K. Marie Poe Michael Lauther and whomever else cares....I recorded myself discussing working with listed properties and the agents, and my VA did the transcription. I didn't edit it, so forgive any "um".."err..." or whatever...hope this helps...
Yea I’ve tried every type of marketing I think that there is but for years and years all I’ve done with ‘Leasing to Buy’ is direct mail marketing
We get the lists of properties that are for sale on the MLS and we print those off. We print those labels off and send out brochures or postcards and hit the direct mail; or I'm sorry listed properties.
We don’t sort by expired or out of state owners. We just hit them all; out of state owners, those that have been on the market for 30 days, 90 days, 120. It doesn’t matter we just hit them all- as long as they are in a certain price range
Now often people will ask how that work does. How do you work with agents? And; how does that come into play? Doesn’t that irritate the agents?
When I first started off years ago doing the direct mail, I did get calls, on occasion, from agents that were furious: Just foaming at the mouth furious. And I would try to explain ‘Here’s what we do, here’s how this works’ and they didn’t care. They didn’t want to have anything to do with it. I could have told them the sky was blue. It didn’t matter to them; they didn’t believe me. And they were just furious that I was trying to; they felt that I was trying, to go around them to get at their client. This is actually not true. Our brochures and our information clearly states that we will work with the agent. We never ever tell any homeowner, any listed homeowner; to cancel their listing. Never! We’re not here to limit their marketing ability. We’re here to expand it to a whole other pool of people that the agents aren’t hitting. So were not trying to go around the agents, or step on toes. We’re trying to expand the marketing capability and options the owners have. So, we will certainly work with agents and have no problem working with agents.
Now I don’t, matter of fact I honesty can’t remember the last phone call, you know angry phone call; I got from an agent. Years ago they would call very, very angry. Now if I get a call they want to know how we can work together. In some cases I’ve actually had them ask how, or can we go to work for you. So I don’t get the angry calls anymore. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been around for so long now or if maybe it’s the combination of that and the fact that the markets have changed a lot and the agents are realizing what used to work isn’t always, isn’t necessarily working now. They’re saying, ‘We’ve go to revamp some things and try to change some things’. So I just rarely get a, I just, I can’t remember the last time I got an angry call from an agent.
Now, the truth is I rarely, rarely, rarely, ever talk directly to the agent. We direct, we send the direct mailing to the owner. Then if the owner wants to respond he will call us. On a very rare occasion, I will have the agent that calls us. That wants to, that’s polite, just wants to know ‘Hey my client got your information and wanted me to give you a ring and I just kind of want to find out what you do. And so I talk to the agent and explain what it is we do and our company and our program and how everything comes together and just leave it at that. That’s on a rare occasion.
Normally my communication is only with the seller. I don’t mind talking to the agent but there’s really no need for me to. I don’t market the agents; I’m marketing to the seller. But again if the agent calls me I’ll certainly discuss with them about our company our program and what we do etc. But at the end of the day, what the agent really wants to know is, how do they get paid? How does the agent get paid?
And now if the agent calls me then I will certainly let the agent know that we do pay a referral fee. We will typically pay, you know if it’s a transaction we bring from fruition to close. We’ll actually pay them ½ of one month’s payment. What they would expect on a straight lease anyway. And it’s not uncommon for the owner to also pay the agent ½ of one month’s payment depending what they work out on their end. And so it’s very feasible for the owner, I’m sorry; the agent to get a full month’s payment if we actually do a lease option, do a deal with the owner. Again that‘s if the agent calls me. If the owner calls me, you know, I don’t have any discussions with the agent which is normally, that is about 99.9% of the time, then I’m not going to pay the agent anything. That’s between the owner and the agent-whatever they work out. Which is normally some flat fee or 1/2 a month’s payment. Depends on again what they work out.
My focus is on our relationship, our agreement with the owner. And making sure this is a good property for our program and again assisting them in any way possible. So to be honest with you we just rarely, rarely, ever talk to the agent. Just because they don’t call us so we never have any communication with the agent. . On a very rare occasion have we ever had a communication with them unless maybe of course they are calling just to find out a little more information. And I’ll discuss our program and certainly offer to pay them a referral fee for that. Which is really what they are wanting to know-how do they come into the whole transaction?
On the buyer’s side, sometimes we do have agents that call on behalf of the buyers and say ‘Hey, we have a buyer who is looking for a lease purchase. And which I’m more than happy to help them with and again we’ll offer to pay them a referral fee if they are bringing me someone that’s good for our program.
Unfortunately we’ve tightened up our guidelines so much that it’s more common than not the agent has a buyer wanting to do a lease purchase and the buyer is not qualified to even do a lease purchase but the agent doesn’t know that yet because the agent may not know the mortgage guidelines or have seen a credit report from the buyer. So if an agent has a, is bringing a client to us to get into a lease purchase, I really try to get the application from the people first, from their client first. I direct them to our website, let’s get the application let’s see where they stand.
This happened the other day with somebody who was very adamant about getting into one of our properties. I pulled their application and there was no way I could help them in the next 4 years, 3 years probably and who knows how long this agent had been showing them houses. So but is an agent brings a buyer to us, I really try to get an application on file first to make sure it’s a good fit before anyone wastes time; is this a good fit for our program or not. And if it is hey, that’s great.
But most people who have an agent aren’t looking for a lease purchase. At least that’s the way it is here in Texas-agents really just don’t mess with it. So I just don’t get irate phone calls anymore. I honestly can not remember the last time I got a rude call from an agent.
They really are, have really opened up more to trying to get more creative and figure out how we can work together or in some cases work for me. So I just don’t get the rude calls. Again, if someone did call and they are irate, because their client got a brochure or a mailing from us I’m not going- you can tell from the tone of voice, I’m not going to try and explain what we do, I’m just going to apologize and explain that we do send out thousands of those every couple of months or so and so I apologize about that. Sometimes I’ve gotten them myself and I leave it at that. You don’t want to drag it on out with anyone who has a rude attitude. You just want to cut it short and be done with it. But anyway, so hopefully that helps a little with how we work with agents or how that comes into play with the sellers agent.