Should I try to hire a "Bird Dog"?
We do spec home construction, NO rehabs or flips, so all we are looking for are vacant lots. We are aiming to do 8 properties this year, currently working on our first one of the year. By far the BIGGEST issue we are running into is simply finding the lots!!! I have sunk SO MANY HOURS into searching. I look on the MLS, I engage with wholesalers, I'm doing cold calls, direct mailers, literally everything! I know the deals are out there, t's just a matter of not having the time to devote to finding them. I have recently started considering trying to find a "bird dog".
Has anyone had experience working with a bird dog? I feel like what I am actually looking for is not exactly that. My understanding of a bird dog is typically someone who does the "driving for dollars" thing, they go out and find properties in person and then gather all the basic info on that property and simply pass the lead on to the investor ... right?
I'm really thinking about hiring someone with skills in negotiating. I want someone who will take all the basic data that i've already collected, do the cold-calling, emailing, door knocking, etc and then actually build relationships with the potential leads and only bring the deals to be when they are hot and ready to accept an offer. I would even be open to having the "bird dog" (or trainee, or apprentice, or whatever you want to call it) doing the actual negotiating and getting to a price verbally that everyone can agree on, so long as this person understands the market and our needs enough to do so.
Thoughts? Concerns? Am I Crazy??? Is there anything I'm not considering here??
If you have done something like this, what was the compensation structure?