I have read that all of the properties on the MLS have already been seen by investors. If I want to focus on assignments is it true that there is no point in looking on MLS?
Any ideas on finding a GOOD broker/realtor to work with for closings, leads etc??? I am in kansas city MO. In the northland. thx.
Molo, there are entire courses written on farming the MLS. Some cash buyers may not want deals off of the MLS, but some don’t really care where the deal comes from. Think about it, if you were a cash buyer, and someone brought you a really good deal, would you look at it and go “This is a really good deal, but it’s on the MLS so I’ll pass on it.”
A good deal is a good deal, just figure out which buyers in your area will buy off the MLS, and don’t bother offering MLS deals to non-MLS buyers.
I’ve had some experience with the MLS. I seen a house a house listed that was in a nearby town advertised for $24,000 The photos showed a good looking house on a busy street and the back yard was all paved and I was thinking, this would make a nice office or some sort of small business.
I called the Realtor and told her I wanted to see it. She explained that someone had taken out a bearing wall and the ceiling was sagging. Having remodeling experience I knew that was an easy $800 fix. Then she tells me they are waiting on a key and she can show it to me the next day.
A few hrs had passed and I thought, hell, I called her back and told her I would buy it sight unseen. She tells me they already had multiple offers and the seller is coming in to sign. I tell her I will up the accepted offer, shes says it would have to be over 40K because that’s the offer the seller accepted. This all happened in one day.
Ther is just too much competition, I have had other similar experiences as well.
So, if its on the MLS and hasn’t been grabbed, you can bet the Investor vultures have smelled it and its been picked over like a carcass in Mohave desert.
The MLS is a lousy place to find profitable deals. Just accept it.
It’s notorious for showing ‘steal’ deals that are somehow already under contract.
The trick is to develop relationships with the agents that seem to post these phantom deals. Likely they find investor-quality deals that they pitch to their pool of ready-buyers, and once sold, they post the deals on the MLS simply to comply with the terms of their listing agreements …not because the property is actually still unsold.
Meantime, lots of bargain hunters with cash are calling, and the agent is building an ever-larger cash-buyer pool.
The question then is. “How do you get to the top of that buyers list, so that the agent calls you before anyone else?”
Craigslist is probably a better way to find the agents that offer (not-yet-listed) ‘pocket-listing’ bargains.
I would not rely on the MLS entirely, it would be just one of my resources. If you are working with investors that are not already dealing with a real estate agent, then it is possible that they do not know about the MLS listings. I would keep my eye open, but like some of the other posts have mentioned, the really good deals are usually gone before the day is done.