Pursuing Bird Dogging Legally

Pursuing Bird Dogging Legally

Yonkers, NY 路 Member since 2017 路 506 posts 路 95 votes

  Hi everyone, my name is Michael and I'm a 15 year old from New York. Over the past year or so I've been trying to get into real estate but there's always a problem with either the strategy or my age. I looked into BirdDogging in the past but there were two main problems that I came across:

1) The legalities of it 

2) Ensuring that I get compensated for my work

  So I've been thinking day and night on ways to get around these roadblocks and I think I came up with a good method and I will share it with you guys with hopes that you guys will be able to tell me wether or not this will work and if it's legal.

   According to the RESPA law people bird dogging can't get payed a commission or fee after a deal closes because you have to technically be a licensed  agent or realtor in order to get payed like that. So this would make getting payed as a bird dog once a deal is closed illegal. 

So I was thinking and searching around for ways to get around this as a bird dog and this is what I came up with (and this may be wrong that's why i'm asking you guys). So what I would pretty much do is get payed on a per lead basis regardless if they close on the deal or not. I would get skip traced leads and I would either call them myself or get a VA to do it for me. Then if we find a person who is interested in selling I would get some general info about the property and leave the negotiation, due diligence, etc all up to the investor, I would provide the investor with general information like bed/bath, repairs needed, condition, but not information like the address or phone number yet. So from there if there's an investor that is interested in learning some more about the property I will get an NDA to make sure that I get payed and everything goes smoothly. I saw online that even though i'm still under 18, I can still sign an NDA. So in the NDA we would agree that I would get payed X amount when I provide the information on the lead to the investor (Keep in mind that these are leads that would be willing to sell, not just any random lead). This method would keep me from breaking any laws and it would ensure that i get payed when I'm bird dogging.

  From what I know (which isn't much) this would work and be legal in New York and New Jersey, I will also make sure that I get payed with the NDA, and this will all still work given that I'm a minor. Let me know what your thoughts are on this method and wether or not this would actually work and if it doesn't what I can do to get around this considering the conditions I'm under. Thank you in advance for all of the help, I really appreciate it!

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Investor 路 Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario 路 Member since 2008 路 1k+ posts 路 1k+ votes
8y

@Account Closed You certainly can run a lead generation business without running afoul licensing laws. You will however need a parent or guardian to enter into any contracts on your behalf until your 18. You also need to be careful of violating the Do Not Call rules since you plan on calling them.

I have heard of a telemarketing business in New York that runs surveys and sells the leads to realtors. Their survey goes something like this

"Hello, this is Michael with New Yorker Surveys. We're conducting a survey of home owners in your neighborhood today, do you have a moment to answer 3 quick questions for me?"

"Sure."

"Great! Do you currently own or rent your home?"

"I own it."

"How long have you lived at your current residence?"

"About 10 years."

"Do you have any plans to sell or move within the next year?"

"Possibly."

"Thank you for your time!"

They then send 3 of the 'possible' or 'yes' leads to local realtors as a sample of the type of leads they generate and offer to sell them a neighborhood of 2,000 houses which they will call through every 3 months for $500/month.

Hope that helps or at least gives you some additional ideas about the direction your business venture could go. And good luck!

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  • Yonkers, NY 路 Member since 2017 路 506 posts 路 95 votes
    8y
    @Cheryl Vargas I鈥檒l definitely look into doing that also down the line when I build some good connections!
  • Yonkers, NY 路 Member since 2017 路 506 posts 路 95 votes
    8y
    @Adam Carl Birgenheier I鈥檓 definitely going to be going the route that Doug mentioned, it鈥檚 the best idea anybody has come up yet!
  • Yonkers, NY 路 Member since 2017 路 506 posts 路 95 votes
    8y
    @Brent Pearson congrats on your rental! Also, since I won鈥檛 technically be doing bird dogging (more of like a telemarketing company) I will just need contracts but I will then ensure that I get payed! Thanks for all of your support!
  • Succasunna, NJ 路 Member since 2017 路 104 posts 路 12 votes
    8y
    This kid is going places
  • Investor 路 Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario 路 Member since 2008 路 1k+ posts 路 1k+ votes
    8y

    @Account Closed I go away for a day and look how your thread blew up! I'm glad you're getting encouragement from lots of people and aren't deterred by the nay-sayers.

    To answer your question about the service contract, yeah you should definitely get one written up by a lawyer that specializes in business. It's usually just a 1 or 2 page agreement and they're all pretty standard stuff, so he/she shouldn't charge you a crazy amount.

    Once you know everything is set up in a legal way you can start killing it without looking over your shoulder.

  • Rental Property Investor 路 Rohnert Park, CA 路 Member since 2014 路 306 posts 路 160 votes
    8y

    Thank you Joshua 

    @Joshua Mondragon

    I updated my app and all works perfectly!

  • Yonkers, NY 路 Member since 2017 路 506 posts 路 95 votes
    8y

    @Paul Papamarkos thank you!

    @Doug P. alright I will definitely check that out and let you know how everything goes! Thank you so much for everything!

  • Member since 2018 路 509 posts 路 211 votes
    8y

    Again no legit lawyer is going to draw up docs for a kid. 

    Kid I think these guy are yanking your chaiNs.

  • Yonkers, NY 路 Member since 2017 路 506 posts 路 95 votes
    8y

    @Eric Adobo that鈥檚 not true at all, I know of a few minors that are similar to me that wanted to get into business when they were young that met up with attorneys to get stuff sorted out for themselves.

  • Member since 2018 路 509 posts 路 211 votes
    8y

    Did they have  adult backing?Get on a 馃毑 and start cycling for 馃挼 S. 

    You had deals going before tell us what happened. 

    I wonder if the city will issue my 7 yr old nephew a license to sell 馃崑 ade? His parents are quite wealthy and don't want anything to do with it. 

  • Yonkers, NY 路 Member since 2017 路 506 posts 路 95 votes
    8y
    @Eric Adobo yes they had adults with them when doing everything because they need to have an adult with them. Also, yes I did have a deal that I had experience with by doing cold calling actually, other than that I stopped doing the other stuff before I made any money because of the legalities/problems with everything that you guys told me. Also, this will all be coming out of money that I have and not my parents because we are by no means rich and I鈥檓 just leveraging my own money that I saved up over the years.
  • Rental Property Investor 路 Tampa FL 33610 路 Member since 2011 路 254 posts 路 56 votes
    8y

    @Account Closed You are a rock star explaining how to work this with MK. 

  • Fountain, CO 路 Member since 2017 路 40 posts 路 5 votes
    8y

    I just came across this thread and I wanted to say Great Job! Its awesome to see a 15 yo looking at being more than a "normal" kid. I started working at 12 delivering news papers and wish I would have been able to think the way you are!

    To all the positive people on this thread great job! To the negative DB's you suck. lol. 

    I was wondering how this is working out for you? Have you had success? 

  • Member since 2020 路 2 posts 路 3 votes
    6y

    Hello everyone, my name is Shamir Gajmer and I'm a 15-year-old trying to get into real estate. I have been researching a lot, about wholesaling, real estate, rental properties, and being my age I was trying to get into the actual business. With further research, I found out that in Akron Ohio (where I'm at) to do whole selling you're going to need a license and I can't right now because of my age.

    So I decided to soak up information about Wholesaling, and rental properties. I'm wishing that I could start right now but As I said again I need a license for it or I'm just too young. Then I found Bird Dogging. Finding deals for other investors. If I'm not wrong even at my age I can start bird-dogging and get paid.

    My questions are how do I start bird-dogging? what are the necessary steps needed to make a legal contract? in which you know you're going to get paid for all your hard work. I am willing to work for an investor on getting the best deals. I can even work for free for a couple weeks and if I can find you a great deal we can work on the payments. But really I'm here to sharpen my skills and learn from Investors. Please help me out here.

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