How to approach making high volume of offers with RE Agent?
Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2017 · 74 posts · 41 votes
How to approach making high volume of offers with RE Agent?
Most Popular Reply
Your best bet is to network in your local REI, and find someone who's willing to invest their time in you.
You have to show them why you're worth their time. Buy them coffee, a meal to pick their brain. How can you help them, to help you? Most agents have met plenty of investors, and I suspect they probably avoid investors because
1. They're not serious
2. They're not realistic
3. They don't have the funds or
4. They don't pull the trigger even if the property meets the investor's criteria
Obviously the agent, you plan to hire, uses digital documents and signatures to save everyone time.
25 Replies
Your best bet is to network in your local REI, and find someone who's willing to invest their time in you.
You have to show them why you're worth their time. Buy them coffee, a meal to pick their brain. How can you help them, to help you? Most agents have met plenty of investors, and I suspect they probably avoid investors because
1. They're not serious
2. They're not realistic
3. They don't have the funds or
4. They don't pull the trigger even if the property meets the investor's criteria
Obviously the agent, you plan to hire, uses digital documents and signatures to save everyone time.
- Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2017 · 74 posts · 41 votes9y
Thanks for the info. Yeah I understand that and have the patience to wait, but my question is more related to finding a realtor that is willing to make offers on my behalf that will more times than not fail to be accepted. I don't really plan to sell properties too often. Our market is on fire so I'm looking for more BRRR deals than not, but will not over pay for a property and I am trying to find out the best way to approach finding a realtor willing to work with this type of investor. I have a family realtor that I use to look at turnkey properties that I'll pay market value for more times than not, but I don't want to burden their time making 100s of offers a year for me if only a percentage of those will ever bare any fruit. I also don't want to use one realtor to make the offers and then switch to my family realtor to sell properties. If I find someone that is making these offers on my behalf I would utilize them to sell the property on my behalf as well to make it worth their time in the long run.
- Investor, Entrepreneur, Educator · Springfield, MO · Member since 2009 · 21k+ posts · 12k+ votes9y
High volume of offers? How much money do you have? Any idea of what happens when a bank gets offers for a short sale? Are you thinking low ball offers? That should impress a few bankers giving all of them something to talk about at their next local American Banker's Association meeting!
Yes, bankers just like investors talk to each other, they also speak to Realtors, closing agents and anyone else involved in real estate, at least about things like who's who without disclosing personal information or sensitive matters. Just speaking to reputation, especially if you like to work with banks.
I suggest you do one offer, where you will actually buy, and move from there, that way you won't get 12 offers accepted, that is if they are decent, fair offers that are justified and not the silly low ball stuff that many play games with. Speaking as a serious investor......
If you're a serious investor agents will jump all over you for business, just say'n.... good luck :)
- Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2017 · 74 posts · 41 votes9y
I guess by volume I mean the necessary amount of offers to find the appropriate deal it won't be much if I find the proper deal, but I'm wondering more about the realtor becoming frustrated working with me if we are looking to buy distressed properties that we can not get at the price level necessary for the purchase to make sense. I'm not going to make an offer for $10k on a $100k property. But if a distressed property is listed for $150k and I can rehab the property, but can't offer more than $130k on the property in order to achieve a desired and appropriate return considering offer, rehab, and ARV I won't budge. I'm not going to nickel and dime the property, but I'll have set values that I will stick to and won't waver unless it is a concession I can make work within the analysis I've done.
Money isn't a concern for me as I've been very successful in life and am looking to move away from my corporate lifestyle. I'm not trying to come off as arrogant. I truly want to know the best approach. I like the idea of going to the local REI's and networking obviously, but was wondering if anyone has had a successful approach to breaching this sort of arrangement. I'm a corporate accountant and have worked in finance for many years so I do understand that short sales are not easily obtained. I wouldn't be making offer after offer. If an offer is accepted I will focus on that project, but if it isn't accepted I will move on.
Thanks for the feedback. I would reconsider getting a real estate license yourself and submitting your own offers. This is something we're working towards. While a license isn't necessary, it has a couple of distinct advantages: access to the MLS, access when it's convenient for you to look at properties, and ability to submit as many offers as you want at any price range.
- Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2017 · 74 posts · 41 votes9y
That is a possibility @Chris Low my problem is I'm not quite sure how many deals I'll do a year and I don't want the costs of maintaining a license to be an issue if I am low volume each year. Plus with the requirement in Colorado to hang the license for 2 years at a broker I'm not sure if I want to convert my career for that benefit just yet. It is on my radar though.
- Investor · Orange County, CA · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes9y
Put in your offer through the listing agent. 100 offers through 100 different listing agents is more doable than 100 offers through the same poor buyer's agent. Plus, the listing agent would love to double end the sale and you would love a great deal ... so, give them what they want to get what you want. Properties can be found on Redfin, Zillow, realtor.com, etc. and normally in most decent sized markets (like yours) they replicate off of the MLS within 15 minutes. Just drive buy, pull the listing agents contact off the sign in the yard, call them on the cell to tell them you'd like to view and will put the offer in through them, and have them meet you there for a showing and write up the offer ... easy.
- Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2017 · 74 posts · 41 votes9y
@David Faulkner That was the route I felt would be simplest. Thanks for the feedback. I know the downside is they may not be after your best interest, but it would probably work out the best.
- Investor · Orange County, CA · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes9y
Originally posted by @Bryan Wilson:
@David Faulkner That was the route I felt would be simplest. Thanks for the feedback. I know the downside is they may not be after your best interest, but it would probably work out the best.
I would argue that if you are dependent solely on ANY RE agent (be they a buyer's agent or a listing agent) to watch your back and serve only your best interest, then you are eventually in for some big trouble. Trust but verify, always, with everyone you deal with.
- Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes9y
Originally posted by @Bryan Wilson:
Hello everyone,
I'm curious how I should go about finding a real estate agent that can make offers for me on short sales and distressed properties in the Colorado Springs area. I don't want to be a burden to there time, but could see 90% of my offers not be accepted. I'm wondering the best way to approach asking a realtor for assistance and how to present my plan to them so that they are aware that many of my deals will not be accepted.
Let me know if you have any suggestions. I don't plan on becoming licensed myself unless I grow my business out and it makes sense to have my license and keep up with the costs involved.
Pay them a flat fee for every offer they write for you.
- Lender · CA · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 10k+ votes9y
Question for the agents. @Russell Brazil may as well get your input.
For folks like @Bryan Wilson who just want to write 100 offers and do the real negotiation once in contract, why not find some new agent (or part timer) with no reputation to risk, and have that agent make a docusign template?
Fill it out with the stuff that one's broker requires and/or to make it lawful, let Bryan fill in only the address, price, and down payment. New agent can review to make sure that nothing too crazy has been added before adding his signature and sending it off.
- Real Estate Agent · Washington, D.C. · Member since 2012 · 17k+ posts · 30k+ votes9y
Originally posted by @Chris Mason:
Question for the agents. @Russell Brazil may as well get your input.
For folks like @Bryan Wilson who just want to write 100 offers and do the real negotiation once in contract, why not find some new agent (or part timer) with no reputation to risk, and have that agent make a docusign template?
Fill it out with the stuff that one's broker requires and/or to make it lawful, let Bryan fill in only the address, price, and down payment. New agent can review to make sure that nothing too crazy has been added before adding his signature and sending it off.
I think if your strategy is to write 100 offers, you should get your own license. Not only is it a waste of most people's time to do so, but it's going to hurt the reputation of the person writing those offers. At some point the listing agents are just going to start ignoring that agents offers if they are all low balls.
I also think if you start assigning a value in dollars to your time, someone is going to quickly come to the conclusion that spending that time writing hundreds of offers to get a deal is going to end up paying themselves less than minimum wage when everything is said and done.
Let's say for easy math you value your time at $100 an hour. If it takes you an hour to write an offer, and you write 100 offers, then you need to convert 1 of those into an offer where you saved $10,000 just to break even. If you value your time higher, then you've got to save even more to break even.
I pretty much know how much I can acquire a property for from experience and if I know I can get it for the price that makes sense then I buy it. Throwing tons of stuff out there to see what sticks is just simply not a good use of my time when I can spend that time making money.
District Invest Group545 Reviews - Lender · CA · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 10k+ votes9y
Originally posted by @Russell Brazil:
Originally posted by @Chris Mason:
Question for the agents. @Russell Brazil may as well get your input.
For folks like @Bryan Wilson who just want to write 100 offers and do the real negotiation once in contract, why not find some new agent (or part timer) with no reputation to risk, and have that agent make a docusign template?
Fill it out with the stuff that one's broker requires and/or to make it lawful, let Bryan fill in only the address, price, and down payment. New agent can review to make sure that nothing too crazy has been added before adding his signature and sending it off.
Let's say for easy math you value your time at $100 an hour. If it takes you an hour to write an offer, and you write 100 offers, then you need to convert 1 of those into an offer where you saved $10,000 just to break even. If you value your time higher, then you've got to save even more to break even.
That's why I was trying to think of something you could set up for such a person in 5 minutes (it might take 20 minutes the first time you set it up as a docusign template), and then each offer takes less than 60 seconds of the agent's time.
At 100 offers to get a single $5k commission check, that's 105 minutes.... $2857 per hour.
- Real Estate Agent · Washington, D.C. · Member since 2012 · 17k+ posts · 30k+ votes9y
Originally posted by @Chris Mason:
Originally posted by @Russell Brazil:
Originally posted by @Chris Mason:
Question for the agents. @Russell Brazil may as well get your input.
For folks like @Bryan Wilson who just want to write 100 offers and do the real negotiation once in contract, why not find some new agent (or part timer) with no reputation to risk, and have that agent make a docusign template?
Fill it out with the stuff that one's broker requires and/or to make it lawful, let Bryan fill in only the address, price, and down payment. New agent can review to make sure that nothing too crazy has been added before adding his signature and sending it off.
Let's say for easy math you value your time at $100 an hour. If it takes you an hour to write an offer, and you write 100 offers, then you need to convert 1 of those into an offer where you saved $10,000 just to break even. If you value your time higher, then you've got to save even more to break even.
That's why I was trying to think of something you could set up for such a person in 5 minutes (it might take 20 minutes the first time you set it up as a docusign template), and then each offer takes less than 60 seconds of the agent's time.
At 100 offers to get a single $5k commission check, that's 105 minutes.... $2857 per hour.
Some states it might be easier. Take Massachusetts which has a 2 pg offer instead of a contract....or areas where letter of intents are acceptable. You could fire off a ton in those areas pretty easily.
Maryland/DC at 50 to 80 pages for an offer, it's just too much of a pain. Commercial deals we use a basic letter of intent to start the process, so those are a bit easier to do quickly. Though when we've agreed on the specifics, the actual contracts on commercial are usually 100 plus pages.
It's so easy though for someone to get their real estate license, there's not a huge reason to use an agent if they want to fire off a ton of offers.
But I'm also coming from the perspective of a perpetually hot market where we need to be super aggressive to acquire a property. Prices may have gone down during the financial crisis, but the market was still hot and competitive.
District Invest Group545 Reviews - Investor · Orange County, CA · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes9y
Originally posted by @Russell Brazil:
Originally posted by @Chris Mason:
Question for the agents. @Russell Brazil may as well get your input.
For folks like @Bryan Wilson who just want to write 100 offers and do the real negotiation once in contract, why not find some new agent (or part timer) with no reputation to risk, and have that agent make a docusign template?
Fill it out with the stuff that one's broker requires and/or to make it lawful, let Bryan fill in only the address, price, and down payment. New agent can review to make sure that nothing too crazy has been added before adding his signature and sending it off.
I think if your strategy is to write 100 offers, you should get your own license. Not only is it a waste of most people's time to do so, but it's going to hurt the reputation of the person writing those offers. At some point the listing agents are just going to start ignoring that agents offers if they are all low balls.
I also think if you start assigning a value in dollars to your time, someone is going to quickly come to the conclusion that spending that time writing hundreds of offers to get a deal is going to end up paying themselves less than minimum wage when everything is said and done.
Let's say for easy math you value your time at $100 an hour. If it takes you an hour to write an offer, and you write 100 offers, then you need to convert 1 of those into an offer where you saved $10,000 just to break even. If you value your time higher, then you've got to save even more to break even.
I pretty much know how much I can acquire a property for from experience and if I know I can get it for the price that makes sense then I buy it. Throwing tons of stuff out there to see what sticks is just simply not a good use of my time when I can spend that time making money.
I would agree that if you are writing 100s of offers and nothing is landing than you should reassess your strategy. However, I still feel that going in through the listing agent is a winning strategy since there are fewer middle men, making turn around much faster. And, I know that in theory it should not matter, but find in practice that it does matter to get your offer more consideration if it goes in through the listing agent.
- Brooklyn, NY · Member since 2016 · 152 posts · 44 votes9y
I think you should definitely get your RE license. You'll have the MLS access and full control in the execution of your plan. Have you considered asking the agent whom you buy your turnkey properties from? Since you already have an existing relationship, maybe that person will more receptive to making hundreds of offers on your behalf
- Real Estate Broker · Wilmington, NC · Member since 2016 · 236 posts · 126 votes9y
I encounter investors like this all the time. I just tell them:
1. I'm not searching for you. You find the properties and I'll write the offer.
2. You better have a proof of funds or a pre-approval.
3. If client sounds like a noob and/or is unreasonable, I will also refuse to work with them.
- 9yAaron MoorePro MemberInvestor / Real Estate Agent · Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2015 · 82 posts · 31 votes
Hey @Bryan Wilson I think this is a good discussion, and one that is definitely beneficial to new investors who ask me this question pretty regularly. As a full-time agent and an investor who has worked through the crazy market swings of the last 10 years, here are my thoughts.
There are multiple layers to answer your question, but the short answer would be that I agree with those that say you should just get your license if you want to take the "100's of offers" approach. If you want to make fewer higher percentage offers, find an experienced investor agent, tighten your analysis and approach to offers, listen to their advice, and let them do the hard work.
In Colorado, you can get licensed and up and running for around $1500, and the cost to maintain your license would be less than $1K/year for what you want to do. You can hang your license at a discount brokerage that just charges a couple hundred bucks per transaction, and they really don't care what you do beyond that, so you don't have to worry about any time commitment that would take you away from your other pursuits. You also can leverage your buying-side commission for discounts, or take the commission and apply it towards your costs, which would offset the cost of getting and maintaining your license pretty quickly. You can definitely work through the listing agents, which will work for a little while, but this town is smaller than you think and they will pretty quickly stop working with you on that front because it is a time waste. It could be a good bridge until you get your own license though.
The bigger question is how effective the "spray and pray" approach to offers is...answer: it's somewhat market dependent, but for the most part it's a waste of yours and everyone else's time. I will go out on a limb and say that almost every experienced full-time investor will tell you that vetting a large number of properties and making strong, targeted, high percentage offers on the top prospects will net you far more quality properties in the long run (and the short run too, come to think of it). I agree 100% that, as you said, you should not compromise on your numbers, which is why vetting 100 properties, then making strong (ie, not a prayerful lowball) offers on the top 4 or 5 will be much more effective.
In a down market, the spray and pray approach can be somewhat effective because you have a large crop of desperate or motivated sellers. In the current Colorado market climate (insanely hot) it will be totally ineffective because there is too much clutter and competition, and for open market properties with any potential at all there is fierce competition. Any potentially investable open-market property here will have 3-10 offers within the first 48 hours.
Sellers and selling agents look for two main things when choosing an offer: Who has the strongest offer (not necessarily the highest) and who is most likely to close easily and with the least amount of hassle along the way. A good agent will sell you and your offer to the listing agent effectively, and most good investor agents are known as such by the listing agents, and carry a lot of weight that things will get done smoothly and professionally. For many of the deals I get, we are not the highest offer...often not even in the top two, but skill and relational equity bridge the gap. In the Colorado market, knowing how to structure and sell an offer for maximum impact is really the difference between success and failure.
This is something you will never have with a green agent who has the time and willingness to write 100's of 1% offers...hence, both your time and theirs is completely wasted.
I know this doesn't answer your question about how to convince an agent to do all that work for you with little chance of return on their time, but hopefully it gives a little more context to all the answers above that say in one way or another, it's probably not the best route for you to take anyway.
Totally agree @Russell Brazil. The numbers game says you almost have to submit a ton of offers in very competitive markets in order to land a handful. No Realtor worth their salt has the time for this. Their cost/benefit ratio just isn't there. Respect their time and handle writing offers and viewing property yourself. If you don't want to be a Realtor because you don't want to list and show properties, it shouldn't be difficult to find one who will do that for you and leave the more time-consuming/low return elements to you.
- 9yColin SmithBusiness MemberRealtor · Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2013 · 988 posts · 447 votes
@Bryan Wilson, Specifically for the Colorado Springs market this strategy isn't going to work. Of course I will write any offer for you that makes sense, but the shotgun approach doesn't right now. Our market is way too hot and too competitive that you will be outbid 100% of the time. Homes are turning around in a matter of days and even the distressed properties are going for over asking prices with multiple offers at the moment.
- Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2017 · 74 posts · 41 votes9y
I think I came off incorrectly as wanting to take a "Shotgun" approach, which I do not want to do. What I meant was will someone be tired of us putting in offer after offer and being rejected because we won't budge on our analysis if it is not for reasonable concessions that will still work within our desired profit target or cash flow range. This post took on a life of its own because it came off that way, but was not my intention. I was looking at the best way to work with someone with an understanding that we could have a lot of rejections. I like the idea of going through the buyer agent, also getting my own license is ideal it sounds like, but importantly I respect peoples time and wouldn't want to just burn through an agent. I guess I wanted to know how to approach the subject best and a lot of great answers have come that I appreciate.
- Investor · Boulder, CO · Member since 2015 · 137 posts · 36 votes9y
I fill out my own contracts and a very investor friendly (and patient) agent reviews and sends them over. It is a cookie cutter approach. Only a few lines of each contract need to be changed for each property so it really does not take a lot of time.
- Real Estate Consultant · Colorado Springs, CO · Member since 2013 · 325 posts · 117 votes9y
^ Runs away with hair on fire
- Realtor · Denver, CO · Member since 2016 · 499 posts · 129 votes9y
Hi Bryan, I have worked with several investors and have put in many offers that have not been accepted due to the numbers. The right agent will understand the numbers and be able to let the other agent know why your offer is better than the next offer and how the numbers work. The busy spring can be a challenge with all the buyersthat are out there but you van make any money if you don't put in an offer. In this market, it seems that the numbers are being ignored by newer investors and by residential homebuyers... it is tough for an investor but patience and tram work will get something to work soon enough.
Most good agents will stick by you knowing that the savy investor is in it for the long haul and not just one deal.
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