ya know, you can ask anyone that knows me and they will tell you how much time and effort I am putting into getting this to work. >>
We’re sure that you are investing a great deal of time and effort – but,
Q: How many of the people that comprise “anyone that knows me” are real estate investors?
I have lined up 6 buyers, an attorney, several realtors, and gained access to an MLS system since I begun. My support team is basically built, and the only reason I was lookign for bird dogs in the first place was to ease the time it takes to go between deals once they start.
Great! But,
Q1: How many properties have you actually looked at, inspected, and evaluated?
Q2: Why are you setting yourself up to do bulk wholesale purchases when you don’t understand the ‘nuts and bolts’ of doing one?
I have begun to look and am finding it extremely difficult to find a home that I can purhcase for 70% of the value - the cost of repairs. So far I have looked at all the homes listed on MLS for my specific area and nothign seems to compute.
Really?? What are you using as a “value benchmark”? How are you estimating the cost of repairs?
What it sounds like is that you’ve dressed up in a lab coat and have a nametag that says “Dr. Stephens” but have skipped the pesky
‘medical school’ step.
Don’t get defensive, people ARE trying to help you!
Yea I agree… I just want to get my first deal under my belt by now ya know? It’s frustrating. I am going to call all the FSBO homes in last weeks paper tonight. What were you saying about expired listings?
I basically am looking to assign the properties to my buyers that I have lined up. So theoretically tell me if this is a good plan…
I have built a sellers list so upon finding a deal I will make an offer and once it is accepted I will mail out the information on my home to buyers. Then do a double closing?
My fear is I wont be able to find a home within that week or so before I owe the buyer $$$.
Wat other successful ways have you found homes that I can purchase at wholesale prices?
Forget everything and focus on one thing “Finding motivated sellers!”
If you have a motivated seller you can go to the next step. Investors are easy to find and there are a lot of different ways you can appoarch what to do at that point. Double closing, Contract assignment and so on. But if you don’t want to end up out of this business very fast focus on nothing but finding motivated sellers. Also get educated on Marketing, Sales and Negotiation. When I got into this business I knew nothing about all the things you’re worried about. However I started to find motivated sellers and the investors I brought the deals to taught me the rest.
So in closing get out and find motivated sellers. Do nothing but study systems to find motivated sellers and implement those systems. You’ll find when you talk with one it will just work as long as you are focused on solving their problem.
So your saying basically call and use the questions that are in the carlton sheets program or any other beginner program to screen for motivated sellers? Don’t worry about getting the home for 70%?
See I’ve started to do this and tried to catch myself cause I realized I can screen them all I want but if these motivated sellers won’t sell for 70% of the value then waht good does it do for me? Cause my rehabbers need to get the hoem for a certain price and value built in…
then they aren’t that motivated. That’s why I say build rapport and then find motivation. If you can find motivation you might have a chance. Also, don’t go after every listing, FSBO. Only go after the ones advertised 90% or below market. It’s a lot easier to move someone from 90 to 70 then it is to move them from 100-110 to 70%.
OOOH thats a good plan, didn’t even think about targeting only the ones at 90% of value… gonna be kinda hard to find if its below market value from a 3 line clipping.
Basically I guess i gotta continue trying dials…I thought dials wouldn’t work for wholesales but maybe it does?
Maybe we should define the term “motivated seller”. I think that “motivated seller” is a misnomer that the gurus spread. In reality, you don’t care whether the person wants to sell or not, what real estate investors care about is that the owner MUST sell. Personally, I like the term “desperate seller”. However, even if the owner must sell, that doesn’t mean that the property is a deal because they may not have enough equity for me to buy it. The key point is finding a property that meets your criteria. My criteria is that I will pay NO MORE than 70% ARV less repairs.
What Keith and I have been trying and trying and trying to tell you is that you can’t become a real estate investor sitting at your desk! You’ve got to get out there and look at houses, meet people, go to REIA meetings, talk to other investors, etc, etc, etc. You can not build the relationships you need by sitting at home typing on the computer and even talking on the phone. Get out of the house and do something!!!
Once again, you need to be the absolute master of your investing area. You should KNOW the houses in your area forward and backward. You should KNOW what houses are vacant; KNOW how long they have been vacant; KNOW which houses have owners that are in the middle of a divorce; KNOW who is losing their job; etc. That’s how you get the good deals. You do not get the good deals sitting at home.
It’s all lead generation and marketing. Consult with seller. Get under contract contingent to a walk through. Fax contract to investor. Investor opens escrow and does walkthru. Then it closes and I get paid out of escrow. A lot of my investors I’ve never even met and a rarely meet with sellers.
This allows me to work all of CA and Las Vegas and expand anytime I want to. Right now I barely have time to do what I’ve already got. Next step is to hire someone!
I do go see properties in my area that I actually want to buy but that’s only 1-2 times a month.
Just food for thought.
I heard people say you have to go hand out cards and shake hands but I think the phone is a much more effective use of time. I get referrals all the time from past clients and have never met them in person.
I feel the best question you can ask is “How can I make it work?” If you ask that question long enough and keep looking for the answer you will find it!
Not to be rude 90% of so called Real Estate Investors are nothing more then bird dogs and wholesellers. I know this for fact I still am one half the time myself. Go to REI meetings and tell them you are a buyer they will bring you deals! Call there ads on there web sites and you will see, Tell them you have buyers lined up or simply run an ad yourself!
yes, I agree with reoconsultant’s post. If you get your marketing machine cranked up you almost can’t by all the properties you have to flip contracts so master that side of the business.