How hard is bird dogging really

Question

I'm very new to real estate as well as I am not licensed. I was wondering how hard bird dogging is actually. Not in the sense of difficulty but in the knowledge gap it seems alot of online stuff is saying just find good deals compare to market ect. But I imagine actual investor/real estate agents have software/ more gatekept or academic knowledge such as  calculations, actual ways to find market trends ect. That if you wanted to find a investor they would probably prefer you know this terminology, so you could present them a good thesis/ more guaranteed deals so then they have to do less analysis  themselves or is it actually way more simple than that for low level real estate and I am over complicating it.

Garrett Crosby · Answer

You're not overthinking it — both things are true at the same time. The barrier to entry is genuinely low (find a distressed property, connect a motivated seller with a buyer), but the barrier to being *good* at it and worth paying consistently is higher than most people expect.

The investors worth building relationships with want someone who can pre-filter. That means understanding basic ARV math, being able to spot properties with genuine distress vs. just deferred maintenance, and having a rough idea of whether a deal is in the ballpark before you call someone. You don't need to be an expert, but you need to not waste people's time with deals that clearly don't work on paper.

Start by learning the basics of how investors analyze deals in your target market and build that filtering instinct. It'll separate you from the people who are just forwarding Zillow links. Happy to chat through it more if you DM.

William O'Gorman · Answer

The hardest part about being a bird dog is how much time it takes to figure out if a property is actually worth pursuing. With land, you can spend hours checking if it can be built on, looking into access, utilities, zoning, flood zones, wetlands, comps, and whether the numbers even make sense, just to find one small issue that kills the whole deal.

Software helps, but it does not do everything. You still have to know what to look for, think creatively, and find properties that other people are not already chasing. Then, even after all that, you still have to figure out if the owner would be willing to sell at a price that works for an investor.

That is why people hire bird dogs. The work is not always complicated, but it takes a lot of time, patience, and digging. Most leads will not work out, but the value comes from sorting through all of them and finding the few that are actually worth taking seriously.

Drew Sygit · Answer

Great advice from @Garrett Crosby!

What's the basic equation investors use to assess the potential of a property needing rehab?

How hard is bird dogging really

Most Popular Reply