BiggerPockets

For the past year I used a realtor to sell my properties. I like her she does a good job and only charges between 1-2%. However, the buyers agent will also a percentage of 3-4% Therefore, I feel I am losing 4-6% of profit. I also read about flippers finding buyers before they even have house finished. My question is two fold.

1. Do You (Other Flipper) use a realtor? If no could you please answer question 2.

2. What is your method to finding buyers?

If you don't put it on the MLS, you'll greatly reduce your pool of potential buyers. That's likely to costs you more than the RE commissions.

Thanks for the input
@J Scott I agree but as I talk with other investors they seem to have end buyers lined up and I never understood how. With all the homes you sell, do you have to put your house on the MLS or do you have buyers already lined up?

@Jon Holdman I love the MLS and I agree with the exposure but I was trying to have house sold before it was even listed.

Overall I was trying to cut out the 6% I pay to both the seller and buyers agent. It might not be possible but what a great thing it would be to buy a house begin work on it and have a buyer in place. I would never even have to put it on the market. Not sure if this is possible or if this is just a dream every investor has.

If anyone has any experience having a buyer before they list the property on the MLS or even before the house was finished I would love to hear about it.

Originally posted by John Ellis:

J Scott I agree but as I talk with other investors they seem to have end buyers lined up and I never understood how. With all the homes you sell, do you have to put your house on the MLS or do you have buyers already lined up?

I often have buyers lined up...but they're coming to me from their agents who I have an existing relationship with. Their agent is entitled to their commission even if they bring the buyer prior to my listing on the MLS.

Unless you're wholesaling, doing lease options or doing some other type of creative financing where you don't need qualified buyers, I don't know of any other way to find buyers on a consistent basis.

I would never even have to put it on the market. Not sure if this is possible or if this is just a dream every investor has.

If anyone has any experience having a buyer before they list the property on the MLS or even before the house was finished I would love to hear about it.

Again, it's not hard to find qualified buyers prior to your rehabs being complete, but they'll generally come through real estate agents, who are the primary conduit for qualified buyers in today's market. Also, you'll need a great track record to attract buyers prior to rehab completion -- we'll generally not show an incomplete rehab to a potential buyer until they've seen a fully remodeled similar property that we have. If we don't have any available properties to show them that have been full rehabbed, we won't show them the partially finished rehab, as most buyers don't have the ability to envision what the end-product will look like without seeing it.

When we list properties we that came to us as a result of our marketing we flat fee list it and gladly pay the 3% to the buyers agent.

If the property was brought to us BY a realtor, not only do they get the commission when we buy it, but they get to list it after we are done with the renovation. We only do this for realtors that understand our criteria and are actively looking for properties for us.